Pine Tree Ministries

It is common for old-timers, a group in which I am solidly ensconced, to envy the strength and vitality of the youth.  I envy the number of years they have ahead of them.  I would love to do life over again, assuming I would know on the second pass through what I have learned through toil and trouble the first time along life’s journey. But there is no guarantee of days.  The “three score and ten” (Psalm 90:10) is an......

I received news just recently that one of my heroes had left this land for the better one. It was not unexpected, he had been in failing health for many months, needing more and more care from his family to stay in the home he loved at age 91. We, my wife and I, became friends with his daughter and son-in-law many years ago when we all attended the same church. They invited us to St. Ignace to visit Glen......

We might say to a group of people, “God is in your crisis.” But it is entirely different to look into the eyes of a hurting believer and say, “God is in your crisis.” This morning, as I read a commentary on the book of Isaiah, those words, “God is in your crisis,” popped off the page to me. I underlined them…and then I chewed on them as I drove to work. And God rephrased them, He re-emphasized them, “God......

I remember the evening a few years ago now when a visitor attended our church service.  He was a slender man with lots of energy and it was obvious he was trying to find a place to sit.  Certainly, he was aware of the rules for the Crawford Section; that we were very selective about someone invading our turf…but alas, he was not cognizant of our rules made for such a time as this.  I made casual eye contact with......

Roe v. Wade is the name of a Supreme Court case decided back in 1973.  A case that has divided much of the nation since that day.  In my social circle in my tiny berg in Northern Michigan the 1973 decision did not have much impact at the time.  Over the years, the gravity of taking the life of an unborn human being by the choice of the mother seemed very wrong to me.  I began to be more involved......

We all remember the story of Abraham and Sarah waiting so many years for the male child that God had promised them.  This was the only child who could fulfil the promises God had made to them on multiple occasions. (That promise to Abraham and Sarah was made to you and me too.  The promise was not only for their progeny as the sands of the seashore but for a Deliverer.  That Deliverer is as important to me thousands of......

The last few years have been difficult since we were made aware of some new type of flu found in a place called Wuhan on the other side of the world.  “Normal” has become a fading dream as the results of that medical discovery have changed our personal world and our greater world.  I remember the first time I heard on the news of this new virus: “It will affect mainly older people and those with comorbidities” the young newscaster......

My sister-in-law, Kenda, passed away almost 22 years ago now. It doesn’t seem like it could possibly be that long since we have been together. It would have been about this time of year that I would have done her income tax for her after her husband died. And she would have been flummoxed because she was so uncomfortable having people do things for her, in her mind it was to be the other way around. I woke up this......

I have been reading/studying/meditating my way through the Psalms in 2022.  I am reading the Bible and through 4-5 commentaries and am at different points in each of them.  This week, I came to Psalm 23 in one of the commentaries.  I had already read it in the Scriptures and, like you, can pretty much quote it by heart.  When I read it in the Word, my mind fell back on what I already knew, “The Lord is my Shepherd,......

Every December 31, the next day is anticipated as “the year” when a fresh start is given to each one of us. A new chance to get our weight under control, a new hope for better family relationships, a better job, or more security for our future. Some resolve to begin daily devotions for a closer walk with the Lord. Some hope for a fresh start for their marriage, while others hope for someone to marry. Someone on Facebook said......

Do you ever get the idea that some people are going to be with us forever, that other folk will die, but not them?  I think that Wilbur Wagenschutz was one of those people for me.  When I see his obit on my desk, it jolts me, it doesn’t seem real. Wilbur had been a long-time friend of my wife’s family, and when I came into her family, I became a friend of Wilbur’s as well.  He had known my......

Christmas, the time of year, brings many emotions as our thoughts of the holiday are formed by our past experiences.  My parents were fully involved in Christmas.  My father sold Christmas trees from his salesroom, formerly known, as recently as a few weeks before, as the family’s two-car garage.  My mother made wreaths and other items in her workshop, which also doubled later that day as the dining room table.  The look and smell of Christmas was evident throughout the......