Have you ever traveled somewhere new…somewhere different… maybe somewhere outside of your comfort zone? In 2015, I traveled to Wittenburg, Germany with a group of Lutheran pastors to experience the sites of Martin Luther and the reformation. Being there was amazing. The history…the architecture…the culture…I loved it. But at the same time, I felt, a lot, … More Crossing Borders
I was baptized at Diamond Lake Lutheran Church in South Minneapolis on June 6, 1965. Don’t bother doing the math. There is nothing particularly remarkable about that day…it was just a day like any other. June 6, 1965 was the 21st anniversary of the D-Day invasion in World War 2. On that day, the top 3 songs on … More Remember
Deer Island is a fishing village off the coast of New Brunswick, Canada. Small fishing boats head in and out of the harbor, into the North Atlantic every day. The island is so small, that it doesn’t have a lighthouse. And in the days before GPS systems fishing boats would regularly wander into dangerous waters, hitting the rocks, … More A Light Brighter Than Any
For the shepherds outside of Bethlehem, the night of that first Christmas was just like any other night. All the sheep had been gathered in and there was nothing left to do except to keep watch, talk with one another, and stay stay close to the campfire, keeping warm. That night, however, their quiet routine was … More Hear, See and Go
On November 15, 2017, arsonists set fire to the Masjid Al-Salaam mosque, in the town of Petersborough, in Ontario, Canada. No one was injured in the fire; thanks be to God. The fire was set around 11pm, which was just 30 minutes after the building had emptied out. The building experienced significant damage and would be closed … More When the Walls Come Tumbling Down
About a month ago, I said what I think was my final “goodbye” to Margie. Margie lives in Blooming Prairie. I’ve never actually met Margie in-person, but I have spoken to her on the phone, a lot. Margie works for the United States Census Bureau. During the 2020 national census, the Buegler household was one of 100,000 homes chosen at … More Day after Day after Day…
If I were making a list of all of the things that I wish Jesus had never said, this saying about having faith the size of a mustard seed…it would be near the top of my list. Not because it is wrong…or bad…or anything like that. But because it immediately makes us think of faith as a quantity…as something … More From the Very Smallest Things
In 2016, ABC News ran a story about a woman named Tiffany Otterbeck. Tiffany and her husband had had a baby, she’d gone on parental leave, and now, she had returned to work. One night, even though she was exhausted from working all day and then caring for her young daughter, she decided that she was … More No Place Too Far
“A man and a woman were walking along a crowded sidewalk in New York City. Suddenly, the woman, who was a zoologist, said, ‘Listen to the lovely sound of that cricket,’ but the man could not hear the sound. He asked: “How can you possibly hear a cricket, in the middle of all of this noise, and … More What We Listen For
My first car was a 1978 AMC Concord DL (DL for DeeLuxe!) For those unfamiliar with the AMC Concord, it was a small car, a compact, but it was a bit of a beast. I think the bodies were made out of cast iron. But the thing that my particular AMC Concord DL was known for, besides … More The Moment That Changed Everything
Test Driving Theology 