Wash your hands. Wash your hands! So often we are reminded of the need to wash our hands. After using the restroom, before eating, after eating, before cooking, after cooking. It’s so hard to keep them clean.
And that’s just our hands! Try keeping our heart clean, and we have an impossible task. How hard it is to have perfectly pure motives! When I cut that little section of grass between my neighbors’ house and mine, the good deed is spoiled with the self-serving intent that maybe he’ll let me borrow his edger. I give some money for a worthy charitable cause, but only because I don’t want to disappoint the sincere person asking.
We may be able to hide our impure motives from others, but not from God. The Bible says, “The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). We can’t fool God. There is no covering false notions or hidden deception. God looks right through the outward act and inspects the inner motivation. He is looking for the pure in heart.
What is the measure for that kind of inner purity? God holds us up to his perfect will and measures us against it. The conclusion is that all of us have sinned and fall short of the sinless standard that God has set for us. Under God’s inspection, our hearts are not pure.
What’s the solution? Our hearts need to be washed. But how? We can’t wash them on our own, so Jesus did it for us. The Bible says, “The blood of Jesus. [God’s] Son, purifies us from all sin” (1 John 1:7). By his death for us, Jesus washed our hearts clean; he has cleansed us of sin’s stain. Through him all our sins are forgiven and our hearts are now pure in God’s sight.
The forgiveness of sins and purity of heart that we have received freely from Jesus powerfully motivates us to stay away from anything dirty. We’ll not want to dirty our hearts again with sinful things. Rather we’ll be happy to strive to live according to the pure way that God teaches and thereby indicate our great appreciation for the sacrifice that Jesus made to wash our hearts clean.
NELHS NEWS AND NOTES
Upcoming Events
Saturday, August 7th NELHS Tee it Up for Tuition Assistance Golf Tournament
We are excited that 56 golfers have already signed up for our event, 24 more than last year. Our goal is to have a foursome on each hole for 72 golfers. There still are a few holes to sponsor if you or your business are interested in this. We are still accepting door prize donations (donations SCRIP cards, gifts). We have many nice prizes including a brand new E-Z go golf cart (hole in one required), a week in Dillon, Co at a condo, a new putter, various caps, coolers, golf balls, and many more nice prizes. We thank everyone who has participated in making this an exciting growing event.
Sunday, August 22nd NELHS Opening Service-a supper will follow
Pastor Matt Kiecker (Shepherd of Peace, Norfolk) will be the worship leader
Pastor Nathaniel Winkel (Immanuel, Hadar and NELHS alumnus) will be the preacher
Mrs. Karma Ridpath (Grace, Seward and NELHS alumnus) will be the organist
Other News and Notes
. Mr. Kevin Hahm had received and accepted a call to teach 8th grade at Atonement Lutheran School in Milwaukee, WI. We thank God for providing this new ministry opportunity
. We were blessed to have over $85,000 in tuition assistance dollars at our disposal to help families this year with tuition costs. The committee met recently anddistributedover$32,000 to 24 families in the first round of requests. This assistance is a tremendous blessings in eliminating the financial burden/hurdles many families face. There are also tremendous, extra assistance being given to families within their congregations or by individuals that come as direct gifts to students which is awesome. Without this assistance, some students would not be able to attend our high school and receive the blessings of a Christian education.
. Because of the blessings in tuition assistance this year, the Finance committee decided not to use endowment Fund interest we normally would for tuition assistance (50% of the interest accrued each year) and instead put all 100% of the interest back to the principal to help grow this.
.Current enrollment stands at 66 students, 5 of these being International and17 freshmen. We still have some strong leads of students (domestic and International) who are still considering coming to NELHS this year. We know of only 2 domestic students not returning at this time. This equates to a 96% retention rate. Pray that the Lord would send us more students to continue their Christian training here.
. If you are a Thrivent member with Thrivent products, you may have received a letter showing you how many donation dollars you have as part of the new Thrivent Choice program. Nebraska Lutheran is signed up as one of the charities you can donate. Please consider making use of your Thrivent Choice dollars and applying them to Nebraska Lutheran as a gift. This canal be done electronically. This program replaces the Thrivent Giving Plus program that was popular among our supporters for many years. If you have questions, please contact our office (Pastor Goehring or Linda Nunnenkamp) for more information or help.
. The nextpayroll will be coming up on Friday. This will be the last payroll before our Registration begin, which tends to be a higher income month with school beginning again. At this time, we would be looking at having to borrow $12,000 from the bank or ourselves to make payroll.
. Our next board of Directors meeting will be Sunday, August 15th at 5pm. We welcome newly elected member, Mr. Jeff Karella, a lay member from Trinity, Hoskins, to our Board of Directors.
Blessing on your week,
Craig
Craig Charron, Administrator
Nebraska Lutheran High School
203 Kendall
Waco, NE. 68460
402.728.5236 ext. 202
Fax 402.728.5433
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7
Birthdays This Month
August 2010
Allison Mattox1Tiffany Beiermann5
Marjorie Loos8Nancy Hans9
Mary Jernigan12Jen Wilken14
Loretta Smith15Andy Masek18
Tom Helberg20Julie Hansen20
Nita Cheever24Connie Hoegemeyer 25
Jordy Hopwood26Cyndi Young30
Brittany Widhalm31Lois Detmer31
Anniversary’s
Josh & Emily Sulzle7
Chris & Julie Hansen15
August Duties
Ushers:Blane Uphoff, Roger Vester[Early]
Pudge & Blade Foster, Jerry Mattox[Late]
Altar Care:Wilma Bentz, Lynn Costin[Early]
Deb Larson, Julie Hansen[Late]
Cleaning Schedule:
Monroe(D)8/7
N. Rassmussen(U)8/7
R. Rassmussen(D)8/14
Richie(U)8/14
Sadler (D)8/21
B. Satterthwaite (U) 8/21
J. & K. Satterthwaite(D) 8/28
Sellenridck(U)8/28
Mowing
August 7 Jerry and Ken Satterthwaite
August 14 Jarred Meyer and Craig Beiermann
August 21 Cliff Foster and Jerry Mattox August 28 Rueben Krenke and Kevin Ferrell
HALLWAY LESSONS
Because of their Christian education, a group of students knows Jesus—and how he protects them and keeps them safe, even in a dangerous storm.
We were still in the glow of ester on that Wednesday afternoon in April. The teachers had been made aware that morning storms were in the forecast. When the sirens sounded at about 2 o’clock, we were thankful that a school tornado drill had been held the week before. On the way to the hallway, a first-grader’s question brought reality to the hour:“Is this a practice?” The teacher’s answer had to be “Actually, no, it’s not.”
The noise of the raging wind and pounding rain was obvious as, one by one, students protected their heads with their arms and crouched under the benches along the wall. No one could help sneaking an occasional peek out the glass doors at the end of the hall. As the storm continued, faces became sweaty and the air felt stuffy as we huddled together. Eventually, teachers and students alike began sitting up for relief. Adults began pondering what an appropriate diversion might be to take the children’s minds off the circumstances. Should we read a book? Talk about something else?
It was a second-grader next to me who cleared the air of confusion. “Would you read Scripture to us? You know, the kind that would be comforting to us in this situation?” “Of course,” I answered, trying to convince myself that she had simply beat me to the punch.
I quickly ducked back into the classroom and grabbed a student Bible. She directed me to “Jesus Calms the Storm,” so I turned to Luke. When I looked up from the reading, tears were streaming down her face. The storm was still roaring. Will you pray with us?” I led the students closest tome in a prayer for safety, peace, and thanks for a Savior. When I opened my eyes, a glance over my shoulder showed a group of four or five first-and second-graders sitting in a circle. They were holding hands and praying.
I’ll never know who brought the first note, but one voice and then many were singing, “Jesus Christ is Risen Today,” complete withal the hallelujahs that children and adults love to hear and sing. After the second verse someone else began, “I know that my Redeemer lives, what comfort this sweet sentence gives.” Imagine the voices of 65 children, ages 6-14, ringing in the confines of a school hallway. As I listened and sang along in a choked-up sort of voice, I couldn’t help but think that this is a piece of heaven—a haven of joy, right here in this moment.
Eventually the storm passed, and, with hearts slightly shaken, we returned to the classrooms. Later, news reports told us that a tornado had indeed touched down less than five miles away in the middle of a field. No one was near, no property damaged. Praise God.
I think we teachers were the ones who were changed the most that day. Our growth came as we realized the purpose of the storm. The lesson for all? Live what you have learned:Jesus knows where we are and is indeed in the wind that glows and as close as the air we breathe—even in a stuffy hallway. We are his first thought. He patiently waits for us to think of him.
