Scott Rische , Pastor
First Lutheran Church, El Cajon:
As I think about freedom and my own life, I thank the Lord for helping me to be set free from the temptation to be someone I’m not. I discovered that living up to other peoples’ expectations for me meant that I had to forfeit in great part, living out God’s expectations for me.

There is never an excuse for me to be anything less than what I should be, but there is also a time for me to accept who God has made me. Instead of being disappointed about the gifts I don’t have, God has helped me celebrate and build on the gifts I do have. It means taking a risk to find out whether or not people will want me as I am. But it also has helped me discover and appreciate the God who loves me and finds delight in how He made me, and my Savior, who stayed true to who He was so that I could have the freedom I now enjoy.

Bruce Speer, Pastor
Rancho Bernardo Baptist Church:

If there is one thing that all of us enjoy as human beings, it is finding an area of life when we are comfortable and staying there. For myself, I have enjoyed being a senior pastor for 28 years. But recently God asked me to step way out of my comfort zone and make a move to a new location. I was pastoring a church outside of Seattle that was averaging over 500, had a great staff and elder board, and a wonderful spirit in the church. We loved our home, had great friends, and I enjoyed playing golf on some of the most beautiful golf courses in America. But God often asks us to step out of the boat and learn to be a “water walker.”

When God began to deal with us about leaving, it was very difficult because of how comfortable we were with everything that was going so well. Why leave? Yet God was challenging us with a new opportunity.

This 4th of July I can celebrate the blessings of being a citizen in the greatest country in the world, and also, being set free from my comfort zone to a new challenge at Rancho Bernardo Baptist Church.