Little Lambs Childcare

Come have some chili or bring some chili and support a good cause! FAITH LUTHERAN CHURCH will have CHILI COOK-OFFS every first Tuesday, from April 7 to July 7 to raise money for local 417 charities to help our community.

April 7th Cook-off benefits Crosslines Food and Clothing bank her in Carthage. Open 5:00-7:00pm at Faith Lutheran Church, 2134 Grand in Carthage! Drive through available.

TEARS ON SUNDAY

"If you see me crying in my Father's house on a Sunday morning, do not worry or be sad for me.

I’m not falling apart.
I’m being put back together.
My tears are not weakness, they are release.
They are the pains my God is taking from me.

These hymns I am singing aren't just music, they are my lifeline to a God who draws near and listens
I sing them not from a hymnal but my heart.
In song, I am laying down a weight I was never meant to carry alone.
And this Sunday morning He meets me, and is giving me promised rest.

In worship, I choose surrender over the spiraling chaos of this week.
Here in this place and on this Day, Heaven meets me in the middle of my mess.

So if from another pew you catch me in a moment, where my eyes are closed, my voice is cracking, chest is heaving.
I am fine, let me be.

This is not my breakdown, my God is putting me and all the pieces of me, back together. He restoreth my soul."

+ Pastor Dan

I know everyone’s secrets. I see the lipstick on collars and the hidden liquor bottles. But the secret inside that rusted sedan parked outside my window broke me.
My name is Elias. I’ve owned "The Spin Cycle" laundromat on Main Street for twenty years. I’m not a sentimental guy. I run a business. If you loiter, I kick you out. If you don’t buy a wash cycle, you don’t use the WiFi. That’s the rule.
In this economy, I have to be tough. Electricity costs are up, rent is up, and patience is down.
But then came the Tuesday Girl.
I didn’t know her name at first. She looked about thirty, tired eyes, wearing a faded delivery driver uniform. She’d come in around 9:00 PM with a little boy, maybe seven years old.
They never started a machine.
They would sit in the back corner. The boy would pull out a workbook and do math problems on the folding table. The woman would go into the restroom for twenty minutes at a time. When she came out, her hair would be wet, and she’d smell like the cheap pink soap from my dispenser.
Then, they’d fill up water bottles from the utility sink and leave.
My regulars complained. "Elias, this isn't a shelter," they’d say. "They’re taking up space."
I intended to ban them. I really did. I walked over one Tuesday night, ready to point at the "Patrons Only" sign.
But as I got close, I heard her on the phone. Her voice was a desperate whisper, trying not to wake the boy who had fallen asleep on a laundry cart.
"I can be there at 6 AM, sir. Yes, I have a vehicle. No, I… I don’t have a permanent address right now, but I’m clean. I’m reliable." A pause. Her shoulders slumped. "Please. I just need one shift."
She hung up and looked at her son. Then she looked at her own shirt. It had a grease stain on the front. She tried to rub it out with spit, but it just made a dark ring. She looked at her hands and started to cry, silent, shaking sobs so the boy wouldn't hear.
I looked out the window. Their car was packed to the ceiling with blankets, bags, and a cooler.
They weren’t bums. They were the working poor. She was probably delivering dinner to people’s houses while her own kid slept in a backseat.
I walked back to my office. I felt a lump in my throat the size of a dryer sheet. I looked at the sign on the wall: $5.50 per load.
Five dollars and fifty cents. That was a gallon of gas. That was a meal. When you’re living in a car, clean clothes are a luxury you trade for survival. But you can’t get a better job if you look dirty. It’s a trap. A cruel, spinning trap.
I grabbed a roll of duct tape and a marker.
I walked over to Machine 10—my biggest, most expensive washer. I taped a sign over the coin slot:
BROKEN. CYCLES RUN, BUT COIN SLOT JAMS. NEED TO TEST WITH CLOTHES INSIDE. FREE USE.
I cleared my throat. "Excuse me, Miss?"
She jumped, looking terrified. "We’re leaving. I’m sorry, we just needed—"
"No," I grunted, pointing at Machine 10. "That unit is acting up. The sensor is busted. It won’t run empty. I need to run a test cycle with weight in it to see if the drum is balanced. Do you have anything you can throw in there? You’d be doing me a favor."
She looked at me, confused. Then she looked at the machine. Then back at me. She saw the lie in my eyes.
"I... I have a few things," she whispered.
"Good," I said, handing her a cup of the premium detergent. "Use this. The cheap stuff clogs the pipes."
That night, they washed everything. The boy’s hoodie, her uniform, their blankets. While the machines hummed, the boy ate a granola bar I "accidentally" left on the table.
For the first time in weeks, I saw the woman smile. She didn't look like a homeless person anymore. She looked like a mom.
It became a routine. Every Tuesday, Machine 10 was "broken."
But here is where the story changes.
One night, a guy named Mike, a construction worker who’s been coming here for a decade, caught me taping up the sign. He looked at the woman folding warm clothes in the corner. He looked at the sign.
He didn't say a word. He just walked over to Machine 10, lifted the lid, and taped a ten-dollar bill to the underside.
The next week, I found a box of dryer sheets left on top of the machine with a note: “For the test run.”
Then a twenty-dollar bill tucked into the soap dispenser.
Then a bag of gently used kids' clothes left in the "Lost and Found" with a sticky note: “Too small for my son. Maybe the test pilot can use them?”
I never asked for donations. The community just... woke up. They saw what I saw. They realized that the line between "us" and "them" is razor-thin. One bad medical bill, one layoff, one rent hike, and any of us could be staring at a washing machine we can't afford to turn on.
Last month, the woman—her name is Maya—came in. She wasn't wearing the driver uniform. She was wearing a blazer she’d found in my Lost and Found, washed and pressed crisp.
"Elias," she said. She stood tall. "I don't need to help you test the machine tonight."
My stomach dropped. "Everything okay?"
"I got the job," she beamed. Tears welled in her eyes. "Customer service manager. Full time. Benefits. We got an apartment approved this morning. We move in Friday."
She reached into her pocket and pulled out a crinkled five-dollar bill. She tried to hand it to me.
"For the electricity," she said.
I pushed her hand away. "Keep it. Buy the kid a pizza to celebrate."
She hugged me. A stranger, hugging an old man in a laundromat. "You didn't just wash my clothes," she whispered. "You washed away the shame. You gave me my dignity back so I could walk into that interview like a person."
Maya and Leo don't come here anymore. They have a washer in their apartment.
But Machine 10 is still "broken."
Every Tuesday.
And now, there’s a new regular. An elderly man who lives in the Motel 6 down the road. He helps me "test" the machine now.
We live in a world that is obsessed with status, with who has what. We judge people by their shoes, their cars, their addresses. But I learned something in the spin cycle.
Poverty isn't a lack of character. It's a lack of cash. And sometimes, the barrier between giving up and getting up is just a clean shirt.
Look around your neighborhood. Look at the people you usually look past.
If you have the power to make someone feel human again, do it. You don't need a nonprofit. You don't need a tax write-off.
You just need to notice.
Soap is cheap. Dignity is priceless.

TODAY'S ADVENT DEVOTION: DAY Day 23
"The Righteous Branch Will Grow": Jeremiah 23:5–6�

I hate waiting. Let me say that again: I haaaaate waiting! It seems such a waste of time, and then there is the suffering, all the while you wait.

Our verses today say, “The days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch,”. And I got to thinking, “how long must it take a tree to grow out an entire grown branch?” I don’t know the full answer, but can you imagine sitting by a tree and watching it season after season? There’s a lot of waiting for sure.

Maybe you are in a period of waiting: waiting excitedly for Christmas...or waiting for it to be over lol. Waiting nervously for test results or some news about an uncertainty in your life? At Church, we have been waiting for certain things to happen with the Daycare. It feels as fast as watching a tree growing a branch!

But God is always makes the waiting worth it. When He tells us to wait on Him, time may sit still for us, but behind the scenes God is making things happen. And sometimes that's a complex process for all to fall in place. But if He promises something, your waiting will be worth it, never waisted. 5 times in 2 verses God says “He will”, and His promises all came true. Even though there was much to wait about. May God so encourage the waiting among us.

Prayer:
Lord, worrying accomplishes nothing, but Your promises fulfill all things in due time. Help us not to look at the hour hand so much as to look for Your hand that rescues us. Amen

WE INVITE YOU TO OUR CANDLELIGHT CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE THIS WEEK AT 6:30PM
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IF YOU HAVE YOUNG CHILDREN, THEY CAN DRESS UP IN BIBLICAL COSTUME AND JOIN THE OTHER CHILDREN AT THE MANGER UP FRONT WHERE WE WILL SING 'AWAY IN A MANGER'
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A BEAUTIFUL SERVICE FULL OF CHRISTMAS HYMNS AND CONCLUDED WITH A CANDLIGHT VIGIL. YOUNG CHILDREN ARE OFFERED A GLOW STICK THAT THEY CAN TAKE HOME.
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EGG NOG AND TREATS AFTER SERVICE.
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PLEASE JOIN US!!

FAITH LUTHERAN CHURCH
2134 GRAND in CARTHAGE
DEC. 24th at 6:30pm

TODAY'S ADVENT DEVOTION: Day 22
Light to the Nations
Scripture: Isaiah 9:1–2

Today I’ve been thinking about ‘shadows’. Simply put, a shadow is created by anything that blocks the light, and we live in a world full of shadowy places. In our lifetime, we have seen light removed and shadows growing. Measures taken to block prayer in schools, removal of the 10 commandments from public places, and we have allowed so many dark things to grow in our culture and to entertain us. No wonder we have seen a shadowy growth of violence, hatred, and evil in our land.

The season of Advent begins in the dark. Isaiah spoke to a people who also once knew the light but saw darkness grow in their land. Yet into that shadowed place, God made a promise: a great light will shine.

This light is not earned or discovered; God graciously gives it to us. God does not wait for the darkness to lift before acting. Instead, He enters it! Wow! The promise of Isaiah points beyond one nation and extends to all peoples—anyone who finds themselves surrounded by darkness, finds light because Jesus enters our world.

Just as light is silent, so our Savior silently is born in a manger’s darkness. Yet this promised Light changes the dark world around Him and makes shadows disappear. Darkness and shadows are dispelled wherever the Light shines!

Prayer:
God of light, shine into the dark places of our world and in our lives. When in a dark place, remind us to open up Your Word. It’s like lighting a candle in the darkness. Amen.

Love,
Pastor Dan

TODAY’S ADVENT DEVOTION. Day 20
“In My Hands” Scripture: Luke 2:25-35

When the infant Jesus is brought into the Temple for circumcision, Simeon takes the child into his hands and is amazed that he is holding not just a child, but God in the flesh. You can hear the awe and the worship in his voice, the humility and the adoration! He has seen the Lord’s salvation and held the Son of God in the palms of his hands!

We sing Simeon’s words, the “Nunct Dimitis”, after taking the Lord’s Supper. We too experience the awe of having met and communed with God in a very special way. If it is true that what we partake of in Holy Communion is truly a participation in the incarnation of Christ (1 Corinthians 10:16), we too have held, in a mysterious way, the Savior in our own hands! The same awe and adoration that Simeon had, we also share. To think that our God has come to us as Savior and gives His body and blood for our salvation, we too are ready from that point forward to depart into everlasting life, away from the sufferings of this world.

Advent is a good time to reexamine the wonder of how Jesus still comes to us in such a special way to forgive our sins. May it put a song in our heart and on our lips to sing of such wonderful grace that we have held in our own hands!

Prayer:
Lord, teach us again the wonder of how You still come to us and fill our hearts with joy eternal! Amen.

Love you,
Pastor Dan

TODAY’S ADVENT DEVOTION: DAY 19
“It’s All In His Name!” Scripture: Luke 2:21

I love a good nickname. I heard of one man so named “Pot Hole”, because once you met him, you always tried to avoid him again! Maybe you know a Pot Hole too lol.

Jesus was given the name “Jesus”, here at His circumcision but it is duly noted that this was the name given to Him before He was even conceived. The name Jesus means, “The Lord saves”. How interesting that before He teaches, before He heals, before He preaches a word, His name already tells the story of who He is...a Savior come to us.

Whatever you are carrying with you this Advent season, let His name speak to you. Speak it to your guilt, to your doubts, and to your worries. When you speak His name, let it pour over you, just as it was in your Baptism, remembering that you have a Savior in this life and for all eternity. I can think of no better way to prepare our hearts for Christmas!

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, how sweet your name is to the believer’s ear! Refresh us with this one word, which is the most beautiful word ever spoken. Amen!

Love ya,
Pastor Dan