A Salute to our Veterans: The Yellow Ribbon of Hope and Grace

Posted on November 11, 2024 by jwfisch

OIP-21

by Marti Fischer

In early 1973, during Operation Homecoming, America rejoiced as 591 prisoners of war were released from captivity in Southeast Asia. Among the celebratory moments, Tony Orlando stood before a crowd of veterans at a Bob Hope show, singing Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree. The response was overwhelming—cheers, standing ovations—except for one POW sitting in the front row, motionless and silent.

After the performance, Tony approached this soldier, asking if he enjoyed the show. The man, with quiet dignity, replied: “I loved it. My shoulders were dislocated as a POW, so I couldn’t raise my arms to clap. But if you’d seen my feet, you’d have noticed I was tapping my big toe.”

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

From Failure to Faith

Posted on November 4, 2024 by jwfisch

download-3

Behold, he whose soul is not upright in him shall fail, but the righteous shall live by his faith. Habakkuk 2:4

Have you ever known anyone whose soul doesn’t stand up straight within him/her? How about you? Has your soul ever not stood up straight? What about right now? Is your soul upright within you or is it leaning over a little bit?

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Professional Christians

Posted on November 1, 2024 by jwfisch

blob

When I first met my wife, Marti, she was not a professional Christian. She didn’t know one Bible translation from another, and it didn’t matter. She could open any Bible to any place and find something meaningful for herself and for those around her.

Marti met Christ through a rather bizarre series of events that included dating the backslidden son of a Baptist pastor. It was 1970 and she was a “stewardess” in an era when it was still okay to use that term. The job still retained a little of its “coffee, tea, or me” glamour. Long fake lashes and sculptured hairstyles were part of the standard uniform of the day.

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Who said the rule was golden?

Posted on October 31, 2024 by jwfisch

OIP-19

Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets. Matthew 7:12

Remember the Golden Rule — “Do unto others as you would want them to do unto you”? That kind of rules out hatred, murder, and a host of evil things that you would certainly not ever wish upon yourself in your right mind. This goes hand-in-hand with returning good for evil, because who would wish evil upon themselves? If someone is acting in a hateful or vengeful way towards you, you would counter that with treating them well, because that’s how you would want to be treated.

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Wait patiently

Posted on October 30, 2024 by jwfisch

OIP-18

This vision is for a future time. It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed. Habakkuk 2:3

Even so, come, Lord Jesus. Revelation 22:20

“Is there any reason why you couldn’t pray and invite Jesus Christ into your heart right now?” It’s a question Marti asked four or five times a day while on the job as a flight attendant in the early 1970s, and in three years she says she never received anything but a positive response. As a new Christian herself, she and a fellow flight attendant who was also a new Christian prayed before every flight for God to show them one person to lead to the Lord, and one who was already a Christian to encourage them. That’s also why they would purposely bid for the short flights up and down the West coast so they could reach the maximum number of people in a day. And there were always two reasons they gave why the opportunity was “now.” 1) They were already 35,000 feet closer to heaven so why not now? — and 2) the Lord was coming back any minute. Are you ready?

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Runners with a message

Posted on October 29, 2024 by jwfisch

OIP-17

Then the Lord said to me, “Write my answer plainly on tablets, so that a runner can carry the correct message to others.” Habakkuk 2:2

The Jesus Movement was all about the message. The message was simply about Jesus and how His gospel related to the deep, unresolved needs of a generation for love, meaning, community, peace and justice. The “Jesus Freaks” who carried this message melded the freedom of the sixties and the Jesus of the gospels into a new way of looking at Christianity.  They were people with very distinct views of Christ and Christianity.  They epitomized a movement that vitalized the Church and blew fresh air throughout the culture.

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

Up the tower

Posted on October 21, 2024 by jwfisch

OIP-16

I will climb up to my watchtower and stand at my guard-post. There I will wait to see what the Lord says and how He will answer my complaint. Habakkuk 2:1

Let’s return to Habakkuk, that prophet out of Judah who complained to God about  His plan to punish the Jewish nation because of its idolatry by turning the vicious wrath of the Babylonians on them. After complaining to God how he did not think it was fair to punish them with a horde of people that were more evil than they were, he decided to climb his watchtower and wait for God’s reply.

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 2 Comments

Let justice roll down like water

Posted on October 21, 2024 by jwfisch

OIP-5

[Note: We are republishing this Catch to accompany the Podcast that we now have to go with it. (See below)]

by Marti Fischer

Imagine a courtroom. God is asking us to observe not just what is broken, but recognize that God Himself calls us to account — He stands as the Judge, the Prosecutor, and even the Jury. We are summoned to answer the question:

“Who can bring about justice? Who can set things right?”

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

‘Let justice roll down like water’

Posted on October 14, 2024 by jwfisch

OIP-5

by Marti Fischer

Imagine a courtroom. God is asking us to observe not just what is broken, but recognize that God Himself calls us to account — He stands as the Judge, the Prosecutor, and even the Jury. We are summoned to answer the question:

“Who can bring about justice? Who can set things right?”

Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | 3 Comments

When life hands you lemons…

Posted on October 10, 2024 by jwfisch

download-8

Dear Citizens of the Catch Ministry,

You know how they say, “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade?”  Well, this week, we’re pretty sure life sent us a whole lemon orchard!

It all started when John’s computer decided it needed a break. Just two hours later, Marti’s computer, not to be outdone, followed suit. After a long and heartfelt stay with Dr. Apple, we have to report… neither device made it. We tried everything—negotiations, promises of upgrades, even tech CPR (Ctrl-Alt-Del)—but the time has come to bid them farewell. Memorial Services are forthcoming.

To add an extra twist to our week, there was also an unexpected emergency dental surgery and a handful of minor issues like our washing machine blowing a leak and flooding our laundry area and refusing to spin unless coaxed enough times… But don’t worry, we’re not down for the count—just taking a short lemonade break to regroup!

We expect to be back up and running by Thursday evening, but definitely by Friday. In the meantime, please know that we miss our regular connections and counseling sessions with each of you and can’t wait to pick up where we left off.

Thank you for your understanding, and we’ll be back in touch soon!

With appreciation (and a bit of citrus humor),

The Vanguard Leadership
on behalf of John, Marti, and the whole team

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments