John Fischer The Catch

Grieving couple creates care package

Posted on July 23, 2015 by jwfisch

We are getting Chandler’s first care package ready to send out today. More of his clothes, his backpack, shampoo and conditioner, more pictures to add to the photo album Marti made that we sent along with him, a personal CD player (remember those? He has no access to the Internet so Pandora and iTunes are out), some CDs I think he might like, his camera, and two sweet notes that two of his friends dropped by — the most unlikely ones to do such a thing. These are kind kids. Most of his friends are furious at me for sending him away.

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged parenting, unconditional love | 24 Comments

Don’t wait until you’re profound

Posted on July 22, 2015 by jwfisch

Anne, John, Chandler.

Wow. Unbelievable. Awesome. Don’t know what to say. We are overwhelmed. The outpouring of love and prayer support for our family from all of you is truly humbling. (See yesterday’s Catch.)

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Dealing with tragedy, honesty, parenting | 17 Comments

Grace: here for us; here for you

Posted on July 21, 2015 by jwfisch

It’s pretty quiet around here now — much too quiet. We walk around with a hole in our hearts. It’s a gaping hole, not a little puncture wound. We cry a little bit every day.

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged grace, grace turned outward | 34 Comments

Codependent town

Posted on July 20, 2015 by jwfisch

Change always means adjusting to what’s uncomfortable. All change, even for the good, is upsetting.

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged codependent, spiritual growth | 7 Comments

Attack of the giant grey moth

Posted on July 17, 2015 by jwfisch

Well, God concluded one of our hardest weeks with a little comic relief. We were folding clothes and chatting when a large winged creature flew in through the open kitchen window last night and started flapping around on the floor. I immediately thought it was a small bird, like a wren or sparrow, but on closer examination, I realized it was a moth — undoubtedly the largest moth I had ever seen.

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged faith, meeting challenges, prayer | 8 Comments

Posted on July 16, 2015 by jwfisch

“Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there,” the Father said to his servants. “We will worship and then we will come back to you.” (Genesis 22:5)

The father placed a bundle of wood on the boy’s back while he carried the fire and a knife, and together they set off for the top of the mountain.

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged children of the Bible, faith | 5 Comments

Young servant girl helps cure enemy commander

Posted on July 15, 2015 by jwfisch

There is an interesting story told in the Second book of Kings (Chapter 5) about a young Jewish girl who was taken captive by the commander of the army of the king of Aram, a neighboring country and potential enemy of the nation of Israel. The commander’s name was Naaman and the young girl lived under his roof as a servant to his wife.

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged children of the Bible, the gospel | 1 Comment

Boy Jesus reveals teaching methods

Posted on July 14, 2015 by jwfisch

We have one story about Jesus when He was a child. He was twelve. It was at the time of the Passover, when Jews from the surrounding towns and villages came to Jerusalem to celebrate God’s rescue of their nation.

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged children of the Bible | 6 Comments

Young boy hears the voice of God

Posted on July 13, 2015 by jwfisch

So we spent a week on some women in the Bible, a week on some lesser known men, and what does that leave? Children, of course — children of the Bible — and we begin with the story of one of Israel’s greatest prophets when he was a boy. His name, Samuel, means “asked of God,” because he was the answer to his mother’s prayer. In her barrenness, she had promised God before Eli, her serving priest, that if He gave her a son, she would offer him back to the Lord, which is exactly what she did. As soon as she was done nursing him, she brought Samuel to Eli and he began serving God in the temple even as a child.

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Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged children of the Bible | 3 Comments

One solitary life affects billions

Posted on July 10, 2015 by jwfisch

Caleb … Jonah … Zacchaeus … Hosea … These are the men of the Bible we have talked about this week. After spending a week on women of the Bible, we thought we would look into some men, but especially some men of lesser notoriety who are not usually mentioned when talking about great men of faith.

These four were fairly easy to come up with, but the fifth one has been difficult. I considered Timothy of whom Paul spoke when he said, “let no one despise your youth”; or Mordecai from the story of Esther; or Onesimus, Philemon’s servant whom Paul returned to Philemon as a free man. I even thought of writing about the thief on the cross who believed and was ushered into heaven by Jesus, but then Marti came up with the best idea of all: Jesus Himself.