Welcome to the Party

The word of God (The Bible) is such a powerful learning tool when we read it within its historical context. For so many years I have read the Bible, or parts of the Bible anyway, and read it for what was written on the page. While this is a good thing to do, there is something so much more powerful about reading the Bible through the eyes of the people who would have received it 2000, 3000, or however many thousands of years ago.
For the last few weeks our pastor has been speaking through the book of Galatians. I have just recently read through this short book myself, but I certainly didn't come up with the same line of thinking that our pastor has brought out. This is the passage that we were focusing on today.
"I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-". Stop here for a moment. Paul is talking to the Jewish Christians in this passage when he is writing here. "not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ." (Galatians 1:6) Here Paul is not talking about the David Koreshes or Harold Campings of the world. He is talking about the early Church, the Christians who could have quite possibly walked and talked with Jesus and saw some of the miracles He had done. Those are the people Paul is talking to in this passage. Not that it doesn't have application for us today, but it is specifically written to the Galatians.
"But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed." (Galatians 1:8-9)
This is quite the statement isn't it? Let anyone who preachers something that is contrary to the gospel be cursed. Paul is one dude you do not want to mess around with. Paul has always seemed like the kind of guy that isn't afraid to speak his mind and tell it like it really is and I think, rather, I know that his mindset is not on earthly things, but on eternity. Let's read on and I will get to my point. Jump ahead to chapter 2.
^{11 "}But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. ¹² For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party.^[a] 13 And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. ¹⁴ But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, “If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?”
Do you see what just happened in this passage? The Jewish Christians in Galatia were basically saying to the Gentile Christians in Galatia that they needed to be circumcised in order to be a "real" follower of Jesus. But Paul calls Cephas out on it and tells him and his friends at the circumcision party (I hope you caught that) that they are not in step with the Gospel. Thus I come to my point.
For my entire life I have lived with the thought that it is the Gospel plus something. The Gospel + dressing up when I go to Church, the Gospel + doing daily devotions, the Gospel + being at the church every time the doors are open. But the truth is, there is no Gospel +. There can't be the Gospel + because that would mean that Jesus death, burial, and resurrection were not enough. That Jesus death, burial, and resurrection almost got the job done, but not quite, because to be a Christian you have to __________.
I have missed this scriptural truth for so long. How could I have missed this? There is nothing more than the Gospel. It is just the Gospel. There is nothing else that needs to be done. IT IS FINISHED. The work of Jesus Christ on the cross finished it. The blood of the passover lamb was shed for the last time to cover our sins. We no longer have to continue the same routine of the Gospel + because we are free. Do you get this, we are really free from the burden of sin. The debt has been paid. There is nothing anyone can do to make God love you more than he already does and there is nothing you could ever do to make Him love you less. The transaction for the payment of our sin is finished, we don't need any cash back, and God used the little magnetic pen to push yes when the credit card reader asked "is this amount ok?" "Jesus paid it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, but He washed it white as snow". What an amazing truth. We are free.

Happy New Year

Well, the Sutter household is starting the new year out with exciting and yet nerve wracking news. No we are not expecting a baby.
This spring I am starting school again with a one semester class to become a Certified Phlebotomy Technician. I am excited about starting school again, but I am also nervous because it means that I will have to talk with my current employer about leaving. I am worried about this because there is no one to step into my position and no one coming up to train. We have had to run on such a short staff that if one person leaves the whole thing will fall apart. Its like a house of cards and this is one of the reason I am pursuing a new line of work. I can't just stand back and watch the economy destroy the business I work for. I refuse to close my eyes and pretend like the store will be ok. I can see that there isn't going to be any recovery from where we stand right now.
All of that being said, I am so excited to start in healthcare. It is a much more stable field to work in, especially in our area. We bought a house less than a block from a hospital and there are three other hospitals within a ten mile radius. Not to mention the hundreds of clinics, labs, and doctors offices that are located all around us. As I said in an earlier blog my goal is to head into nursing, but Renee and I have decided to start off slow with the education to make sure that I am a good fit for the healthcare system and that I will enjoy the work.
We are so blessed to be in a position to be able to take these steps now in our lives. We have always worked hard at everything we do and have tried to do our very best for our employers and for that we have been blessed with great jobs.
Our hope for the new year is that we can continue to work hard to advance our careers but also that we can have more time to spend together and enjoy life.
So from our house to yours, have a happy new year. 

Bell's Palsy Day 14 (week 2) Helpful Hints

A Day in the Life of Someone With Bell's Palsy

Today I was thinking back to before I was diagnosed with BP (Bell's palsy). Life was easy to be certain. Everyday living is so different right now for me. This is a day in my life with Bell's palsy.

Everyday just like before I wake up at 5:30 am and get myself ready for work. I pull myself out of bed after being so rudely awakened by my God forsaken alarm clock. I drag myself to the kitchen to start the coffee pot.

Once back in the bathroom, this is where the "fun" begins. I start by trying to shave. This is probably the hardest part of my morning. What I once was able to do by moving the muscles in my face I now have to do with my hands. One of the hardest things about shaving is try to relax the good side of my face enough to be able to shave it without hacking it up.

After shaving I move on to the shower. The shower isn't too bad if you like getting soap and water in your eye that doesn't close completely. While washing my face and hair I do my best to use one of my hands to hold my eye closed while I wash with the other. Before BP I used to love taking a shower. I would spend half my morning in the shower, now, I basically try to get in and get out.

So at this point I have shaved and cut my face in three different places, and shower which now has made my one eye blurry and painful. At this point the back of my head in throbbing from a painful nerve.

After a few minutes I can finally see again and I continue my morning routine. After finishing in the bathroom I move back to the kitchen to make my breakfast of two fried eggs and two pieces of toast. Nothing hard about that other than I can only see out of one eye because the other one is watering so bad it looks like I am crying.

After breakfast I pack my lunch and head to work. I always hope for a cloudy morning when I head to work. Have you ever tried to drive into the sun when your eyes are watering. Yeah, not a good idea, basically because there isn't so much seeing go on when your eyes are watering. When the sun is shining I have to wear sunglasses otherwise I can't see. I remember going to church last weekend I when we were going out to the car I had to hold someones hand because I couldn't see enough to find the car.

Finally at work I deal with my watering eye all day long which also basically rubs my eyelid raw because of always wiping my eye. I use eye drops a few time a day to make sure that my eye doesn't dry out. By mid morning of work my jaw feels like it is going to kill me from talking to much. I have to communicate with the customers, but it really takes a toll on my jaw.

Leaving work I deal again with the watery eyes which by the end of the day has given me a wonderful headache. The nerves on the back of my head are screaming at me by this point. My evening continues with dinner which Renee usually creates. Eating after a day of overusing my already sore jaw makes eat very painful.

The rest of my evening is spent trying not to talk and trying to rest up to do all of this again tomorrow.

And that is a day in the life of a person with BP.

Bell's Palsy Day 7 (1 Week)

Bell's Palsy Day 4

This is Where We Are

Hey everyone, I know it has been a very long time since I have written a post for you, but the Sutter family has been extremely busy this summer. To bring everyone up to speed on what we have been up to I will backtrack a few months.

June:
In June Renee and I met with my parents (Jim and Mary Sutter) and we became marketing executives for Melaleuca The Wellness Company. We have been working to build our business and we aren't doing to bad with it. So far we have made just over $50 with the company. I know that seems low, but if you consider that we spend only a few hours a month on it, we aren't doing too bad. I was also promoted to store manager at Gift and Bible Center in Lansing, MI.

July:
The month of July was a much busier month for us. We signed up our first customer with Melaleuca and we also purchased our first home. Up until this point we have always rented. We just didn't have the money to purchase a home, but with Renee getting a raise from her job and me getting a raise from my promotion we were able to save just enough to purchase a really nice home in downtown Lansing. We love owning our own home. I (Aaron) have already started working on a few things that needed fixing around the house. My friend James and I worked on getting some doors to latch, and I have been working on resealing the glass panes in our wooden windows on the first floor. I love being able to do whatever I want to the house. If I want to paint a room a different color I can do it without having to ask a landlord for permission. We want to give a big thank you to all of the people that helped us move from Grand Ledge to the big city!! You all are the bomb!!
Renee and I also ran in our first ever 5k race at our church. Renee and I have both lost about the same amount of weight which is about 40 lbs each. Running is our exercise of choice.

August:
In August we enrolled another two customers to Melaleuca our friends Mike and Faith Fischer and my cousins Nathan and Rebecca Sutter. We are so excited for them to start using the best products known to man.

September:
And this brings us to the month of September; and what a month it has been so far. The first weekend in September Renee found herself in the ER with an unknown pain in her side. Nothing came of the pain, but it does seem to be gone. We are so thankful for that. The next weekend we took a family vacation to Mackinaw City and Mackinac Island. We had a wonderful time. It was a week of complete bliss and relaxation. We had been there before when Marcus was just 9 months old, but we had horrible weather and Marcus was too little to enjoy it. This time Marcus had a blast. We took our bikes up with us so we could ride around the island. We actually rode around the island twice in one day. Once when we arrived on the island and again when Marcus needed a nap. It is 8 1/2 miles around the island so you can imagine that we slept great that night.

We took Marcus to a lumber jack show while in Mackinaw City. He loved it! Ever since all he wants to be is a clain saw. We also visited a working water powered saw mill that has been fully restored. I really enjoyed that one. It was amazing to see how people figured out how to harness the power of water to power such a huge operation.

We also visited the U.S Coast Guard Ice Breaker Mackinaw Museum in Mackinaw City. When we arrived on the icebreaker we ran into a man who Renee works with at Jackson National Life who lived on the Icebreaker Mackinaw back in the 80s. I really enjoyed this museum and the history of the ice breaker.

While in Mackinaw we stayed at a campground called Mill Creak Campground. They had wonderful cabins to stay in which is what we chose to do. The only drawback was that the bed's were so hard that after the first night I had a pretty sore back and eventually needed icehot to help with the stiffness.

All of this brings us to this week. On Thursday September 12th I woke up with half of my tongue feeling numb and one side of my lips loosing some of their feeling. I didn't really think much of it. I thought maybe it had something to do with the way I slept the night before or something I ate. Thursday night after the numbness getting worse (and at the urging of Renee) I decided to go to urgent care to see what was wrong. I went in having a pretty good idea of what was wrong, but I wanted to be sure. After seeing the doctor my thoughts were confirmed, I have Bell's Palsy.

It is affecting the right side of my face. Bell's Palsy is basically nerve damage and is usually not permanent. In fact 80% of those who have Bell's Palsy make a complete recovery. So a few days into my diagnosis and there really hasn't been any change other than it seems to have gotten slightly worse. It seems that the paralysis is worse in the morning and slowly relaxes a bit as the day goes on, but when I say slightly I do mean very, very slightly, hardly noticeable in fact. I am optimistic however that I will make a full recovery. I am doing some exercises and things to stimulate the nerves on the right side of my face to help with the paralysis. I am hoping that it will be healed quickly because it is rather annoying. My right eye waters almost constantly because my eyelid doesn't completely close when I blink. I also have frequent stabbing pains in the back of my head behind my right ear. Today when we went to church it was super sunny out and I could hardly see my way into the church because I can't squint my right eye and consequently both of my eye started watering as though I was crying.

I will be tracking my progress with BP on youtube to hopefully help others who are struggling with it.
The following in the first video I did. Also I will be doing another post with pictures we took while on our vacation.

So, I hope everyone has a great day and keep our family in your prayers. God Bless

This is How the Church Should Work

Yesterday as I was leaving work I checked my email one last time and happened to see a video about a little boy with cerebral palsy who had the courage to run in a race with his classmates. I was so blessed by this home video of this amazing young man that I had to write about it, but first, here is the video I saw…

As the race got to about the half way point tears began streaming down my face. This little boy was running with all the strength on legs that didn’t seem to work right and with arms that couldn’t seem to flow in motion with his body. He struggled against the exhaustion of a mind that had the will but a body that seemed to fail him.

Then something amazing happens! Matt’s coach runs up and tries to help him along. If you listen closely to the video you can hear Matt’s mother say “Matt really looks up to his coach”. Them when all his other classmates have finished the race they gather around Matt, who is still running, and begin to cheer him on. Matt finished the race that he started with the encouragement of his friends and his coach.

After watching this video I got a picture of the way the church should work. You see, Matt is like a Christian. He started the race strong, like any Christian, but he quickly slows his pace as he starts to struggle. Our sin nature slows us down, just like cerebral palsy slows Matt down. Just like Matt who’s mind is normal, but who’s body doesn’t quite work the way it should, our minds and hearts are being transformed, but our body’s still don’t work the way they were intended too.

However, here is the cool part; God is like Matt’s coach. He comes up alongside of us and encourages us. God tells us over and over again that we can do it. That we are doing great, “you’re almost there”. Then, if the church is working the way it should, its people filter in behind and around God (the coach) and surround the one who is struggling and they all start cheering us on to help us finish the race.

What a great picture of how the church should work.

Way to go Matt; for teach us how to never give up and thank you to his classmates for teaching us how to encourage the people around us who are struggling.

Fall of a Superstar (The Rise of the Broken)

So I am rereading a book on leading worship and it is a phenomenal book. But as I continue to read it I see more and more things that as a worship leader I have fallen short on. I wish I would have read it closer the first time. There are so many things that can get in the way of our relationship with Christ. My biggest stumbling block is myself. For a long time I thought I was something that everyone needed to see, like a side show at the Ionia Free Fair, or the circus or something. I have come to the realization that while I am a side show I am one of those side shows that you have to pay a small amount of money to see the really simple, ridiculous acts, and them pay more money to see the really amazing stuff like driving nails through my nose or eating a handful of honey bees, things like that.


The truth is, that even on my best days I cannot measure up to the standards set before me. I try and try, but at the end of the day all I have left is a pile of wreckage and ash in my wake.

But as the song says that I am listening to right now, “All I need is You Lord, All I need is You”. That is all any of us needs. God is our life's Avenger! He alone can save and He alone can rescue us from a life of self.

Back to this book I am reading, if God has called you to lead worship like He has me, then you know the struggle to which I am writing. There is such a fine line between worship and performance. We can mix the two, but for us as worship leader it is an extremely fine line. It is so easy to get caught up in the performing aspect of music that we lose the heart of worship that God planted in us. This happened to me recently. I simply got caught up in the music and lost my focus on who it was I was playing the music for.

The business of life took a toll and it became a crushing weight that I could no longer stand up under. I felt like a Mini Cooper at a monster truck rally and the monster truck stopped right on top of me. I wasn't turning to God to bring relief, but rather to myself. I looked to my own strength to stand up underneath the weight and I was just not strong enough to handle it on my own.

I lost perspective on Who I should have been focusing and the vision and purpose behind the worship ministry. By the time I left the church I was so crushed a tired that I had to take three months away from church just to recover from the mental and spiritual exhaustion. My biggest mistake was that I was trying to make the vision of the ministry come to pass, but that wasn't my job. My job was simply to follow Christ and He would make the vision happen. There is nothing that I can do to make God “do” anything. I stepped out of the passenger seat and stepped into the driver seat and that is when I fell apart.

I was driving hard to reach the ultimate goal which wasn't to lead people in worship, but rather to land a full time worship leader position in the church. I even landed an interview in Frankenmuth, MI with one of the most predominate churches in that area. I didn't make the cut, but when I landed the interview I was on cloud nine. I thought I was somebody, I thought I had arrived. Who knew that it was the beginning of God breaking me.

Pride, it is one of the most, if not the most, destructive sin known to man. The bible says that “pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before the fall.” (Proverbs 16:18) As worship leaders we have to be so careful not to fall into the trap of destructive pride.

I wish I could go back to the beginning and start again, but God doesn't work like that. He allows us to walk through the valleys so that we grow stronger in Him.

I feel that I am finally getting stronger, but it is a slow and painful process. There is a lot of self examination in the healing process. I have to spend a lot of time going through the painful process of being striped away till only Christ remains. It is like I was telling my son last night when he asked about the scar I have on my knee. I told him that “the doctor had to give daddy an owy so that his knee would feel better, and now it feels allot better”. The recovery process was miserable not only for me, but for Renee as well, because she had to get up every four hours for weeks to change the ice water that surrounded my leg, and she was pregnant at the time.

It is the same with a broken life. It is miserable for everyone involved until healing comes. So it is my prayer for very broken worship leader, pastor, husband, father, anyone, that you would hold on through the healing process, because there is a better life on the other side of the pain and healing.

How Blessed Are We?

It has been a few weeks since the last time I posted. I apologize for that, but it is for good reason. Our family has been very busy. I myself have been reaching toward a new career in the medical field and I have finally chosen where to start. I have been struggling for months with this life altering decision. I have chosen to start the steps needed to enter nursing.


To some this may come as a surprise and for others this may be old hat. I have talk with several friends about their experiences in the nursing field and also their experiences as a CNA (Certified Nurses Aid). After weighing all of the options and mulling over all of the career and educational requirements I have chosen to start with becoming a CNA/PCT (Patient Care Technician).

However, this is not the only thing that has kept me away from writing to my readers. My son, Marcus and his cousin, Isaiah, were running around our house last weekend and having loads of fun, but the fun never lasts forever. The boys were, as I said, running around the house screaming, laughing, and simply having loads of fun. Fun, until they decided to jump off the couch. They found their new found base jumping adventure to be very exciting, but the last time Marcus jumped his Superman cape failed to co-operate and he fell and broke his leg.

Now hold on, this still isn't all! The weather in Michigan was so beautiful a few weeks ago that we went out as a family and bought bikes for everyone. I have been doing my best to get out in the nice weather and get some exercisize and have done pretty well. In the last month and a half I have lost a total of 18 lbs. Renee has also been doing her best and she has lost a total of 13 lbs in the same amount of time. We have not only been biking but also running, and getting our butts kicked by Jillian Michaels with her 30 day Shred.

So as you can see things have been very crazy around the Sutter household for the last few weeks. Oh, but we are so excited. It is looking like Marcus will be able to get his cast off after just two weeks, and the weight loss is still on the rise, or decline (not sure which word to use there) and I will be starting at community college in the fall for my CNA/PCT training.

What a wild ride!! God has been so good. We are so glad that is was Marcus who took the infamous fall rather than his cousin Isaiah (who's family were five hours from home), not that we wished it on Marcus, but if it had to be one of them, that it was Marcus. We are happy that we are losing weight at such an amazing pace, even though it has been so much work. Finally, I am so blessed to have a supportive family and friends who encourage me to run head long into my future rather than play it safe in a dead end career.

How blessed are we?!?!