David Bahn – Reflections

Light from the Word and through the lens

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In 1968 Jerry Snell opened a door in the hallway outside our first hour chemistry class. He invited me into what I discovered was a darkroom. Soon I was on the school newspaper and annual staff as a photographer. Later I learned that Jerry was a Lutheran who was planning to become a pastor. A few years later I was not only a Lutheran, but I was heading off to seminary to become a Lutheran pastor, too. Jerry followed a year later and served as a pastor in Missouri until his untimely heart attack and death. I thank God for Jerry and enjoy photography still today – not to mention rejoicing in having served as a Lutheran pastor in congregations in Utah, Colorado, Arkansas and Texas. I’ve retired now and serve part time as a Congregational Support Specialist for the Texas District of the LCMS. I also provide coaching and leadership training through various PLI cohorts and with individual congregations and organizations. David Bahn is a follower of Jesus Christ, husband to Diane, father and grandfather. He is an avid amateur photographer. His photo website is “Flowers by God Photos by David” He also publishes a devotional blog DavidBahn-Reflections.com. He and Diane live in Cypress Texas and enjoy visiting their grandchildren who live in the United States and Germany. He graduated from Concordia Theological Seminary in 1979, and earned a Doctor of Ministry degree from Fuller Theological Seminary in 1991. Diane, his wife, is now retired from PLI (PLIleadership.org). They have offered presentations on Marriage and Ministry Partnership, Leadership, Changing Your Congregation’s Culture, and Missional Living. They look are working with PLI International training pastors and wives of the ELVD Diocese of the Lutheran Church of Tanzania. David’s personal mission statement is “Leading people to realize Jesus’ calling and plans for their lives.”

Taught by God

John 6:44-50

44No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. 45It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me— 46 not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

Purple Petunia

What is God teaching you these days? For some that might take on a harsh and sharp edge, as though whenever God teaches us something it is a lesson about how not to act or what we ought to have done. If God is teaching us anything he is teaching us about how we’re wrong. It’s painful, disciplinary, and intended to take us down a notch or two.

To be sure, sometimes God does teach us the harsh lessons. Sometimes God seeks to move us from a cozy faith that is not engaged in life or a love that is growing cold. Sometimes God leads us to places of difficulty and we learn there that we must rely on him alone.

But God has a message of encouragement and love for us. The ultimate goal of God’s teaching is to bring us closer, and cause us to love him more, rather than create fear in our hearts and drive us away. God teaches us by supplying manna to his people in the wilderness. God teaches us by feeding 5000 with two fish and five loaves of bread. God teaches us by sending his Son to die for the sins of the world and then raising him from the dead.

The lesson that will sustain us through the hard times of life and that we must embrace on a daily basis is that God does teach us. He is not aloof or disconnected, but intimately involved in the affairs of men and women. He has sent his Son who has given his flesh as the bread of life for the world.

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