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.”

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  • Today

    When I was much younger, I worked in a local super market. It bore little resemblance to anything that today we would call “super”. There were three check-out lanes (none of them express). The cash register was operated by punching the dollars and cents in rows and columns. A bell rang when the total was…

  • Built on the Rock

    Many years ago I attended a church convention where nearly every vote went the opposite way that I voted. None of “my candidates” were elected. I was even on the ballot and I was not elected. I remember the sense of disappointment I felt. I went around singing, “Built on the Rock, the Church doth…

  • How much is it worth? How much am I worth?

    I’ve embraced two different understandings of these parables. Both are worthy explanations. Both embrace profound truths. One centers on the value of the Kingdom of God to man. The other emphasizes the love of God for and value of man to God. Matthew 13:44-46 44“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field,…

  • It’s no secret

    The work of God is a mystery; it’s not always obvious, nor is it easily understood. Often we see the reason for his work in our lives only in retrospect. Matthew 13:31-35 [Jesus] told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field.…

  • Fill it up

    When God speaks, things happen. There is light. Dry ground appears. Waters team with fish and sea creatures. Plants and flowers come into bud. God’s word is powerful and causes things to happen. Matthew 13:31-35 [Jesus] told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted…

  • Let us make bread

    Jesus talks about the kingdom of heaven being like leaven hidden in three measures of flower. Working its way into the whole batch, the impact is profound. Marie Antoinette is reported to have said, “Let them eat cake” in response to learning that the poor had run out of bread and were starving. Rather than…

  • Make it so!

    The battle rages. The stakes are high. The situation is dire. The solution is offered. The commander simply says, “Make it so.” A summary of a Star Trek episode (this was Picard’s often-repeated command to Number 1)? Perhaps. But these words describe the desire of God’s people for the coming of God’s kingdom. Matthew 13:31-33…

  • A man, his men, and the servants of the master

    There are really only two kinds of people in the Kingdom of God. Jesus shows this in the parable of the weeds in the wheat. Where do you fit? Matthew 13:24-30 24He put another parable before them, saying,  “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field,…

  • Good Seed and Enemies’ Antics

    I recall hearing a story several years ago about a company seeking to ruin its competitor by sowing weed seeds along a stretch of highway. A company had gotten the contract to plant grass along a newly-finished stretch of highway. A competitor  that did not get the bid decided to undercut the company that did…

  • Weeds, Enemies, and Endings

    To be taken behind the wood shed, barn, garage, or house was in past times not where a son would want to be taken. A whipping was sure to await him there. But Jesus describes salvation as being gathered with God’s people by the reapers and taken into his barn. The image here is about…