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Don’t you just hate it when someone falls asleep on you?

You are talking to someone who on the surface appears to be intently listening and the next thing you know their eyes begin to twitch a bit and before you know it, they close and the deep snoring sound begins to emanate from them.

As a pastor, I know all about how that feels. Oh, for sure, people always spin it to make me feel better: “Your sermons are so restful”; “My eyes are closed because I am thinking”; “I hear better when I am not looking at you”; “I find I am distracted if I don’t close my eyes.” And those are only my wife’s excuses.

Then there are the honest ones, who say, “love coming to church – best sleep I get all week!”

Folks, it is one thing to sleep in church, it is a whole other thing to be asleep at the wheel, and whether you take that literally or figuratively they have the same result.

In Mark 4:35-41, we see just that occurring. Jesus asleep at the wheel. Can you blame Him? He has been travelling here, there, and everywhere and is downright tired. That is typically the reason people fall asleep at the wheel.

Of course, a huge storm comes up and the next thing you know the crew is freaking out! We’re going to die! The world is coming to an end and the one person who can help us through this is sleeping. They can’t believe He would be so “out of it” that He wouldn’t know there is a storm taking place and all their lives are at risk.

Of course, this is Jesus at the helm and the others in the boat with Him have no reason to sweat it! But, they are freaking out … they had little faith.

And that’s where we are today, isn’t it? We lack the intensity of faith to be able to trust the Lord that He will see us through. We forget that Jesus is NEVER asleep at the wheel. He can’t be … He is perfect, we are not and so when it appears He is not there to care for us in times of trouble, the reality is, He is not only there, but He is carrying us through. Instead we are like the disciples … where are you Jesus when I need you the most?

Our lives are filled with challenges and we have only one way out when the reality of life hits us full bore … and that way out is the man on the cross who forgave us then and now, for everyone of US falling asleep at the wheel … not serving as we should, for accusing when we shouldn’t, for sinning when we know we are.

The Lord is alive and well and wide-awake right here in Lake County … ready, willing, and able to help our community prosper once again.

Let’s begin right here in Lucerne as we plan a work day to try to make First Lutheran Church look like God actually lives there. We are going to do a church cleanup on Saturday, June 30, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., and whatever help you can provide would be most appreciated.

Each Sunday we have Bible study at 9:30 a.m., worship at 11 a.m., with a hot lunch following service.

Please join us every Sunday to hear God’s word, have a time of study and eat! It’s Hawaiian shirt summer so if you have one, please wear it.

Chris DelCol is pastor of First Lutheran Church in Lucerne, Calif. The church is located at 3863 Country Club Drive, telephone 707-274-5572. Email Pastor Chris at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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Do you realize that all sins can be forgiven, no matter how serious? Except, of course, for one.

You can do any of the following and with a repentant soul ask God to forgive and He will: Hate, lie, deceive, gossip, adultery, steal, murder, even worship false idols.

How about being part of a group of likeminded people plotting against others who don’t agree?

Family against family, husband against wife, wife against husband, friends against friends, us against them!

Even everyone against God! All forgivable!

Unfortunately, there is at least one instruction given to us by Jesus that is not followed as it should and it is to forgive as you are forgiven. But there is one sin that cannot be forgiven and that is to sin against the Holy Spirit as seen in Mark 3:29, “but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness but is guilty of an eternal sin.”

The LCMS position on this is, “Placing a target on the Holy Spirit and deliberately slandering Him implies that the person who commits this offense knows exactly what he is doing. The sin, therefore, manifests a heart hardened in impenitent opposition to the Third Person of the Holy Trinity. Every effort on the part of the Holy Spirit to bring or restore such a person to faith in Christ is rejected, repulsed and repudiated.”

Does that mean we can we go around sinning to our hearts content, especially when it involves the willful destruction of another human being, and as long as we avoid degrading the Holy Spirit we expect God to forgive us?

Now isn’t that an interesting question for us to ask ourselves? Isn’t that just a challenge and a half as we think about all the times we have sinned against others in the past or have been the brunt of someone else’s sin and have not seen fit to forgive them?

We live in a world that is desperate need of knowing the forgiveness that God provides for all sin (Holy Spirit excepted).

In Lake County, we deal too often with the sin of judging others instead of helping others. We must never forget that we are all equal in God’s eyes and that whatever we do to help those in need is ultimately what we do to Jesus.

Matt 25:40, And the King will answer them, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” If we help others, we help the kingdom with a heart for servanthood. That said, if we judge others, we judge God and the work of the Holy Spirit within us. We will talk more about the forgiveness of sin at worship at First Lutheran Church of Lucerne on Sunday, June 10.

Please join us for a contemporary worship service at 11 a.m. Bible study starts at 9:30 a.m., and lunch follows worship. All are welcome so come as you are!

Chris DelCol is pastor of First Lutheran Church in Lucerne, Calif. The church is located at 3863 Country Club Drive, telephone 707-274-5572.
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Remember the Sabbath God said, a day of rest, and Jesus reminds us of this in the Gospel of Mark 2:23-28.

You may conclude it means someone telling you to get your rest this way: "I want to you to get up out of bed early on Sunday morning. I want you to go to church. While you are there, stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down … that’s how Lutherans get their exercise!”

Doesn't sound like our idea of R&R, does it? And yet, the Lord commands us to remember the Sabbath day, worship and all; and He calls the Sabbath day a day of rest, worship and all.

Is worship about rest? Is the Sabbath day? Are we relaxed and rested when we leave church on Sunday morning? What is this third commandment about, anyway?

That commandment is, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." "Observe" it. On the seventh day, the last day of the week, the Israelites were to cease from their labors: no farming, no milling, no weaving, no work, period!

It wasn't just a rule for adults: it was for the children, for the servants, for all. The Sabbath was to be a day of rest and a day of worship. It is the Lord’s Day, not our day!

Why did God command them to rest like this? Some today say that this was God preventing his people from burnout; he was forcing them to put down their tools and do something else once a week, like praise God for the blessings He bestowed upon them. He was simply making sure that they didn't wear out their minds and bodies by overworking all the time.

He was building family time into the week by making sure that his people had one day a week to be together and focus on the King or Kings.

You can see, then, why the Sabbath would be the day for worship; as they remembered all that God had done, was doing, and would do, it was only appropriate to hear those promises in his saving Word, and to sing his praises.

The most obvious problem we have in society today is skipping worship, replacing it with something else on Sunday morning: an extra hour's sleep, more time at the office, a football game, kids’ soccer practice.

Whenever we replace the Sabbath day with something else that we deem more restful or more important, we are no longer treasuring it as we should. We are saying, "God is coming to church today with his Word and sacraments for me, but I have better things to do."

These other things are great temptations, because they can leave us feeling more refreshed in mind and body; they can trick us into believing that they did more for us than church would have. But those activities can't forgive sins, they can't give us rest for our souls.

In our towns here in Lake County, many are unchurched and need the rest that only the peace of God which surpasses all human understanding can bring.

That can come from not only attending church, but also supporting the church with your time, talents and treasures.

And that extends to your neighbor as well. Love for God, love for neighbor, all working together to let the hassles of life take a back seat for a change.

Join us at First Lutheran Church on Sunday, June 3rd to experience the rest that only worship, Word, Sacrament, fellowship and a hot lunch can bring.

Bible study begins at 9:30 a.m., worship at 11 a.m., Sunday School at 11:15 a.m. and lunch immediately following the service.

Chris DelCol is pastor of First Lutheran Church in Lucerne, Calif. The church is located at 3863 Country Club Drive, telephone 707-274-5572.
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A little boy was asked to define Father’s Day and he said, “It’s just like Mother’s Day, only you don’t spend as much on presents.”

Bruce Howell writes, a good father is one of the most unsung, unpraised, unnoticed and unappreciated heroes in all humanity.

Needless to say, I agree with that statement as I look each day at the fathers of this world, and especially those in this community who, for the most part, do everything they can do to do their best for the sake of their family.

That’s great, but we have a problem here with dads right here in the good ol’ USA … 35 percent of the kids in the US live in homes with no father. Can you believe that?

Look to these facts from a study done by, “The Fatherless Generation”:

– 63 percent of youth suicides are from fatherless homes.
– 90 percent of all homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes.
– 85 percent of all children who show behavior disorders come from fatherless homes.
– 80 percent of rapists with anger problems come from fatherless homes.
– 71 percent of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes.
– Fatherless children are twice as likely to drop out of school.
– Children with fathers who are involved are 40 percent less likely to repeat a grade in school.
– Children with fathers who are involved are 70 percent less likely to drop out of school.
– Children with fathers who are involved are more likely to get As in school.
– Children with fathers who are involved are more likely to enjoy school and engage in extracurricular activities.
– 75 percent of all adolescent patients in chemical abuse centers come from fatherless homes – 10 times the average.
– Over 90 percent of kids who do not have their father attend church with them will not go to church after they leave home no matter how often the mother takes them to church!

It is difficult for a child to communicate his or her belief in the one true God if they don’t see it coming first from their parents, especially the father.

How can we expect our children to learn about Jesus if they don’t attend worship because there is some sports event that takes priority?

How can we expect our children to adopt a healthy prayer life when we can’t even thank God for the bounty He provides for something as simple as the food on our table?

How can we expect our children to speak up about their salvation through faith in Christ?

So where is the good news in all this?

It would appear that our sin in life, our lack of ability to spread the good news by speaking out about it, is severely lacking at times. How do we find a sense of fulfillment, happiness and joy in this predicament?

The answer is knowing this, from Romans 3, “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law … the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for ALL have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”

Thus, the task of the father in today’s society is exactly what it has been throughout history, to communicate the good news of Jesus Christ to a world that is drowning in sin as people search for happiness through false gods … money, power, prestige, self-glory, materialism and so on.

Our task as fathers, as Christians, is to seek the glory of God by sharing the joy of salvation with those who are lost in this community and in need of hearing of the hope and redemption offered through faith in Jesus Christ.

Please join us this Sunday at First Lutheran Church in Lucerne to hear more about fathers on this Father’s Day, 2018.

Bible Study starts at 9:30 a.m., worship at 11 a.m., with lunch immediately following worship and our monthly Food Cupboard from 1 to 2 p.m.

All are welcome so come as you are and spend a few hours with us to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ.

Chris DelCol is pastor of First Lutheran Church in Lucerne, Calif. The church is located at 3863 Country Club Drive, telephone 707-274-5572.
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Greg Dill. Courtesy photo.



Brittle bones could shatter your life.

Every year, more Americans are diagnosed with osteoporosis, a disease that causes bones to weaken and become more likely to break. You may not know that you have this “silent” disease until your bones are so weak that a sudden strain, bump, or fall causes your wrist to break or your hip to fracture.

Medicare can help you prevent or detect osteoporosis at an early stage, when treatment works best.

Talk to your doctor about getting a bone mass measurement. If you’re at risk, Medicare Part B covers this test once every 24 months (more often if medically necessary) when your doctor or other qualified provider orders it.

A bone mass measurement test helps to see whether you have osteoporosis or should be concerned about your bones. Some people call this test a bone mineral density (BMD) test.

A BMD test uses a special machine to measure the amount of bone mineral you have in a certain area of bone. Bone density testing can be done on different bones of your body, including your hip, spine, forearm (between the wrist and elbow), wrist, finger or heel.

A BMD test is safe and painless, and it provides important information about your bone health. Your healthcare provider uses this information to make recommendations to help you protect your bones.

If you are diagnosed with osteoporosis, your healthcare provider may order laboratory and other tests. These tests can help your healthcare provider find out if you have another medical condition causing bone loss.

Who's eligible for the bone test? All qualified people with Part B who are at risk for osteoporosis and meet one or more of these conditions:

– A woman whose doctor determines that she is both estrogen deficient and at risk for osteoporosis;
– A person whose X-rays show possible osteoporosis, osteopenia, or vertebral fractures;
– A person taking prednisone or steroid-type drugs or is planning to begin this treatment;
– A person who has been diagnosed with primary hyperparathyroidism;
– A person who is being monitored to see if their osteoporosis drug therapy is working.

You pay nothing for a bone density test if your doctor or other qualified health care provider accepts Medicare payment rates for his or her services and agrees not to bill you for anything other than the Medicare deductible or coinsurance.

Osteoporosis and the broken bones it can cause are not part of normal aging. And there’s a lot you can do to protect your bones throughout your life.

You’re never too young or too old to improve the health of your bones. Osteoporosis prevention should begin in childhood. But it shouldn’t stop there. Whatever your age, the habits you adopt now can affect your bone health for the rest of your life. Now is the time to take action.

What can you do to protect your bones?

Get enough calcium and vitamin D and eat a well-balanced diet.

Engage in regular exercise.

Eat foods that are good for bone health, such as fruits and vegetables.

Avoid smoking and limit alcohol to 2-3 drinks per day.

Medicare defines medically necessary services and supplies as those needed to diagnose or treat an illness, injury, condition, disease, or its symptoms and that meet accepted standards of medical care.

Your doctor or other health care provider may recommend you get services more often than Medicare covers. Or they may recommend services that Medicare doesn’t cover. If this happens, you may have to pay some or all of the costs.

Ask questions so you understand why your doctor is recommending certain services and whether Medicare will pay for them.

The short video below shows more about how Medicare can help you protect your bones.

Greg Dill is Medicare’s regional administrator for Arizona, California, Nevada, Hawaii and the Pacific Territories. You can always get answers to your Medicare questions by calling 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227).

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Here at Lake County News, we run very few election-related or endorsement editorials.

The last one we wrote was published eight years ago, at the height of the Mitchell-Rivero battle for the sheriff’s job, a situation we had rightly predicted would be a mess. And, as it turned out, it was far worse than we had imagined.

The situation this year is far different. Candidates, thankfully, have been far more decent to each other, and the focus has been on policy and the needs of the county.

This year, however, there is an urgency for the entire county and for our Northshore home base that is more critical than in decades.

The situation is an amalgam of the long-running impacts of wildland fire recovery and the continual struggles of a rural county.

We believe the theme of this year’s election is economic development and making it a No. 1 priority.

That makes the District 3 supervisorial race just that much more important.

The candidates this year are EJ Crandell and Denise Loustalot, two very good people who are credits to the Northshore.

But the importance of the election is leading us to endorse Loustalot, the former mayor the city of Clearlake and a business owner.

We believe Loustalot leads on economic development. Running two businesses in Lake County – much less California – is no small feat, and she and her husband, Pete, started those businesses themselves from the ground up and have continued to expand and bring job opportunities to the county.

She also has experience as a local government leader. During her time on the Clearlake City Council, Loustalot served back-to-back terms as mayor and navigated some of the most contentious topics, including the issues with illegal marijuana that were tearing the city apart before the state’s recreational legalization vote.

Additionally, she brought her mettle to the project to renovate a lakeside home and turn it into a new visitor center and the Clear Lake Chamber of Commerce headquarters. Loustalot is the chamber’s president, and she’s been pressing forward to revitalize that important organization in order to boost support for local businesses.

While outgoing Supervisor Jim Steele placed Loustalot as the chair of his East Region Town Hall and Crandell as his planning commissioner, he has chosen to endorse Crandell.

Crandell’s campaign, which appears to be run by Steele’s wife, Olga – who was the campaign manager for Frank Rivero – echoes Jim Steele’s priorities a little too closely. We can hardly find Crandell in the details as he appears more a hostage than a candidate.

After a lackluster four years of unfulfilled promises, an admitted taste for brinkmanship and a steaming heap of bureaucracy, Jim Steele doesn’t get to pick his successor.

We’ve watched him gleefully sell off Northshore assets – some of them bought with the tax increment revenue established under redevelopment by Northshore residents – and sit back as those funds disappear into the general fund. Then he had the nerve to complain that the Board of Supervisors wouldn’t agree to take some of those funds to dredge the Lucerne Harbor.

Yet, he never stopped himself to put on a condition that funds be used for Northshore needs before jumping up to make the motion to sell those properties. If he can’t adopt that as a priority, why should the rest of the board?

All that we can tell that he’s actually accomplished is bringing more bureaucracy to the Northshore in the form of the town halls. That’s what one would expect from a career bureaucrat. Oh, and claiming credit for things he clearly didn’t do, like reducing water rates through Cal Water.

He claims the town halls are the way to get things done in the community, that they’re a way to hear from residents. In fact, they look more like a way to divert people away from meaningful interaction with the county government and keep them spinning on a hamster wheel until they get tired and go home.

As an example: At a Lucerne Town Hall earlier this year, of the hour and 30 minutes allotted for the meeting, he spoke for almost an hour of it. Once his ramblings were over and he decided to leave for the night, that left residents a hurried 30 minutes to have any of their own business to bring forward.

Right. More illustration of Jim Steele (supposedly) being the smartest guy in the room, but far from the wisest, most perceptive or productive.

We don’t need four more years of Jim Steele. We need four new years of a go-getter who has and will continue to find ways to make the business climate more amenable, and who will actually listen – not talk over – the community.

In other words, action not mindless chatter.

This endorsement isn’t an action we take lightly. As business owners and media representatives, we have constant business before the board, so we expect our lame duck supervisor may exercise what power he has left in a final shot of retaliation.

Nevertheless, damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.

Vote Denise Loustalot for District 3 supervisor. She’s the right choice for a better future for the Northshore.


Measure G offers a boost to the county

Right now, Lake County is facing a difficult and complicated financial situation.

The difficulties and potential solutions were laid out to community members in a series of five visioning forums held in January throughout Lake County.

What emerged from those forums was the county’s proposal to put a 1.5-percent general sales tax measure before voters on June 5.

At a time when it seems like the costs of everything is going up, commiting to such a course isn’t exactly the first option we’d like to take. But after careful consideration, it may be the best short-term option we have.

A great deal of the current situation is a result of the impacts of wildland fires. There also is the impact of the Lakeside Heights lawsuit settlement of last year, which required the county pay $4.5 million out of its reserves and other accounts because the settlement wasn’t covered by insurance.

We understand the point of view of those who oppose sales tax and their reasons for it. However, even so, they’ve not offered much of an alternative in the face of what is truly a dire situation. Mostly, they’ve complained about what they believe were past spending mistakes.

Yes, business as usual at the county needs to change, and there are signs change already is under way at the county government level. It seems slow to those of us who aren’t in government, but anyone should understand that course corrections of a big institution, like a big ship, take time.

However, telling Lake County to wait while it rearranges its way of doing business is like telling someone who desperately needs an organ transplant or a blood transfusion to instead get on home and try to do more situps and take some vitamins.

If the experience of the cities of Clearlake and Lakeport is anything to guide us, sales taxes have worked in the effort to protect services in tough economic times. In Clearlake’s case, it’s also allowing that city to move quickly forward with an ambitious road and street improvement effort that should reap significant returns in quality of life and economic development.

Are sales tax measures regressives? One can make that argument. But you know what’s more regressive, and downright backwards? Sitting by and doing nothing, allowing the county’s financial problems to deepen until there is no coming back and until county finds itself completely stripped of essential services.

If we have an alternative to take and fail to act, ultimately we’re as much to blame as anyone for the county’s situation, and in the decades to come we’ll find people pointing the finger straight at us.

Measure G sunsets after 10 years; having that sunset seems a good compromise. It will take at least that long – probably at least a decade longer – to fully recover economically and socially from the wildland fires that have destroyed some 1,600 homes in the course of three devastating years.

We hope that by that time we will have other fully developed options and avenues that can take Lake County forward, there will be more new homes rebuilt to bolster the property tax rolls and more new business to add to our county’s economic vitality.

Meantime, the county of Lake needs to begin building other revenue sources to fill the gap, including collecting revenues from Measure C, the cannabis tax Lake County voters approved in 2016. It must collect transient occupancy tax from all of the people who are renting their homes on AirBNB and other similar online services. It needs to keep up with tax default sales as is now being done after a lapse of several years, a situation which can’t be allowed to happen again. And it needs to sort out the issues with its building and planning department, which is key to the ongoing rebuilding efforts.

Going forward, we’ll need careful monitoring of milestones in order to address the kinds of criticisms detractors have put forward about past mistakes and accountability. The voters must receive ongoing, transparent reports of how this money is being used and how it’s aiding the county’s economic recovery.

A great deal depends on how this is carried out; the trust of the voters in their local government will be impacted for decades if this is carried out poorly.

Measure G isn’t the whole answer. Rather, it’s one tool that we believe can jumpstart other key aspects of a long-term, long-game solution, if it’s carried out with care and resolve.

We urge community members to support Measure G on the June 5 ballot.

The Lake County News Editorial Board is composed of Editor and Co-Publisher Elizabeth Larson and Co-Publisher and Site Administrator John Jensen.

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