Category Archive: Ross Engel

When I Kept Silent

By Ross Engel –

They say that silence is golden. Sometimes this can most certainly be true. It can be a real treat to find a quiet place to study or read. A quiet afternoon at the beach with the breeze, the ocean waves, a cigar, and a book is my idea of a perfectly relaxing day. Last week, my wife and I got to enjoy a night out. While the night included a lively Irish Dancing show, our evening actually began with an hour of just the two of us lost in conversation in the quiet corner of a mostly empty cocktail lounge. That silence was golden!

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The Joy of Camaraderie

By Ross Engel –

When Paul first approached me to be a part of The Jagged Word, his initial request was simply for me to run a campaign that would raise money for seminarians to enjoy a drink with their friends and buy them a book or two to help them prepare for ministry. I was excited to be invited into The Jagged Word family and to have a greater share in this brotherhood. Now, the Bell Ringer fund is a rather simple task. I show up at the two seminaries once a year, try to meet as many of the students as I can, enjoy a few drinks, get to know a few of the guys, and then pick a deserving young man to be the beneficiary of the Bell Ringer fund. (By the way, you can still donate to the Bell Ringer Fund for young Gabe! I’m hoping to raise $500 for this great future pastor!)

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Be Strong AND Courageous

By Ross Engel –

Being strong and not putting to good use one’s strength, is a waste. One of my favorite passages of Scripture is found in Joshua 1:9, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” God commands Joshua and His people, be strong AND courageous! But what’s the difference between strength and courage? And how are they related?

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On Killing Your Brother

By Ross Engel –

One of the mortal sins of combat is known as Fratricide. It is the killing of one’s teammate; it is the killing of one’s brother. Perhaps you’ve heard it called “Friendly fire” or an instance of “blue on blue.” It is one of the most horrific parts of war, and as long as there has been combat, there have been accidental incidents of fratricide. The 1989 Tom Cruise movie, “Born on the 4th of July” depicts the confusion that takes place in the midst of battle, “the fog of war,” and the accidental killing of one’s own teammate. The psychological scars of this action would haunt Tom Cruise’s character, real life Vietnam War veteran, Ron Kovic, for the rest of his life.

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The Return of the Bell Ringer

By Ross Engel –

This past January, as has been my tradition for the past six years, I made my way to the annual symposia at Concordia Theological Seminary in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Despite the often sub-zero temperatures experienced during this week of theological education, this has become a favorite event of mine to attend. I get to catch up with dear friends like Paul and Joel and meet all sorts of new people, too. The theological discussion is quite excellent, and the social gatherings are a real joy. Between all the learning, there are meals and cocktails to enjoy at the homes of professors and then banquets to celebrate great Lutheran things ranging from the Higher Things youth gatherings to the deaconess program. There is so much to do, and we always end up with a pretty full dance card.

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Women Weaken Legs!

By Ross Engel –

One of my favorite movies of all time is Rocky. I love the entire series (Minus the disappointment that was Rocky V). In the first film, Rocky is training hard for his shot at the champ He lands himself a girlfriend, the lovely and slightly awkward Adrian, who later becomes his wife. When his trainer Mick finds out that he’s involved with a woman, he grumbles at Rocky and tells him point blank, “Women. Weaken. Legs!” At that point, Rocky reluctantly agrees not to “fool around” anymore with Adrian.

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Up Before the Enemy

By Ross Engel –

It’s early. The sun won’t be up for another two and half hours. My alarm was set to go off at 4:45am, but it’s 4:26am, I’m already up, and my obnoxiously large cup of coffee is about to be consumed. In the words of Jocko Willink, it’s time to “Get After It.”

Jocko. I feel like I know the guy. Thanks to Twitter, his weekly podcast, and his book, it’s like I’ve got my own “cornerman” yelling instructions to me as I grapple along in life.

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Something Worth Boasting About

By Ross Engel –

As it exists in my memory, the 1980s were a decade of excess. When I think back to the popular movies of the time, those excesses were paraded before my young eyes. The Griswolds and their National Lampoon’s various Vacations, The Back to the Future trilogy, Goonies, Scarface, Top Gun, the Indiana Jones movies, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Risky Business, and all those John Hughes’ movies (just to name a few) lauded lifestyles that enjoyed the latest and greatest that culture had to offer.

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Success and Failure

By Ross Engel –

“Success” is a loaded word. It is such a subjective word that it can be challenging to nail down what a person means when they start talking about “success” and “failure.”

Consider the various vocations and duties that you have. If I consider the various stations of life that God has given me, I can say that I am a husband, father, son, pastor, boss, brother, friend, neighbor, and probably a handful of other things to a variety of people. But how do I determine whether or not I am a success in any of these stations of life? I ask this, because lately I haven’t been feeling terribly “successful” at life.

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Dishonesty in Death

By Ross Engel –

On January 1, 1998, MTV premiered a brilliant Claymation TV show called Celebrity Deathmatch. This vividly violent and quite hilarious show depicted clay versions of various celebrities battling to the death in the ring. While it was clever the way these clay celebrities met their demise, what was especially amusing was that announcers Johnny Gomez and Nick Diamond (and the celebrities themselves) were bluntly honest about these stars. If a celebrity had a drug addiction, plastic surgery, or some major character flaw, the creators of the show would mercilessly incorporate those flaws into the clever and gruesome ways that the celebrities would fight and die. The show ran for several seasons, pitting celebrity against celebrity to the death. Its violent run ended in 2002.

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White Elephants

By Ross Engel –

Have you ever gone to a Christmas party with a white elephant gift exchange? You know, one of those deals where everyone brings a gift and then a game is played to select and steal gifts until they’re all gone? In my experience, people usually gravitate towards the big, oddly shaped, and cleverly wrapped packages. People will fight over one specific gift—stealing, trading, and hoping that what is inside is worth the effort. If you are a clever white elephant gifter, you can get rid of some terrific junk. One year, my parents had this giant pink ceramic piggy bank. It was a huge eye sore, but they wrapped it up nicely and watched as people fought over this heavy piece of junk, none of them knowing the “treasure” inside.

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The Least of These

By Ross Engel –

“You know Pastor, not every pastor would do what you did today. Thank you.”

I had just spent the day driving through the inner-city with two older ladies. My role was to make sure we didn’t get lost or accosted while we were in the rough part of town. Our mission for the day was to complete all the necessary steps to get one of the ladies on a path that would get her back on her feet for good. We accomplished our tasks and even managed to have a few laughs in the process! It was an enjoyable time, despite the circumstances.

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Humble Yourself

By Ross Engel –

Darkness started to swirl around my eyes, my neck pounded, and quickly I tapped my hand twice against the arm that was firmly pressed against my neck. It had only taken a few seconds (less time than it took to read that last statement), but I was about to pass out. It was my first Brazilian Jiu Jitsu class and on that day, the lesson of the day was seven different submission chokes. In the three hours that followed, I watched, I learned, I practiced, was practiced on, and then I rolled (grappled). And in the midst of it all, I was humbled. It would be safe to say that I’ve been humbled over and over again with each class that I’ve attended!

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Tearing Down the Wall

By Ross Engel –

In Berlin, Germany in 1987, former President Ronald Reagan emphatically declared, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” I was seven years old when that speech was given. I knew very little of the world, and even less about communism or the Cold War. What I did know was that, according to Rocky IV, Communism was bad and Russia was where the “bad guys” were. Darn you, Ivan Drago! Thanks to my Uncle, who had been stationed near “Checkpoint Charlie,” I also knew that the Berlin Wall divided Germany into two sections: free Germany and communist Germany.  When the wall fell in 1989, I, along with the rest of America, cheered.

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Holy Cow!

By Ross Engel –

Cubs Win! Cubs Win! Holy Cow!

I have been a Cubs fan for my entire life. Over the years, I have caught my fair share of crap from people, especially since I grew up in the south suburbs of Chicago where White Sox fans seemed to reign. I grew up listening to Steve Stone and Harry Caray calling the Cubs games (they were so much better than Joe Buck). I even recall quite fondly the WGN pregame intro to Cubs baseball back in the 80s (they used Van Halen’s, “Jump!”). Wrigley Field is a great park to watch a ball game, I even remember how big of a deal it was back in 1988 when Wrigley got lights and had their first night-time ball game!

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The Hell House

By Ross Engel –

All Hallows Eve is only a few days away. Costumed trick-or-treaters and late night revilers will soon be upon us! Be prepared! I have many fond memories of my childhood, dressing up to go trick-or-treating on Halloween and getting lots of free candy! I grew up in the 80s and back then my parents had a standing rule that we couldn’t eat any candy until we got home and they inspected it all. They meticulously checked our candy-filled plastic pumpkins for things that might be dangerous. Over the years, some really sick people have tried to hurt children by poisoning candy and there have even been instances of razors or nails imbedded in Halloween loot. We had great neighbors growing up though, and never had anything like that in our Halloween haul.

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Crumbled Spires

By Ross Engel –

One of my favorite hymns in the hymnal is LSB 645 “Built on the Rock.” Musically, this hymn is a powerful one that almost begs to be played and sung at full volume. I recall my days in seminary when this hymn would make it into the singing rotation. The massive pipe organ made the pews and walls of the chapel shake and swell as the students and professors offered their voices to the triumphant sound of this Danish Lutheran hymn.

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Remember Why You Started

By Ross Engel –

I fell in love with weight training the first time I walked into the gym. I was a scrawny 14-year-old kid who barely weighed in at 115 pounds. I was so weak that I could barely lift the 45-pound Olympic bar. I had played soccer and basketball for years, so I was pretty quick on my feet. I had just started doing gymnastics, and I wanted to get stronger and faster. My introduction to weight training was a great awakening to a new world, one that I have now spent the better part of 22 years enjoying. That scrawny, wide-eyed kid who stepped through the doors of the gym those years ago is not recognizable when people see me now, but he’s still there in my mind. He (along with a fair share of life’s tormentors) is the unseen motivation behind every set, rep, and training journal entry.

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Face Eating Zombies!

By Ross Engel –

My wife just introduced me to a new drug. It’s called: Flakka. Apparently Flakka turns you into a Zombie. And like Zombies, the people who take it have no idea what they’re doing. They stumble, moan, and are oblivious to the world around them. While on the drug, users have tried to run through glass doors. They’re impervious to pain. Jump off buildings. Run around naked. There is even a story about a young Florida man who police found eating someone’s face after he had murdered them.

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