Gratitude to God: Jim Found’s Foundation

MEMORABLE EVENT

I would like to share one event from my life that filled me with gratitude to God. It was the fourth day of a canoe trip on Wisconsin’s Rainbow flowage with the youth group of Brookfield Lutheran Church, probably around 1984.`It had rained all day. We were soaking wet when we finally arrived at our campsite for the night. When we began removing our wet, sweaty clothes, the mosquitos descended en mass. I remember seeing one boy’s torso black with mosquitos. After a hurried meal, everyone headed for their tents. For the next half hour, there was the sound of swatting as each group tried to reduce the mosquito population in its tent. Then total silence, as the rain came to a stop. Faintly, then more clearly, I heard sounds coming from the tents. The older kids had begun to read the Bible aloud to the younger ones in the tents. Those older kids were the ones I had started in confirmation class four years earlier. I was struck with amazement and gratitude at how God had caused their faith to grow. I remember saying, “God, you can take me now.” What I meant was that God had fulfilled the verse “Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9) (Berean Study Bible) .Obviously He didn’t take me then, but that experience motivated me to keep moving forward, knowing He was that kind of God.

Jim’s Bio

Jim Found  taught outreach courses at Concordia University, St. Paul, Minnesota, from 1998 to 2006, as a member of the Oswald Hoffmann School of Christian Outreach (OHSCO),,  which was housed there at the time.

Jim has retired from teaching but continues to give witness workshops.

From 1986 to 1997, Jim and his wife Sue lived on Taiwan, serving with the Lutheran Church –  Missouri Synod (LCMS).  Jim’s assignment was to help the religion department at a high school established by the China Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Prior to 1986, Jim was a Director of Christian Education at a church in Wisconsin, working with youth, teacher training, and evangelism.  He has been on the teacher roster of  LCMS since 1980.  Before that, he was a high school orchestra director at several places in Wisconsin, having received the degree Bachelor of Music Education from Valparaiso University in 1962.

His book Basic Greek in 30 Minutes a Day (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1983) is an easy introduction to New Testament Greek concepts. Try it.

You can learn to read the Chinese words in the newspapers within an hour by using this activity designed for fifth grade and up. Another activity, that can be used to review world history, is World Empires on One Page.

Jim’s email is learner9696@yahoo.com    Click here for scenic photos

Richard’s personal reflection

Jim and I first met back in 1972 with the planning of the Explo 72 Comes to Milwaukee

Resources for reflecting back on your life.