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I am flying to California this morning for a few days. Those of you who follow my adventurous life on Facebook (and who doesn’t) know that the last time I tried this was an adventure. My 1 p.m. flight didn’t leave until after 6. I had to overnight in Houston. I damaged my rental car. All the seats on the flight had televisions except mine. You get the picture. It was an adventure. We want adventure. We just want it on our own terms. Is that really adventure? If we knew what each day held what kind of adventure would that be. I know this week will be an adventure. I am just praying for a “better” adventure. It’s starting out pretty good. I bought new glasses last week and an hour before the place closed last night they called that my glasses had come in. Now I don’t have to travel with broke glasses. At 4:30 this morning I woke up. I noticed my wife was still awake. She said she had started to go to sleep but realized if she stayed up one more hour she could kiss me good-bye. We lay together in bed for a […]

I was thinking recently that we don’t have enough theories about the end times. I thought I should come up with one of my own. My thinking went like this: Things are bad and they are getting worse. For many, tribulation is here. Whether it’s “great” or not depends pretty much on whether it’s happening to you. In some places, dozens of Christians are dying daily for their faith. Here in America we are just beginning to be marginalized, but the process is moving pretty fast. I’m getting pretty upset about it and I suspect so is my Father. We are promised persecution. At some point however, God’s wrath comes into the picture. When that happens it isn’t just a persecution from non-believers. It’s the anger of God. At that point, it seems to me, the  church is no longer the target. The target will be a world that has rejected the love offering of Jesus. When that happens it makes no sense for the church to still be around. It’s like that point in the old western movies when the Calvary (See what I did there?) shows up. The good guys stop getting beat up and the bad guys […]

2 And early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came unto Him; and He sat down and taught them. 3 And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto Him a woman taken in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, 4 they said unto Him, “Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. 5 Now Moses in the law commanded us that such should be stoned but what sayest thou?” 6 This they said testing Him, that they might have cause to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground, as though He heard them not. 7 So when they continued asking Him, He lifted Himself up and said unto them, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” 8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 And they who heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the eldest even unto the last, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing in the midst. 10 When Jesus had lifted Himself up and saw none but the woman, He said unto […]

I am on a bit of a Grace Binge. I have read and reread everything I can get my hands on about Grace.  I just finished Yancey’s What’s So Amazing About Grace. I think next I will read a couple from Max Lucado and then maybe Swindoll and Spurgeon. I am doing this because I have become concerned about the confusion about grace among Christians and the alarming lack of grace in most of our lives. After Yancey wrote his classic, he was lambasted for remaining a friend to a prominent Christian who announced he was gay. He was clear that He was hating the sin and loving the sinner, but that wasn’t good enough for many “good” Christians who filled his mailbox with hate mail. Same thing happened when he visited the White House when the Clintons were there and wrote about their spiritual life. Apparently some “good Christians” believe only Republicans have spiritual lives. Yancey’s acts seemed to me like very graceful things to do and the fact that so many seem to violently disagree with Yancey and me has sent me back to the library (well Amazon anyway). I am not sure I’ll learn more than […]

I live in a nice subdivision with large lots. When I see my neighbors, I wave. I almost never have to talk to them. I’m comfortable with that. I quit watching the news on television. I’m not comfortable with any of our politicians and few of our public figures. What news I get now I get from Facebook and Twitter. I pick my friends and whom I follow. My picks are based on my comfort level.  If they start to make me uncomfortable, I unfriend or unfollow. I’m comfortable with that. I enjoy my church. I am comfortable there most of the time. I don’t typically read whole books of scripture. I’m not comfortable with all the passages. I’m not really comfortable with all the books. John is great; James not so much. Psalms are good; Revelations is not very comfortable. I try to stay away from the uncomfortable, but I’m not always comfortable with that. I know the uncomfortable verses are there for a reason.  I just hope they are there for someone else. Our air conditioning has given us trouble. We’ve had the servicemen out a lot. In fact, I’m waiting for one now. This is disturbing […]

I miss trials. In case you might mistake me for a crazy person or a super-spiritual type, I am talking about court trials. I have been a trial lawyer for over thirty years. Over that time I have accumulated a lot of great trial memories. I remember helping an adult woman prove her paternity. Pretty much everyone knew who her father was and his family didn’t deny it until oil was found on his property. I remember when a truck driver shot in the parking lot of a motel, tried to collect money from the motel owners. I remember telling the jury that the driver’s expert, Mr. Wright, was just plain “wrong.” The jury agreed. I remember being in federal court when the audience was filled with sign carrying supporters of the opposition. I remember defending a school board when a teacher put a kid in a box. I remember a case when the jury asked the judge for writing pads and calculators, not a good sign for the defendants. I remember when I had the opposing party on the stand and the man turned to the judge and asked if he could fire his lawyer and hire me. […]

 Today my thought are based on an article I read last week.  I also used the article as a basis for my teaching yesterday at Amana, but since most of you weren’t there I thought a summary might be helpful. Lot’s of error has crept into the Christian Church because of vague ideas about what Jesus died for. The article was helpful in pointing out some things He didn’t die for. The American Dream. We are promised riches in Glory, not here on earth. There are two many impoverished Christians whose walk shames our own to hold to this idea. Jesus does point out that our Father cares for us more than the birds and lilies, but we fail to distinguish between needs and wants. It’s a scandal that some teach that physical blessings are a sign of God’s favor. Do we forget that Jesus taught that the spiritual life is tougher, not easier for the rich? Sometimes keeping us in a payday-to-payday state is a gift from God. He gives us what we can handle, whether it be blessings or burdens. Jesus didn’t die for political purposes. Some of us seem to think that Jesus is a democrat or […]

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 The Bible was written over a 1600 year period by about 40 men from 1500 BC to AD 100. There are more than 168,000 Bibles either sold or given away per day in the United States. The Bible is the most sold book of all time and has been translated into more than 1,200 languages. There are more than 3,200 verses with prophecy fulfilled either within the Bible itself or since the Bible was written. But there are still more than 3,100 verses with yet-to-be-fulfilled prophecies. All that’s pretty impressive, pretty great, but it’s not why this is the greatest story every told. It’s the greatest love story every written. Jesus, its central character, is the greatest lover in history. All the verses in all the books of the Bible point to Him. There are lots of subplots, heroes and villains. There is lots of history, philosophy, theology and poetry. It’s still all about Jesus. If I had to give up all but one book up, (which I really wouldn’t want to do) the book […]