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Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Matthew 6:26 Yesterday I had a colonoscopy. Everything turned out fine.  A few years ago I had one in which a growth that the doctor described as “the kind we worry about” was found. I spend a week waiting for the growth to be tested. It turned out to be non-cancerous, but this put me on the fast track for more frequent testing. I have to admit to being a bit worried before the test. I found out that a couple of folks who love me were also a bit worried. I suppose the quality of your life can be measured by how many folks you worry about and how many worry about you. I see movies and read book about people who are loners, who don’t have anyone to worry about or to worry about them. They are usually portrayed as happy in their circumstances. I can’t believe that. We would like to be like the birds or flowers and never worry. We are not. […]

I am not a meeting person. Eleven years in the military and many years in a law firm groomed me to be a meeting hater. I can’t get into the “getting everyone on the same page” agenda. I have no patience for the need to smooth egos and set up pecking orders which seem to come with meetings. I nevertheless recognize the need for meetings. I usually try to push them to as quick an end as possible. Meetings are part of the behind-the-scenes activity that is necessary for the success of any organization. As meeting hater, I was reluctant to accept a place on my church  board. After a year of service, however, I have to admit that the board meetings are among the best I have every had to endure. There is a sweet spirit of fellowship and coöperation in each meeting. Everyone present seems intent on finding and advancing God’s intention for our church. There is much behind-the-scenes activity in church. I know we all tend to think of church as something that happens in a couple of hours each Sunday morning. There is so much more to it and so much more than we can […]

We had our over-fifty meeting at church last night. It was great as usual. Good food and fellowship and a great teaching. Ivan Diaz, our leader, gave the teaching. He handed out  two pages filled with familiar bible verses about learning to be a slave, vines and branches, and loving one another. He did a great job of explaining the verses. That wasn’t the best part of his presentation. That came with his personal testimony. Recently his wife has struggled with medical issues and he came to a point where he could no longer handle it alone. He had to accept help from other members of the church. He spoke about the difficulty of doing that, receiving love. In many segments of the world the church isn’t doing very well. In others, it is flourishing. I have long  believed that the church is doing best where it is being persecuted. It may also be true that it is doing best in those places and in those situations where it’s members recognize the importance of the body and the need of each person to receive the love the body offers. That occurs in areas of persecution, but it occurs in […]

We had our over-fifty meeting at church last night. It was great as usual. Good food and fellowship and a great teaching. Ivan Diaz, our leader, gave the teaching. He handed out  two pages filled with familiar bible verses about learning to be a slave, vines and branches, and loving one another. He did a great job of explaining the verses. That wasn’t the best part of his presentation. That came with his personal testimony. Recently his wife has struggled with medical issues and he came to a point where he could no longer handle it alone. He had to accept help from other members of the church. He spoke about the difficulty of doing that, receiving love. In many segments of the world the church isn’t doing very well. In others, it is flourishing. I have long  believed that the church is doing best where it is being persecuted. It may also be true that it is doing best in those places and in those situations where it’s members recognize the importance of the body and the need of each person to receive the love the body offers. That occurs in areas of persecution, but it occurs in […]

We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check. James 3:2 A couple of nights ago I had a dream about a former televangelist who had a notorious fall from grace. I don’t know what made me dream about him. I hadn’t thought about him for years. After the dream, “James 3:2” came into my mind, not the verse but the citation. I had no idea what the verse was. When I awoke I stumbled to my bible and looked it up. It was very proper for the dream. Public figures are easy targets for criticism. Christians in the public eye are even bigger targets. The world is eager to point out failure in the church. Regretfully, there has been plenty of opportunity to do that. The danger exists equally for those of us who are much less famous, but are known in some circles as followers of Christ. People are looking for stumbles. The stumbles most often come in what we say, or these days, in what we post. I follow lots of “Christians” on Facebook and Twitter. They often post […]

                        It was a wonderful weekend. Tensions and stresses just melted away. Everything that was planned worked out beautifully. Everyone who participated had a great time and was a blessing to everyone else. It was the kind of weekend that was so great that you memorized and memorialized it. You took lots of pictures and posted many brags to Face Book. After a while you tried to analyze it, hoping that if  you could discover all the critical elements to such a wonderful weekend you could recreate it anytime you wanted in the future. However, your analysis didn’t work. Wonderful weekends have wonderful weather. The weather forecast for our weekend included 100 percent chance of rain and flash flood warnings. It turned out that the rain never prevented anyone from doing just what they wanted including spending several hours on the beach. It was an anniversary weekend which is meant to be spent alone by the couple celebrating far away from everyone else. This weekend included our favorite  young couple and their five-year old. This isn’t the formula for a romantic get-a-way but it worked. Don’t get me wrong. Rose […]

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Matthew 6:26 Tomorrow night is the NFL draft. Professional football teams will select college players for their teams. For those selected it means the fulfillment of dreams of money and fame and, I believe most of all independence. The state of not having to rely on anyone or anything is what most of us strive for. I think the lucky selectees will quickly discover they haven’t achieved the independence they dream about. Their football careers will likely be short. Each day will be filled with dread of a career ending injury or something else that will steal their star status and their independence. For most, the dream of independence takes the form of riches. We seek to be “independently” wealthy. We want to have enough to be secure and independent. I have known folks with an awful lot who were not independent. They check their “net worth” several times a day and live in fear of a market or bank collapse. I did notice on Facebook […]

I read an article a few days ago. It was so bad it has haunted me. The title was something like “Ten Things We Should Never See From the Pulpit.” It was obviously addressed to Pastors. Most of the Ten Things were okay; but a couple were horrible. The writer, a well-known pastor, said one of the things we should never see from the pulpit is someone struggling with doubt. He said if you have doubts, you shouldn’t be preaching. The other thing we should never see is someone struggling with temptation and sin. Wow. Here’s a truth: Christians struggle with doubt and sin. Pastors are Christians, so we can assume they too have these struggles. Let’s be real. I read another article recently about what people are seeking when they come to church. When they don’t find these things they move on. I know we are supposed to be careful about being “Seeker Friendly.” That’s just stupid. Are we supposed to be Seeker Unfriendly? Folks come to church seeking. They are seeking acceptance, love, truth, and God. What they often find is talk in a language they can’t understand, a holier than thou attitude, watered-down-truth, and no sign […]