Blog
It’s hard to love some people. Some are difficult to love even on their best days. Loving the unlovely is a critical part of the Church's mission. The most obnoxious people need to experience God’s love the most. This is a challenge because unredeemed sources...
It was almost 50 years ago when I heard my pastor, Roy Hicks, Jr., say a phrase in one of his sermons. He said we should learn how to live this life “contending with contentment.” Those three words became one of the badges of my faith that I have carried with me over...
I remember when Jan and I drove through the modern city of Philippi, Greece. It was not the ancient city depicted in Scripture. I had to pause for a moment and remember it was a modern city to the people of the day when Paul wrote his letter to the Philippians. What...
A protocol is a system of rules, accepted behavior, and guidelines that determine the correct way to act in a given situation. There are protocols in all areas of life – religious, business, medicine, etc. A protocol can evolve with the acceptance of new evidence,...
On a walk through our town, I noticed several discarded masks on the sidewalk. Masks are becoming a new form of litter in our communities. I stopped and took a photo of one of the masks knowing the Lord was speaking. An unmasking is taking place. This is not...
Significant transitions are taking place in individual lives, in governments, and within the Church. To successfully navigate these times of transition will require that we pass a test. A few miles south of where I live are the Siskiyou Mountains. These mountains are...
Loyalty to leadership without being faithful to speak the truth in love no matter what the cost is evidence of an unhealthy and spiritually warped sense of duty.
The danger of tyranny in any form is its ability to remain undetected in its early stages of influence until a designated moment when it executes its ultimate plan for control – a control not noticed and fervently dismissed by those who continue to believe a prepared...
A wave of reconciliation is about to break over God's people. Relationships thought lost forever will be healed and restored. Time and the depth of wounding will not be barriers to what the Lord will accomplish. Miracles of restoration are beginning to take place...
Many are asking, “what's next?” as it refers to the affairs of the Church, and our nation. The writer of Proverbs said it so well 3,000 years ago. “So, follow the steps of the good, and stay on the paths of the righteous. For only the godly will live...
It was a strange image. I saw someone who thought they were walking their dog, but the dog was no longer on the leash. The leash was out in front of the person suspended in midair with its empty loop moving ahead of the dog’s owner. The person walking the dog assumed...
I love listening to warriors, veterans of both natural and spiritual conflicts who survived to live another day. One such person was Gary Littrell who fought in Viet Nam. Due to his heroic actions, he was awarded the Medal of Honor. When speaking about his award,...
Every life is filled with before and after moments of realization. The generation before me had a before and after experience when Pearl Harbor was attacked, and we entered World War II. The assassination of President Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. offered a...
Buyer’s remorse is not limited to purchasing something and then later realizing the product was not all it promised. This remorse can be expanded to include the choices we make, the votes we cast, or the assumptions we were led to believe were true. Just as it would...
When I was a young pastor an older man attended our church. He was in the Air Force during the Cold War and part of an aircrew that would fly deep into enemy territory undetected. These flights took place during the early years of radar development. On one mission his...