by Garris Elkins | Sep 26, 2017 | Justice, Mercy, Obedience, Reconciliation, Redemption, Wisdom
As I sat in the police academy as a young almost-a-cop, I heard a lecture from one of the instructors about the difference between the intent and the letter of the law. Every law has both letter and intent. While the letter of the law does have an important place in...
by Garris Elkins | Sep 3, 2017 | Promise, Redemption, Transition, Vision.
The older I become the more my years both past and those yet to come hang like wind chimes waiting for me to pass by. I am the breeze they anticipate my passage a billowing against their calendared surface moving, making the music of life, ...
by Garris Elkins | Aug 31, 2017 | Courage, Creativity, Deliverance, Forgivness, Future, Kingdom of God, Obedience, Peace, Pride, Redemption, Restoration, Spiritual Warfare, Transition
Along the ridgeline above me, I saw the remains of an old barbwire fence. Only a few of the posts survived. Those that did were pockmarked with holes the work of decay and weather. On the north-facing side of a solitary post grew a layer of green moss. Tacked to the...
by Garris Elkins | Aug 27, 2017 | Discipleship, Evangelism, Five-Fold Ministry, Forgiveenss, Freedom, Holy Spirit, Identity, Kingdom of God, Marriage, Redemption, Teaching
One of the most beautiful things about love is choice. If you remove choice from either side of a relationship it is no longer love. I remember the day I asked Jan to marry me. I asked and she said yes. I offered love and she accepted. I did not take Jan by force...
by Garris Elkins | Aug 16, 2017 | Death, Deliverance, Discipleship, Discipline, Eternity, Forgivness, Freedom, Gifts, Holy Spirit, Power, Redemption
In my very distant past, I carried a gun and a badge. The streets were mean then but meaner now. I have had men try to kill me. These were life and death struggles. To survive, I needed to respond with superior tactics to each threat. Those responses allowed me to go...
by Garris Elkins | Aug 13, 2017 | Creativity, Discipleship, Father, Giving, Honor, Hope, Identity, Mercy, Obedience, Redemption
My father was a contractor. He built houses. Most of my summers were filled with manual labor on his job sites. My brother and I were my father’s backhoe. I spent many a hot summer day down in a ditch with a pick and shovel. Our crew was a constantly changing group...
