The four college-age guys sat in front of me at the professional golf tournament. On the way to their seats, they purchased their second beer of the morning. The special on this par three hole was any birdie made by a golfer caused a two-minute, $2 discount when two beers were purchased. After only a…
Several times recently I have heard it said that God showed “favor” on someone or some group. Wondering where this phrase originated, I went to multiple translations of the Bible, until I found in the Holman Christian Standard Bible, the following translation: “May Yahweh look with favor on you” (Numbers 6:26). And why had I…
There’s a not-so-recent country song by Barbara Mandrell that says, “I’m ready to trade the fast lane for a country road.” I’ve been there, haven’t you? Sometimes life just gets to moving too fast, rushing by as if we were standing still. One of the recent discoveries I’ve made as a part of the aging…
Effective preaching must be preceded by effectual praying. Occasionally, the King James Version of the Bible still has a better choice of words than more modern translations. That’s why I prefer the KJV for James 5:16, “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” Assuming the righteous status of the preacher, effectual praying…
“The Prayer-Shaped Disciple” – It’s the name of the textbook I wrote for use in Seminary classes on prayer. It is also the name of the seminar I lead occasionally in churches. I led such a seminar in a church in west Texas earlier this month and will lead one in a church in Oklahoma…
It was a sad morning. Several months ago, our neighbors were re-located to a memory care facility. Their three sons had come and gone, taking what they wanted out of the house, then turning it over to an auction company. On the morning of the auction, the auctioneers waited inside, as the crowds began to…
Just as the elevator door was closing, three Simon Fraser University students got on with me. I was on their Burnaby, B.C., Canada, campus for a meeting. One asked about my coat with the “More Than Gold” logo on it and said his Dad had one just like it. “More Than Gold” is an Olympic…
If you are a baseball fan and you ever go through Amarillo, Texas, you must stop at the Home Plate Diner – four large rooms of baseball pictures, pennants, and memorabilia, plus above average food. I was there last week, and my attention was drawn to an old, worn pennant for the St. Louis Browns….
I’ve heard my former student, Dr. Adam Greenway speak several times since he recently became the ninth President of Southwestern Baptist Seminary. Each time, he acknowledged professors who impacted his life when he was a student, causing me to reflect on my own seminary student days. I arrived at seminary with a combination of educational…
In 1964 I graduated from college, got married, and enrolled in seminary. It was a year of many changes. That same year, Bob Dylan wrote what he called, “a deliberate attempt to create an anthem of change,” the last verse of which said, “As the present now will later be past, the order is rapidly…