Two specialist surgeons in my county accept my type of medical insurance. I used Dr. X on my first surgery and despite the fact that he was very highly rated and recommended by my physician assistant, I was not pleased. It was not just him, but his entire staff that made me uneasy with their…
My first clue was a note in the elevator that the hotel restaurant would be closing at 11am for Family Day. My second clue was the day-old newspaper in the restaurant (no paper printed on Family Day). When I asked Donna, my favorite Vancouver waitress, what was going on she replied, “It’s Family Day! It’s…
One of the good things about visiting the office of a medical doctor is seeing what is on the walls. Often times it is pictures or shadow boxes of medical instruments or practices of long-ago. That’s what I saw this week – a picture of an old-time method of facial care. It was an instrument…
Life has often been compared to a journey. While there is truth in this analogy, there is also truth in the fact that the journey is filled with Ys in the road, where decisions have to be made on which road to take. Those of us who grew up in or around a church were…
One of my new, favorite compliments came this week. I had communicated with a former student and good friend during a difficult time in his life and assured him of my prayer support. He replied with thanks for the prayer and concluded with, “I’ve always thought you and God had each other on speed dial.”…
Have you ever been stuck in your circumstances? In one set of circumstances we are distressed, while in another set, we are ecstatic. Sometimes the best way to get beyond current circumstances, be they positive or negative, is to look beyond in joyful praise. In her frustration Hannah prayed for a son and when God…
Sometimes it’s best to be alone. Advice comes from everyone from popular authors to television talk-show hosts. Well-meaning friends propose insights. Educated professionals offer counsel. But the bottom line has to come from you and that can come much easier in the stillness of solitude than in the noise of company. In his famous sermon,…
He spent part of Christmas in heaven. At the conclusion of my Interim Pastorate in an East Texas town, Frank said to me, “Bro. Dan, I didn’t think I was gonna like havin’ a Seminary Professor for an Interim Pastor, but you know what? You just like us.” To this day, several Interim Pastorates later,…
The last hours of a year are always a mixture of looking back and looking forward. What Ralph Waldo Emerson said about a past and future day, could well be applied to a completed and coming year: “Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities…
As good as the “Good News” (or “glad tidings”) of the manger was, it was never meant to stop in Bethlehem or with the immediate recipients. In addition to the good news of Jesus’ birth, the second key phrase of the manger addressed the good news “to all people” (Luke 2:10). Repeatedly this idea appears…