As much as I love singing Christmas carols, I confess to not paying much attention to the meaning of the words at times. I saw a cartoon the other day that brought that truth home to me. There was a picture of the manger, baby Jesus and the wise men. In the picture were the…
The skeptic asked me, “Why do Christians talk so much about God?” Good question. Everyone talks about what is important to them, what’s in their heart. Maybe it’s about kids or grandkids, or the weather, or ball scores, or the latest movie or song, or a new found friend. So the path is from the…
She kept saying, “There’s greatness in this class.” Looking around my sixth grade classroom, I concluded she must be talking about me. I have no idea if anyone in that class accomplished greatness, but my sixth grade teacher motivated me to seek excellence in all my endeavors. So, when my first book was published I…
I once had a friend who responded to almost everything said to him with a one word reply – “Understood!” It was his way of assuring the talker that he had listened and processed what was said. I sometimes wondered if he really understood or if he was just in the habit of giving that…
As word spread of my radiation treatments, the responses began to flood in – via E-mails, Facebook entries, Twitter posts, Cards, Telephone calls, Personal visits – everything from a simple, “Praying for you” to much more creative, imaginative expressions of support. One particular response caught my attention. “We’re praying you through,” a friend wrote. It…
I’m praying that the Lord will search over heaven, find my Daddy, and tell him that the Baylor University football team is undefeated and ranked in the top five in the nation. He might not believe it if told by anyone else. For the last thirty years or so of his life, my father, a…
We divide and categorize people in many ways – politically, racially, economically, denominationally, geographically. The Bible divides people into two groups – those who follow God’s will and those who don’t. Many use their God-given freedom of choice to choose their own way. My granddaughter graduates from college soon. She recently shared with me her…
What is there in your past you’ve give everything to re-live again? The country song tells of a young rodeo cowboy who longs to be able to ride for eight seconds and make it all the way to the national finals rodeo in Las Vegas. The song ends with the man, now grown old, dreaming…
It took most of the week to process last Monday’s news. A summer biopsy showed a small skin cancer on my right temple. MOHS Surgery (that had twice before been 100% successful for me) was, this time, unsuccessful. Seems a part of the cancer had wrapped itself around a nerve. To expedite healing I was…
A sleepless Saturday night was complicated by what one minister-friend calls, “Intestinal uncertainty.” For me at least, it is a rather frequent Saturday night experience when I am preaching on Sunday morning. Even though I’ve spent Sunday mornings doing just that for more than fifty years, the butterflies keep coming and some nights they turn…