Beyond providing a ministry to churches in an interim time as they search for a new pastor, I enjoy serving as an interim pastor because of the new friends I make at each stop along the way. In fact, as I think back through recent interims, I can name friends in each with whom I…
Not long ago, someone posted the following quote on social media – “Try to never be the smartest person in the room. And if you are, I suggest you invite smarter people . . . or find a different room.” In my research I discovered that the quote, or variations of it, has been attributed…
“Carpe Diem” is the famous Latin phrase used by the Roman poet Horace to express the idea that one should enjoy life while one can. It literally means “seize the day.” A few years before, the Psalmist spoke of the brevity of time, “Man is like a breath; His days are like a passing shadow”…
I know of people who don’t pray because they say they don’t know how. They fear saying the wrong things to God. While I do not have that specific problem in prayer, I do understand, and I have some advice. It comes from the minor prophet, Zephaniah. “Be silent in the presence of the Lord…
I was preaching in a church where I knew no one, not even members of the ministerial staff. No one had contacted me prior to the service to inquire as to my subject or scripture. It so happened that I was preaching on “The Fullness of Joy” from Psalm 16:11 – “In Your presence is…
Yesterday was Time Change Sunday. As a Seminary student, I was Pastor of a small church in East Texas in 1966 when the Unified Time Act was implemented. The church’s two deacons decided to not observe the time change. “The Guv-ment has no business messin’ with God’s time,” they exclaimed. The quote did not come…
I first saw one in a friend’s “Prayer Room” (a middle bedroom of his house), then I saw another one in a colleague’s office. How unique, I thought. So, I searched until I found my own Prayer Bench and fit it into my Seminary office. I had long believed, and then taught, the discipline of…
I’ve spent much of my life in a hurry: in a hurry to achieve; in a hurry to arrive; in a hurry to finish. I attribute much of that to the deadly combination of being both a workaholic and a perfectionist. Even in retirement, I’ve failed to slow down much. I fear I’ve been in…
I once led a Bible Study entitled “A Day of Interruptions” from Mark 5. Jesus was interrupted by a haunted person – Legion – in Mark 5:1-20, He was interrupted by a hurting person – Jairus – in Mark 5:21-24. The Lord was interrupted by a hopeless person – a nameless woman – in Mark…
I awoke yesterday morning and looked out of my window to see a beautiful white blanket of snow. If I lived further north, this would be a common occurrence, but I live in Texas where we seldom get to see this beauty. There are few references to snow in the Bible and rightly so, since…