Yesterday was Easter Sunday and I kept thinking of the word, “empty.” For many churches yesterday’s message of an empty tomb was delivered in an empty worship center. These are the days of coronavirus, when churches are under government orders to remain closed and worship can only happen online. Who would have dreamed that the…
It had been one of those long, sleepless nights – the kind where you keep waking up and talking to God. The issue causing my insomnia, was troubling, and I kept thinking, that I just needed to keep talking with God about it. After all, I had spent a career teaching and preaching that God…
Thanks to the Coronavirus, I am sheltered in place, but I am also going cold turkey. Wikipedia defines “cold turkey” as “the abrupt cessation of a substance dependence and the resulting unpleasant experience,” No, I don’t have any drug addictions to cancel, nor am I an alcoholic, and I never smoked, except once in first…
I had occasionally sung in the shower, but I had never sung at the sink before. Now, thanks to the CaronaVirus, I am told to wash my hands many times each day and to continue for a minimum of twenty seconds. (I confess I have not washed enough to reach the level of one who…
Two facts face us today. We are in a global crisis – a pandemic. No use to quote statistics related to the Caronavirus (COVID-19), since they are changing so rapidly that there will be a wide gap between what I write and what you read. The second fact is that leaders from presidents, to governors,…
Recently I passed through Buffalo, Texas and wondered. Have you ever reflected on an early life decision and wondered how things might have gone had you made a different decision? I was in my final semester of my first seminary degree and serving as pastor of my second church, when two choices presented themselves to…
This past weekend I attended my High School class reunion – Reagan High School in Houston, Texas. The name was changed a few years ago by the Houston School Board, because they discovered that John H. Reagan was actually Postmaster of the Confederacy, and that was considered too racist. The school name was returned to…
Do you ever think about who you would call if you had a crisis in the middle of the night or while traveling in the middle of nowhere? I was once in a vehicle in the wilderness of a west Africa nation, when someone asked where we were, to which the missionary replied, “We’re fifteen…
A frequent question that follows an unwise action is, “What were you thinking?” It usually implies that had you been thinking properly, you would not have done what you did. An early example for me was watching my buddies smoke grapevine stems. Thinking I might enjoy that also, I lit up and inhaled, only to…
I lost another friend last week. Dr. James Leo Garrett, Jr. was a distinguished scholar, remembered by former students as a kind and gracious gentleman. He taught at Southwestern Baptist Seminary from 1949 to 1959 and again from 1979 to 1997. In addition, he taught at Southern Baptist Seminary from 1959 to 1973 and at…