I’ve always been suspicious of the “Prosperity Gospel,”- the belief that God wants every believer to prosper and all a believer has to do to prosper is trust God properly. There are two initial problems with that thinking: (1) It’s extremely difficult to consistently trust God properly and (2) if God’s blessings are delivered solely…
Be careful what you teach others. They may remember it. Sitting in a College Sunday School Department at Coggin Avenue Baptist Church in Brownwood, Texas, I heard the Department Director, Wanda Cain, tell a warm, fuzzy story about a little Indian boy named TIGAPA. His parents named him that because the letters in his name…
Most of the time, I enjoy reading what people proclaim on their t-shirts/sweat-shirts. This one announced that the person wearing the shirt was, “Self Made.” From a strictly human perspective, and being a third generation Texan, I understand the meaning. In fact, I’d like to think that at least a part of who I am…
How many times have we heard that Jesus prayed early in the morning and thus we ought to do the same? Granted, early morning prayer is both needed and valuable. But what if I am not a morning person? What if I wake up slow and don’t think very well until a few cups of…
How long has it been since your last failure? According to Wikipedia, “Failure is the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, and may be viewed as the opposite of success.” We’ve all failed, including Thomas Edison, who said, “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”…
Which do you like better – mountain top excitement or flatland routine? One day Jesus, along with His disciples, Peter, James and John, were on the mountain experiencing divine encounters. As the disciples were looking at Jesus, “His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth (could) whiten” (Mark 9:3)….
The church bulletin was explaining the plan of salvation but instead of the word “sin” it encouraged readers to “ask God to forgive your sings.” Even though I personally need forgiveness for my singing, I knew it was a mistake. Spell check would have done no good. The church could have used autocorrect. The Urban…
I took the ferry from Vancouver to Vancouver Island and back again last week. I first took this ride in 1980, in bright sunshine one way, and heavy snow on the return. I fell in love on that trip – with the lower mainland and islands of British Columbia, Canada. I’ve lost count of the…
He has been preceded by many others – athletes, presidents, ministers – who first denied any wrongdoing, then confessed, seeking forgiveness. This week the confession came from Lance Armstrong, All-American boy, seven-time winner of the Tour de France, Olympic medal winner, Cancer survivor. And now he will forever be known as a liar, a cheat,…
I took a Drama class in High School, only because the Principal came to our Advanced Speech class and asked for Volunteers to switch to the Drama class while looking straight at me. The Drama teacher, Mr. Wyman, told us to observe people so we’d know how to portray them when we were assigned their…