During my Seminary student years, I was a very young Pastor of a very small rural church in deep East Texas. Even though I was the “Pastor” there was a “Head Deacon” who was the real leader of the church. He also taught the Adult Sunday School class, in which I sat each Sunday prior…
Yesterday we observed the tenth anniversary of the events of 9/11/01. Like every American over the age of fifteen I remember exactly where I was and my reaction when the first news came. I also remember the questions of that day – Why, where was God, why didn’t God prevent this, what happens now? And…
At first glance, I thought he was a Seminary student, sitting in one of the soft mall chairs, usually occupied by not-so-patient husbands waiting on their wives to shop one more store. He was even reading his Bible. When I completed my daily walk, I sat down next to him and asked, “Are you a…
I know I’m getting older since I now choose my cereal for the fiber, not the toy and I’ve discovered that the volume knob also turns to the left. Some days I feel older than on other days. Working with University students for eighteen years, then teaching Seminary students for twenty-six years, kept me young….
I said it again last week that the heart and soul of my ministry abides in my prayer partners. To use a line from a not-so-recent, popular song, they are the “wind beneath my wings.” It has been estimated that approximately 85% of the prayers in the Bible, where we know what God’s answer was,…
Yesterday was the last day of a thirteen and a half month Interim Pastorate. What I tried to say to the people about the future of their church, is a good thought today to individuals about their own future. Joshua was forty years old when the Israelites left Egypt. When Moses went up on Mt….
I have a long-time friend whose ideas seldom mesh with mine. In fact, over the years, there have been more subjects on which we disagreed than those on which we agreed. Yet I have learned from him, and I think he has learned from me. What a shame to think that we can only learn…
A young mother and her daughter were sitting nearby in a restaurant where I was eating breakfast. As they waited for their order, the little girl was singing a song – not a recognizable song, but her own song. She would grow up and learn to sing the songs of others, both good and bad,…
Answering the doorbell, I was greeted by total strangers who offered to give me some printed material about their beliefs. When I respectfully declined, they asked if they could come in and talk with me about what they believed. When I again declined, they asked if they could make an appointment to return at a…
This week, I saw a golfer hold up his putter and dangle it downward, lining up a putt. The announcer described it as a “Golfer’s plumb line.” The plumb line, is an instrument that has been used since at least the time of ancient Egypt to ensure that constructions are “plumb”, or vertical. It is…