When I opened an account, the financial company asked me – “What is your risk tolerance?”  Risk is part of having money in any investment. The economy changes, markets move up and down. Risk can be managed, however, by the… Continue reading

The text of the 2nd chapter of Ephesians is  … well, what word should I use? Amazing? Wonderful? Revealing? Encouraging?  I could use those and more. Some people fail to take the passage as seriously as we must. As a… Continue reading

Drama queen.  Control freak. Snowflake.  Progressive, conservative, liberal, Millennial, Boomer, Republican, Democrat, Evangelical … We do to love to paste labels on each other, don’t we? Labels give us an easy way to group people, a short cut for the… Continue reading

Do you believe that God could not possibly love you because you have done some terrible thing, because of who you have become? Or, perhaps you wonder how a good God can ‘send people to Hell’? Both thoughts miss the… Continue reading

I’ll call him John (a pseudonym). He was a friend who died a few years ago. He was once a pastor and a good one. He preached the Gospel to many and led a thriving church in a small town.… Continue reading

In the early 20th century it was considered improper for a lady to smoke but the American Tobacco Company realized that it could potentially double its customer base if women could be convinced to smoke. The chair of the company… Continue reading

“Just don’t worry about it!” That instruction is not all that helpful to those who are anxious. Anxiety afflicts roughly half of Americans in some way. All humans tend to worry some of the time, some of us more than… Continue reading

One of the privileges of pastoral ministry is being invited into the lives of other people. I get to share wonderful joy in weddings and child dedications.  I grieve with many in time of death and I bring comfort to… Continue reading

“I love you, Pastor,” the little girl told me with a sad face. I sat down next to her and asked why she was sad. She told me that she had heard I was retiring and that she would miss… Continue reading

Do you know how to feel joy, laugh, forget yourself?  Few things can take the joy out of a situation more quickly than starting to think “What will they think of me?”  There are those sports fans that Len Sweet… Continue reading