Category Archives: Uncategorized

As we emerge from the dark year of COVID, I am seeing a terrible side effect – apathy about worship, fellowship, and discipleship leading to the slow spiritual death of many. As a shepherd of the flock of God, I feel responsible and I take it personally as I should! God tells me that IContinue reading “Well, I wish I could”

Eventually you are going to experience that emotion nobody wants to know – grief.  Yesterday, I enjoyed a day filled with joyful moments.  We gathered in the church and it was wonderful to be among friends, looking upward, finding renewal in the Spirit. Some of my family gathered in my house for spaghetti at mid-day,Continue reading “The emotion nobody likes”

“Jerry, what should I do?” The voice of the young man was on the edge of desperation, facing a world that has no clear path.  I offered my ear, shared advice, and encouraged him to take life one day at a time. And, I invited him to renew his faith, trusting God to guide. TheContinue reading “Don’t go into battle alone”

The people who are the most well-adjusted, who enjoy the most productive lives, are those who are able to accept life as it is. Did you think I just advised you to ‘give up’ on making life better? I did not. Acceptance allows us to stop pretending, excusing, living in fantasy so that we willContinue reading “Accepting life as it is”

We wake up to find ourselves living through hardship that found us unexpectedly, don’t we?  I am ministering to a grieving family, remembering a good man, a friend to me, whose life ended too soon by my estimation. Given our limited knowledge we simply cannot sort out all the reasons for his death.  Joe wasContinue reading “Believe Him, not fate!”

How do you deal with things that are uncertain? Life works best for me when I know the what, the why, the where, the way.  I am not very good at just ‘letting it happen.’  I value results and when I start a project, I tend to push hard to complete it as quickly asContinue reading “Certain Uncertainty!”

History has some dark chapters doesn’t it? Hate, cruelty, selfishness, murder, war, bloodshed are too much a part of the record. What about your history?  Are there chapters you would like to erase?  I look back and remember, with a sigh, days for which I would love a ‘do over,’ but reality tells me thatContinue reading “You are Free to live!”

These days I find myself confused by the flow of information that is often completely contradictory from one ‘expert’ to the next.  For some matters I can just ignore the noise. When it comes to my faith in Christ and my life as His disciple, the issues are of first-line importance. Revisionists tell me thatContinue reading “Sorting through the ‘facts’”

The world never stands still, does it?  How do you deal with the unceasing demands of living? The homes we live in must be maintained:  a screw tightened, a leak repaired, a roof replaced … Our relationships require tending, too. If we stop paying attention to others, we will drift apart. I have talked withContinue reading “It never stops!”

I’m loving Springtime. The green lawn, the warmer days, the expectation of Summer trips, these things bring me a lot of happiness.  And, I am choosing JOY.  Thirty years ago, while I sat in my darkened office, in a real depression, a good friend, who was a mental health professional, stopped by. He opened theContinue reading “Do you live with JOY?”