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I love a good laugh!  Yesterday, Jay and Sean (my sons) called while they were driving together. We started joking about some of the absurdities in our world. Our laughter was refreshing.  Some people enjoy late-night shows with those guys that are supposed to be ‘funny.’ Those comics can make us laugh, but it’s notContinue reading “More than laughter”

“Lord, I’m tired,” I prayed as I prepared for sleep. It was a different kind of tired that I felt on Monday evening. That day I had done a lot of home care and I was physically ready for rest. Last night it was a kind of soul-weary. The concern for friends who are inContinue reading “The Battle Belongs to the Lord”

If we chatted over a cup of coffee, I’m sure both of us could fill up an hour talking about the way that 2020 has derailed our lives. Dreams have died because of a virus. Sickness has come to millions. Death has visited thousands. Businesses closed. Churches are struggling. Jobs have disappeared. And, I don’tContinue reading “Living in God’s Purposes?”

Two weeks from today, Americans will have the privilege of electing their government. Please take that privilege and responsibility seriously! Go vote. This year’s election offers us two very different visions of America, a real difference of policy.  Please remember that it is not just a Presidential election! We are selecting people who will setContinue reading “I Vote! Do you?”

I am a radical. Those who know me are most likely smiling because I appear quite conventional, an older man who lives in a rural neighborhood, keeps his lawn mowed, wears standard attire, and makes few waves in the world. But, I am a radically committed Christian by this definition – “a person who advocatesContinue reading “I am a Radical!”

My home is decorated with family photos, capturing a moment in time. I look at one from 1976, of a very young couple. She is visibly with child, their first. Yes, I remember the setting of that picture 4 decades later! We memorialize special moments, don’t we? At family gatherings we re-tell our stories, laughing,Continue reading “Testimony!”

Sometimes people ask me, “What is the hardest part of preparing a sermon?”  My reply is a bit irreverent – “Getting my behind into my desk chair!”  As with so many things, big and small, the first step is usually the most difficult. There is a moment when we must commit ourselves, putting our mindsContinue reading “That FIRST Step”

“Daddy, watch me!” I can still hear the now decades old echoes of my little ones who wanted me to notice their latest accomplishment. Wise parents know the importance of validating their children, with sincere praise, with focused attention and meaningful affirmation. It builds confidence in that child, helps to ground her in a worldContinue reading “He knows ME!”

Is God dead? Friedrich Nietzsche, the 19th century German philosopher, shocked the world by proclaiming the ‘death of God.’ This son of a Lutheran pastor rejected Christianity as a young adult and became a fierce opponent of the faith.  In the second half of that century, many in Europe were leaving Christian faith, which ledContinue reading “Murdering God?”

Yesterday, at Faith Discovery, I spoke about Heaven. There was a time in my life when I thought that pastors who spoke about Heaven needed to ‘get a life.’ In the heyday of my 30’s, I wondered why anyone would concern themselves with that. I was a Christian, had an assurance that Jesus had aContinue reading “One way to make today richer!”