Last Thursday, I flew to Phoenix. The night before Southwest shifted me from a one-stop flight at 7:15 am to a nonstop at 6:05 am, so I arrived four hours earlier than originally planned. As a result, I got to spend a full 24-hours with friends at whose home I swam for the first time…
Category: God speaks
The Gate
(Continued from last week’s post titled “Walk by Faith.” This is from the opening chapter of my memoirs. I’m 19-years-old, selling books door-to-door.) Door-to-door, I walked on that summer of 1978 in Newton, IA. In my flip-top steno pad I tracked every house on every street with a box and house number. I tracked who…
#nashvillebombing
Ever been in a hard situation and wonder if God cared at all? Ever wonder where is God? People– we hit such times. Yet, in the middle of the worst, the most dire, God never leaves us or abandons us. God IS there. This basic affirmation is good to recall and we can see in a recent tragedy, through testimony and witnesses. Recall it when in your worst moments: This too, God sees, God cares and is with me.
Marching Orders
Recovery from any violation takes time but we often don’t want to take the time it takes. I know for me, I’ve wanted to rush it, deny it, bypass it. But it takes time. I remember when I first recalled the abuse and tell of a recent experience of encountering Jesus
Into a Future We Cannot See
Sometimes feeling fearful of the future we forget to look back at the past. Seeing what God HAS done gives us assurance of what God yet will do. As God was with us in the past, so God will be with us into the future. Trust.
No Clouds Here.
San Jacinto UMC July 1, 1988 – June 30, 1994 Karen and I, with Anna (3) and Grace (1) in their car seats, drove for four days, in blistering heat, from Kentucky across the country to Southern California. We put a bucket of ice on the floor under Karen’s feet, opened all four windows and…
Perseverance
Perseverance Chapel July 1, 1987 – June 1, 1988! What a name, right? Perseverance! As a fourth-year seminary student, I took the weekends-only pastoral position at this small, country, Southern Indiana church. The church’s name seemed to be my own life motto — to “try harder,” to “work more.” The congregation was thrilled to welcome…
Object Lessons
Object lessons. You know them. The ones where a leader usually working with children cuts open the pumpkin and says, “Did you know that carving a pumpkin for Halloween is a lot like being a Christian?” And everyone thinks, “No way?” And then as she cuts off the top. “When Jesus comes into our lives…
Look for God
While living on earth Jesus performed many, many miracles. This has long been the focus of controversy by people wanting to see each reproduced today — and they all have been. But still, people doubt. Then Jesus topped all of them in this triumphant defeat over death! Talk about the miracle to top all others! …
Time to Sing
Church worship moved online. Sports canceled. State of emergency declared. Panicked shoppers. No toilet paper anyplace. What a strange and wild time we are living in. While waiting for the customer service at a Walmart, the worker took a phone call and I overheard her saying, “Sir, it is an epidemic. I don’t have enough…
caminowalk2016 