“I’ve got good news and bad news. Which do you want first?” I have heard and uttered this phrase countless times over the years. In my experience, the phrase falls into one of two categories. It is either funny or foreboding… Or rather, it is an attempt to be funny in order to mitigate the foreboding. The good news, in these instances, is rarely good. It is really just a slightly less ominous...
The Trouble with Easter (Something Worth Celebrating)
I have a confession to make… I DO NOT LOVE EASTER. It’s OK if you’re judging me a little upon reading this revelation. I judge myself. We can just add it to the ever-growing list of things that make me an unfit pastor. I just don’t enjoy this holiday. I hate the soft, pastel colors that dominate this season. I find the human-sized rabbits that attend our parties and that supposedly deliver candy...
The Rock: Foundation or Stumbling Stone
In any given story, there will always be characters with whom we resonate more than others. This is true of your favorite television show, movie, or book. I’m fairly certain we could each provide numerous examples of characters whom we wish we could emulate. Undoubtedly, however, there exists an equally robust corpus of characters whom, for better or worse, serve as accurate examples of our own...
Just ONE Thing (By Grace Through Faith)
Following our worship service at FBC on Sunday morning, I had a very thought provoking conversation with one of the resident thinkers of our assembly. This gentleman has a gift for posing questions that put your mind into motion. As we stood at the church welcome center he asked, “If God gave you 10 things to do in 2022, and you truly believed they were directed by God, do you think we would do...
Signs in the Sky: The Best Medium for the Message
Driving down any major highway in these United States of America, you will undoubtedly encounter more than a few billboards making you aware of crucial information for your current travels, or your life in general, and entreating you to respond in specific ways. There are moments when these billboards come in handy. For instance, when it is near a meal time and the family is devolving into...
Behold, the Lamb of God
Throughout the Christmas season, countless pastors will refer to Jesus’s journey from the cradle to the cross. I love it, myself. It has a great cadence, is easy to remember, and is alliterated (which is a pastoral win!). But, what I really love is that it makes the essential connection between the wonder of Christ’s birth and the somber purpose for which He was born. The baby in the manger, the...
What Did Mary Know? (Do We?)
In 1984, Mark Lowry wrote the lyrics for the song “Mary Did You Know?” The music was composed by Buddy Greene in 1991. There is no way Mark could have known how popular and powerful that song would become. Almost forty years later, that song has been recorded by numerous artists of all styles and genres and will be played a countless number of times throughout the Christmas season. The song is a...
Put the Sword Down: The Counter-Cultural Way of Grace
Right up until the moment Jesus ascended to Heaven, the disciples believed they were going to participate in a revolution. They, like most of their peers, believed that the promised Messiah/Christ would initiate the coming of God’s kingdom through force and overwhelming power. They believed they were going to help overthrow the evil forces of this world, which, at the time, was personified by the...
At Just the Right Time: Finding God in the Life’s Messy Moments
Iconic physicist, Albert Einstein, published his theory of special relativity in the early 1900s. Most of us have heard of this theory, but neither know or care what it says or means. I find myself leaning more towards the former than the latter. I don’t fully understand Einstein’s theory, and to be completely honest, don’t know that I have the intellectual capacity or attention span to do so...
Mulligans, Scrambles, and the Gift of God’s Grace
I am not what you would call an avid golfer, nor am I what you would call a good golfer… Let’s just take it all the way and say that it would be most accurate if you didn’t call me a golfer at all. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy the game, but golf requires levels of calm, patience, and precision that escape me. Over the last five years or so, I have golfed a grand total of 1 (one) time every year...
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