Not too far from the neighborhood where I grew up, there was a creek. Every once in a while, some of the other neighborhood kids and I would jump on our bikes and ride down to the creek to explore and play in the water. One of our favorite activities when we were there was to attempt to stop the flow of the water by building dams. We would scout out a good location, usually somewhere the water...
Mustard Seeds and Butterflies: Little Actions, Big Impact
Big events tend to garner large amounts of attention. As a general rule, one can gauge how important an event is to the community at large by how full the parking lot is at the high school. When the Seymour Owls are playing the Brownstown Braves, for instance, every parking space in the lot is full, vehicles are parked all up and down the surrounding streets, and our parking lot here at the...
Celestial Navigation: Look Up
According to britannica.com, constellations are “…certain groupings of stars that were imagined – at least by those who named them – to form conspicuous configurations of objects or creatures in the sky.” When you break it down, then, constellations are basically a cosmic game of connect the dots. At least that’s how they function for most of us in the modern world. In fact, I remember doing...
Good Samaritans: Lessons from the Side of I-65
It’s a fairly common scene that all of us have observed while traveling. There, on the side of a busy highway, is a parked vehicle with hazard lights flashing. At least one passenger is on the phone, desperately trying to find help. Perhaps one or two are crouched over by a flat tire, leaning over looking into a smoking engine bay, or quickly walking around the vehicle trying to figure out what...
Make the Most of Every Mile
“Are we there yet?!” These are famous words, proclaimed by the mouths of children and adults alike on long road trips. It doesn’t generally matter how far from home you’re traveling. The whole point of the trip is getting there, wherever that may be. Time in cramped vehicles on the road is but a means to a desired end. I heard a still small voice in my head ask, “Why are you wishing this time...
“Too Many Mind”: Finding Focus for Divided Minds
A scene from the 2003 movie The Last Samurai has stuck with me for all these years. It often comes to mind when my mind is unsettled and struggling to find peace due to a variety of external and internal factors. In the scene, Algren, a decorated American war hero, is participating in a practice sword fight to test his newly developed skills. It is not going well for him and he continues to find...
Carrying the Canoe: Find a Helping Hand
Summer camp was an important feature of my younger years. There were few things that I anticipated and enjoyed more each year than heading north for a week of camp. Camp, in all of its various iterations, played a crucial role in my development as a follower of Jesus. It was at a camp that I first felt the call to become a pastor. It was at camp that I developed important relationships that still...
Sing a New Song: Making Space for New Music
There are few things that stir the hearts and minds of people like music. The great theologian and hymn writer Martin Luther once said, “…next to the Word of God, the noble art of music is the greatest treasure in the world. It controls our thoughts, minds, hearts, and spirits… A person who gives this some thought and yet does not regard music as a marvelous creation of God, must be a clodhopper...
Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover
Much like most other elementary schools throughout these United States, trips to the library were a regular part of our schedule. I can still see the layout of the library in my mind’s eye. In my early years, I was not what you would call an avid reader. I was never diagnosed with ADD, or any of those lists of letters that indicated it, but attention was not a form of capital of which I had an...
Mission: What We Do… Who We Are.
The First Baptist Church has been an active part of the community of Seymour for over 180 years. The church was established in 1839 with ten members. The first physical structure of the church was completed in 1840 and the church has been housed in four buildings in the subsequent years, including buildings behind the current location of Peace Lutheran Church, another on the corner of Tipton and...
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