Most who read this will be familiar with this statement made by our Lord: And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matt. 16:18) There is absolutely no way to “guesstimate” all of the possible interpretations and nuances about the last part of that statement. Wherever one comes down on all of that, though, it is generally agreed that this was the Lord’s way of saying that the church He would build would be (as the saying goes) “built to last.” In other words, nothing could keep Jesus from…

I still remember the day I heard the concept. I was blessed that year to have inclusion students in the classroom of a fellow Christian. We were studying the water cycle. Valerie said something to the effect that “All the water on earth has been here from the beginning because it’s all recycled.” Mind blown. The same water that Noah dealt with during the flood, that Elijah prayed would be withheld and then given again, that the Lord said falls “on the just and the unjust” (Matthew 5:45), is the same rain that falls on our heads. It changes forms, but it goes through the cycle over and over, watering…

It is bitterly cold outside here in Paducah, as it is in many places in our country today. It makes you want to just stay in the house where it is warm and cozy. Now, for those of us who eat out often, since there are just two of us, this can present a problem. It means that I have to cook a meal. Honestly, I don’t mind cooking, so it isn’t that big of a deal. However, this time I decided to do something different. I decided to organize our freezer and use up our leftovers from past meals. I was amazed at the variety of items we had,…

It happened again. A familiar passage, but a new way of hitting the heart. This past Sunday night, our minister was doing the second in a series of lessons called “Conversations with God.” This lesson was about Moses and the conversation He had with I AM at the burning bush. Most who are reading this have probably heard the list of excuses Moses gives before finally getting down to his final plea of “Send someone else!” (Exodus 4:13) Somewhere in the middle of the list is his fear of rejection.  Now, if we are honest, this is probably one of our greatest excuses about sharing the gospel with people. We…

Last year, Christmas Eve was on Sunday. Something happened on that day that was both unusual and normal at the same time. Just as the congregation where I worship was getting ready to partake of the Lord’s supper, I heard the sound of a helicopter. Since our church building is fairly close to one of the hospitals in our city and since we used to live just across the street from the church building, I knew what that sound meant. Somebody was being airlifted to a larger hospital in another location because of the seriousness of their condition. In that moment, all kinds of things were happening. Christians were remembering…

On the Saturday before Thanksgiving Day, Donna and I were in Cookeville, Tennessee to watch our granddaughter who lives there in her final performance as Maria in The Sound of Music. I had no idea that I would get an idea for a post while we were there, but I did. As we were leaving, I noticed a man just slightly in front of me and in a position where I could say something to him. I probably would not have said anything except for the fact that his long white hair and beard made him look like a certain “jolly old elf.” He wasn’t quite as portly as that…

There have been many adjectives used to describe this week’s election and the results. Before I go farther, this is not a political post no matter how the beginning sounds. As I drove to work on Wednesday morning, I considered the description listed as our title for today. I have some family members who love history and think it is just neat to have repeated something that has only happened one other time in our nation’s history – a president elected to serve 2 non-consecutive terms. The other was Grover Cleveland, a Democrat back in the late 1800s. (See, guys, I do pay some attention.) I know and love some…

Recently, I was visiting with one of the members of the church where I serve as one of the elders. One of his daughters from another state was taking advantage of a week off from her work to stay with him. Unfortunately, his health is declining to the point that somebody needs to be with him at all times. Since he is a widower, he no longer has a spouse who can help. Fortunately, this daughter and her siblings are seeing to it that this need is met. During the course of conversation with both the father and the daughter, the daughter said something kind of “out of the blue.”…