Church Life
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Job’s Reaction to a Really Bad Day
What is your first reaction when things go badly for you? What would you do if you lost just about everything except your life? What if all of that happened almost “all at once?” As I try to internalize those questions, I’m not always completely satisfied with my answers. I’m afraid that, at the very least, I would have a “pity party.” I’m afraid that the question, “Why me?” would come to my mind (and might even be expressed). I would hope that I would not blame God, but I know many who have done just that. Most of us are at least somewhat familiar with the book of Job. As we open the book, we…
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Your Face Says It
Have you noticed how many people aren’t smiling these days? Everywhere I look, lots of people are walking around with a sad, straight, or frowning face. Now, I realize that smiling all the time would seem kind of weird, but when in a crowd of people, shouldn’t we at least try to smile at those with whom we establish eye contact? Thinking about this reminded me of a conversation I had with my mother near the end of her life. She was living in an assisted living home near me, and I was able to visit her every day. As she became more and more feeble, she began to talk about…
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Lucy or Lucille?
Those of us “of a certain age” have fond memories of the television show I Love Lucy. We laughed at the antics of the fictional families of the Ricardos and Mertzs. We knew that “Ricky” and “Lucy” were Desi and Lucille in real life. Some may have also known that things weren’t quite as amusing “off the set” as they were when they were acting. I guess that we didn’t care much about that. I suppose that we were mostly interested in what they could do for us as far as entertainment was concerned. After I Love Lucy ended and after her divorce from Desi Arnez, Lucille Ball attempted somewhat of a comeback…
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Why We Kick Off Lads to Leaders So Early
When this post will be released, we will be just a few days from kicking off Lads to Leaders at Central for the 2022-2023 year with a meeting, meal, and our first event sign-ups. Last year, when we did this so early, I literally got messages from preachers and youth ministers telling me we were nuts. They may have been right, but here we are again. Why? It is because of what we saw at the national convention in Nashville just a few weeks ago. Central is not a large congregation. We are not one of those churches that brings triple-digits in attendees to convention (this year was our largest…
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Keep Checking
I saw something recently that reminded me of an incident and a conversation I had quite a few years ago. I’m glad that I saw what I did. I needed the reminder. It might be that you could also benefit from my reminder and my experience. The incident occurred when our family lived in Dexter, Missouri. I was driving up to the house of one of the members of the congregation where I preached at that time. I thought it would be “just another visit,” but it turned into a life lesson (at least for me). The brother I went to see was doing something to his own house that he did for a living…
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Power of Prayer
Today’s post is not long or overly profound. It is simply a reminder of something all Christians (including me) should know. However, sometimes we forget. We forget to utilize the most powerful resource we have: prayer. And I don’t just mean our individual prayers. Although it is an undeserved honor and privilege to talk to our Heavenly Father (Heb. 4:16; 2 Chron. 7:14), and He wants to hear from us about our concerns (1 Pet. 5:6-7), we are also told to pray for one another (James 5:16). Now, if you are like me, you have no problem getting those requests and being honored to be asked. But when was the…
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Starting with the Heart
I wish I could tell you that, when it comes to living spiritually, I had it all figured out and never had any real issues to work through. I think a lot of people consider preachers and elders some type of “super-Christians” who never have any problems or temptations to work through. That’s far from true. Recently, I had another conversation with Leah that she may barely remember, but in which she helped me (again) with an issue that few, if any, know about. (Don’t get too excited…I’m not about to confess some terrible sin in a blog post!) We were simply talking through a situation–and it was actually a…
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I Guess I Need a New Dictionary
It is more or less commonly accepted that words have meaning. While that is true, I’ve lived long enough to know that the meanings of words and phrases change over time. Years ago, as people watched The Flintstones and heard the phrase in the theme song about “a gay old time,” it most certainly did not mean then what it means in some circles today. I’ve been doing some thinking about other words and phrases that have changed during my lifetime. Some of what follows is of very minimal importance. There may just be a mild interest. On the other hand, some of what follows indicates that something besides vocabulary is changing. There are…
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I Didn’t Know What I Had Until…
In reading Psalm 51 recently, I was reminded of David’s remorse for what he had done. He had disobeyed God by committing sin with Bathsheba and trying to cover it up by having her husband, Uriah, killed. He then proceeded to take Bathsheba as his wife. Second Samuel 11 ends with these words, “But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord” (2 Sam. 11:27). We all remember how God sent Nathan to David to tell him that he was the man with whom God was displeased. The account tells us of all the things that God had given David (2 Sam. 12:7-8). The chapter continues with all the…
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Cut To the Heart
I was recently preparing a sermon and took a little time to reflect on a well-known phrase from the New Testament. The sermon was not primarily about the phrase, but it served as an important piece of the lesson. However, what I was reflecting on was not something connected with the sermon, so I decided to save these thoughts for an article. The phrase is from Acts 2, where, when Peter spoke to those at Pentecost about Jesus and convinced them that they were guilty of crucifying the Messiah, the text says they were “cut to the heart.” That imagery is powerful, to say the least. But here is what…
