If you live in the United States of America, or at least on the eastern half of the United States, you are probably familiar with who Florence is. We heard her name for days before she ever made her entrance into our country. We knew a great deal about her – her strength, her potential for damage, and the assurance of her arrival. We were warned over and over about what she might do when she arrived. Florence came to our country and she lived up to her reputation. She was strong and she was damaging. Many on our eastern coast are still suffering from the wind and rain damage that she brought when she…

“It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” is an American comedy film that came out in 1963. I have never seen the film, but its title seems appropriate for today’s world. In fact, in my opinion, it’s only gotten “madder.” I believe there is a reason why the old Polish proverb, “Not my circus, not my monkeys,” has regained popularity. Too many of us are struggling to keep up with our daily lives and are at least trying to find the humor involved. I credit Bryan McAlister with the idea for this post from a lesson he preached this week at our Gospel Meeting. He was speaking about not being…

It happens fairly innocently, the feelings of discontentment. Here we are in 2018, the most blessed people of any generation in the history of time, and we are dissatisfied. Usually, these tendencies of being discontented are closely related to being perfectly spoiled. Most of us are not poor. We have more creature comforts and conveniences than ever. We are parked right here in the Christian age with the manifold wisdom of God having been delivered to us. Our hearts, minds, and bodies should be full! The devil can work with spoiled rotten. He can work through privilege to convince us that what we have is not enough or not as…

We’ve all been there or we’ll all be there. It may be that you are there right now. Somebody you know has lost a family member. You want to help, but you are not entirely sure how you can do that.  In the most recent issue of the Gospel Advocate (Vol. 160, No. 9, September 2018), there was an informative article by a sister in the Lord. Michelle Moore wrote about the loss of her son and provided what I thought was some very practical advice. You may find her article on pages 14-16 of this issue. She wrote of things that many of us have thought of. For example, she suggested that ministering to those…

If you are like me, you have probably read Genesis 2:25 more times than you can remember. It may very well be that, like me, you’ve never given much consideration to some of the implications of that verse. After we read about the creation of both Adam and Eve we read the following words: And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed (Gen. 2:25). As we read the very next verse in God’s Word (Gen. 3:1), we are reading the sad account of how sin entered into the world. In that same chapter, we also read about the first attempted “cover-up” of sin. After the first couple…

I know it’s risky to use a title like this. The reality is that if I live for several more years I may not be able to remember the things I really want to. My mother had severe dementia in her later years, and while there is no guarantee that I will follow in her footsteps, there is the real possibility that I might. I still want to share some things with you that I hope I never forget.  hey are very special to me and were brought to my remembrance this last week by the first thing on my list. I hope I never forget: The feeling I had when I…