Please do not stop reading. This post is not intended to be political. It is not intended as a commentary on the moral condition of our society. It is not written because I have an “ax to grind” about anybody involved in the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings which were (are) intended to determine whether or not a particular individual is qualified to serve on the highest court in our nation.  Like most who may read these words, I have some opinions about all of those things.  However, I would like for all of us (yes including me) to think of some things that I learned. It might be more appropriate to say that I…

It has been an interesting beginning to this school year. Our town is growing and that means our school population is growing as well. One thing I keep hearing from teachers and school officials across the county is that we have more students this year from families with more challenges. That leads to challenges at school. In light of all these challenges, teachers are stretching themselves to meet the social and emotional needs of their students before we can try to work on academics. In light of that, I need to repent because of something I have said this year. Multiple times I have made the statement, “I just want…

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…