Family
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The Night Pronouns Mattered
Teens in the Word has become a real highlight for Central’s Youth Group. Each year, the group studies something different and the atmosphere is like nothing else this group does. For awhile, I was the “main” teacher (thankfully, Noah has taken that over and is doing a great job!) and came up with the theme for each year. So, for one year, we decided to handle some very tough subjects, but ones that these young people are facing from day-to-day. Among those subjects was transgenderism. We looked at it from a Biblical perspective as well as a practical, how-do-we-deal-with-it, perspective. At the end of the study, we built a list…
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It’s Almost As If…
When so-called “same sex marriage” was allowed in the United States, those who stood against it on moral grounds were made fun of for many reasons. One of those was that we said clearly that this would not be the only thing that we had to deal with. It was defamed as the “slippery slope” argument…as if that’s a total fallacy. On one hand, we said that the same (or similar) “logic” could be used for polygamy or other forms of “marriage.” That was blasted and we were told that the only thing that was desired was to change marriage in this one way. We knew that was not true…
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Add This to “If It Bleeds, It Leads”
For many years, the phrase “If it bleeds, it leads” has been used to describe what gets the main coverage in the news. The idea is that disasters garner the most attention, so the main headline or “tonight’s top story” is nearly always tragic. Murders, natural disasters, and fires are quite often what lead the news. However, with the proliferation of news outlets and the length of time they are available, there might need to be another statement to add to that one. It started with 24-hour news channels that had to fill, well, 24 hours. But with the growth of podcasts, YouTube channels, and more all sharing news, there…
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From Three to Two to One
When you read that title, you may have thought of the last few seconds prior to the launching of a rocket, the end of a dramatic basketball game, or something else like these things. In reality, the title has nothing to do with any of those things. Instead, it has to do with how confusing our society is becoming. It is (or at least it used to be) normal during a wedding ceremony for a preacher to encourage the couple getting married to make sure that God was the third partner in their relationship. He might even spend some time explaining some of the benefits of that. Even if the…
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And Their Voices Prevailed
If you have a copy of God’s Word handy, you may want to read the twenty-third chapter of Luke before you read the rest of this post. In that chapter, we can read Luke’s inspired account of some of the events concerning the arrest, interrogation, condemnation, and crucifixion of Jesus. Other details are in the other gospels, but we will focus our comments to those recorded by Luke – along with a few details gleaned from the other gospel accounts. I find the words that are used as the title of this post to be extremely interesting and informative. They play a major role in the narrative that follows. A…
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Taking Away Their Humanity
It is one of the most haunting things I have read in a long time. It is also the polar opposite of what our culture tells us is the truth. I’ll share what it is in a minute. As we come to the end of so-called “Pride Month,” we are exhausted by the unceasing messaging of all the sins that are being promoted. We are tired of seeing rainbows (with an ever-expanding array of colors) everywhere and we are ready for something else to dominate the news. But we cannot ever leave this issue until it is shown to be what it is: sin. Today, though, I want to share…
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Dads, Step Up…and Get Help
Last Sunday was Father’s Day. It was a joy to have more people in worship at Central than we had had in several weeks (including Mother’s Day) and to see so many who were present to encourage their dads. This post may have just been written down recently, but it was in my mind from the time I wrote my sermon for Father’s Day, which was completed a long time ago. It comes from something that I said in the sermon, but only very quickly. I thought it might be good to expand on it here and maybe give a little further encouragement to dads. The New Testament gives the…
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Sometimes It’s Tough
Now, there’s a wide open topic for you! Let me narrow it down just a bit by saying it is sometimes tough to be an elder’s wife. I’m aware that it is sometimes tough just being a wife, even if your husband doesn’t serve in this capacity. I also am aware that it is sometimes tough being married to a preacher. I’ve lived that life for a long time. However, being the wife of an elder has its own challenges and I would like to share some of those with you. He can’t share everything with me. Before he became an elder one of the greatest qualities of our marriage was that…
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A Few Thoughts before the (Kind of) Big Day
The calendar informs us that Father’s Day is a few days away. Somebody has suggested that Father’s Day is just like Mother’s Day – except for the fact that fathers get fewer gifts. I’m not going to speculate on whether or not this observation is true. I’m also not going to enter the discussion about whether or not greeting card companies (and other interested parties) may be behind reminders to remember our fathers with a special day. Instead, what I hope to do in this space is to ask those who read this to learn from one incident on one day of my life. It is a day that can…
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What I Learned at Cousins’ Camp This Year
Cousins’ Camp 2023 is now in the books. We had a great time together and, for a change, all of the cousins got to be here. Our oldest grandson, Luke, only got to be here for about a day and a half because he has a job working with the church in Cookeville, TN where he had responsibilities to fulfill. For those of you who don’t know what Cousins’ Camp is, let me explain. For the last 11 years we have set a date for a gathering of all of our grandchildren to come to our house for a camp. We have a boys’ cabin and a girls’ cabin, a counselor’s…
