“And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” (Col. 3:14) In high school, my favorite English teacher was Mrs. Dowdy. She has some pretty good stories she could tell you about my class, including one concerning a viewing of Romeo and Juliet our freshman year. I was blessed to have her again for College Prep English my senior year, and several assignments from that year made a lasting impression on me. There is one that I remember because of my failure. We were to pick a single word and write a paper detailing that word’s history and usage, including if it was used in the…

I am part of a ladies’ Bible class that I love. If you are around me for very long and in our area, I will be inviting you to be part of that class. It has enriched my life in so many ways because we really study the Bible. I mean, we really study the Bible. We don’t use any class book, not because we don’t believe in them or can’t find a good one (I know there are lots of good ones out there), but because we see a need to just study God’s word in depth. I was thinking about a song we sometimes sing at our congregation. The title of the song…

1964 was an election year. For those of us who lived at that time, we probably remember the victory that Lyndon Johnson achieved over Barry Goldwater in the presidential election that year.  It was decidedly one-sided (486-52 electoral votes; 61.1%-38.5% popular votes). When the dust settled, the Democratic Party had sixty-eight of the one hundred Senate seats and 295 of the 435 seats in the House of Representatives.    Many factors played into all of that. I will leave it to the historians and experts on presidential elections to discuss and debate those things.  Other than the fact that there was an election in 1964, that year was probably a fairly typical one…

Ask the people of Texas. Or those in Florida. Or the ones in all the areas of the raging wildfires. How long, how many days did it take before their lives were changed? I would suggest that the answer could even be shorter than days – maybe hours or even minutes. Sunday morning, my son, Daniel, pointed out an instance in the life of one of Christ’s disciples where things changed in short order. In Matthew 16, we read of the great confession Peter made of Jesus being the Christ, “the Son of the living God” (verse 16). For that confession, Peter was praised and given a new name. But…

I am typing these words on September 5, 2017. I thought I would provide that information for a couple of reasons. Neither of those reasons has anything to do with the fact that this particular date has any monumental significance. First, since I do not know when this will actually appear online, I thought it would be appropriate to provide a kind of “time stamp” for my thoughts. I also provided that date because, as I type these words, Hurricane Harvey is beginning to “do a slow fade” from the news headlines. That “slow fade” has actually taken place in a relatively short time.  It has only been eleven days since Harvey hit the…

Teach me Lord to wait down on my knees, Till in Your own good time You answer my pleas; Teach me not to rely on what others do, But to wait in prayer for an answer from You. Teach me Lord to wait while hearts are aflame, Let me humble my pride and call on Your name. Keep my faith renewed, my eyes on Thee, Let me be on this earth what You want me to be. “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint.” Teach me…