I mentioned a thought-provoking article on Sunday that I promised I would share on my website this week. The author of the article, Chad Bird, argues that when we are called into a relationship with God, it is not so much about a personal relationship with Jesus but is much more accurately described as a…
Book Recommendation: Praying the Bible
In my message on Sunday, I introduced a book that has helped to change the way I pray called Praying The Bible, by Dr. Donald Whitney. If we’re honest, prayer can easily become a recitation of repetitious words about repetitious things. The result is usually boredom and drudgery…and giving up. I found that this quote by…
The Gathering 2019 Theme: Connections
A couple of weeks ago, I preached a message revealing and outlining our theme for the remainder of the year. If you weren’t there (and especially if you are a covenant member of The Gathering), please take time to watch this message and begin to look for ways in which you can make these vital…
A Latina Mother Responds to Mayor Pete
Recently, Pete Buttigeig, an openly gay mayor from Indiana who is running for President in 2020, tweeted out the following: People will often be polite to you in person, while advancing policies that harm you and your family. You will be polite to them in turn, but you need not stand for such harms. Instead,…
The Twilight of Childhood: Celebrating Andrew’s 12th Birthday
It’s a hard time of life. You’re not a “little kid” anymore but you’re not a teenager, either. They call them the “tween years,” which I think means you are lost somewhere between the whacky childhood years and the chaotic teen years. Whatever it is, today our Andrew officially enters his last year of the…
Gravel Roads Get You There, Too
My Dad was born and raised in the little, country town of Mendenhall, Mississippi. When I was growing up, we spent nearly every Saturday down there visiting my grandparents, along with all the aunts, uncles, and cousins who were scattered along highway 13. Most of my memories include either walking or riding down all the…
The Winding, Hilly Road
They say the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. That may be the case for most things, but that certainly does not apply to the journey from the cradle to the grave. In the past couple of weeks, I’ve written about that journey; about the hairpin turns that sometimes leave us with…
In the Magnolia State of Uncertainty: Waiting to See What God Does
I made it back to Mississippi yesterday. I had waffled on when I was coming, trying to figure out timing so that I could be here when it’s most crucial for the family to be together. Not knowing which way this is going and when while living 400 miles away, timing is important. I don’t…
Whiplash From Life’s Hairpin Turns
As I write this, my Dad lay in ICU at Baptist Hospital in Jackson with a very slim chance of recovery, medically speaking. On Wednesday he was set to go home today (Friday) but took a terrible turn sometime during that night. In an instant, everything changed. That’s the way life is, isn’t it? Instantaneous…
Meditation for Today: Grace
I have found that the idea of grace is a wonderful concept to think about but a whole ‘nother thing to live! In my own life, I find that I don’t like to give myself grace. Let me rephrase that: I want to give myself grace—I just usually don’t. I am often my own…
Jesus Wins: The Good News of the End Times (Book Recommendation)
It is sad but true: in the evangelical church, Eschatology (the study of the culmination of history or “end times”) has become a point of division. With differing (and competing) views used as lines in the sand of whether an individual or leader is “in” or “out,” it seems as though the Enemy has established…
Light
“The Son of grace shines the light of his grace into the darkest recesses of our hearts, not as an act of vengeance or punishment, but as a move of forgiving, transforming, and delivering grace. He dispels our self-inflicted darkness because he knows that we cannot grieve what we do not see, we cannot confess…
No, Mr. Livingston, It Isn’t Fair
This video is hard to watch, but it reinforces my post from yesterday. There must be safety measures put in place in every church and accountability to ensure that fallible human beings are not given an opportunity to act on their sinful nature. Steven Livingston, one of the child molesters in the video, asked if…
No More Excuses: Thoughts on the SBC Expose
As I’ve read the Houston Chronicle’s expose, I’ve been heartbroken over the horrible abuses that have taken place within Southern Baptist churches and institutions over the past decades. There is simply no excuse. None. Although one person commented (in response to a Together For the Gospel article by Trevin Wax) that given the magnitude of…
65 Years and Counting…Only By the Grace of God
65 years ago today, a very young couple stood hand-in-hand to declare their undying love and devotion to each other, for better or worse, in sickness and in health, until death parts them. By God’s grace they have fulfilled the former and not yet had to experience the latter. Had you asked me several months…
Boys Still Can’t Be Boys…less now than ever.
5 years ago I wrote on the subject of how difficult it is for boys to be boys because the classroom is not designed to teach boys the way they learn best. Instead, according to a video I referenced in that post and attested to by an experienced elementary school teacher that I know, classroom…
No, Life is Not Out of Control
This is certainly a timely message for my family. Maybe it is for yours, as well. When the unimaginable or unplanned happens; when the storms of life bear down on our homes, we’re tempted to panic or assume life is out of control. Here’s the Truth: It never is. I want to share a reading…
A Daily Devotional Recommendation: New Morning Mercies
Looking for a new devotional for 2019? I can’t recommend this one by Paul David Tripp enough! My wife, Karen, and I have been going through New Morning Mercies together over the last couple of years and found it rich with encouragement, grace, and spiritual insights. Today, we started through it again. Thoroughly Gospel-centered, Paul…
Grace Defined
“Grace is the pleasure of God to magnify the worth of God by giving sinners the right and power to delight in God without obscuring the glory of God.” ~John Piper, The Pleasures of God
Come Let Us Adore Him – Advent Devo
If you are interested in a good Advent devotional for you or your family, I would recommend this one by Paul David Tripp. Click on the large image below to check it out at Amazon.
Noise: Decluttering Our Minds To Make Room For Thinking Deeply
It’s rare that I get the chance to spend a few hours in the car by myself on a road trip, but this was one of those days. Earlier this summer, my youngest had been with his grandparents for three weeks and the time had come to get him. As I readied myself, I sat…
