As we enter the Lenten season and the march toward Easter, I’ve been reflecting on Christ’s prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. I was thinking about that prayer in the context of the challenges we’ve …
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Snow Days
I have lived in Tyler for 26 years, and in Texas my whole life. I have never seen anything like this. I live here, enduring 110-degree summers and car interiors that feel like ovens, so that I don’t …
Teaching for Shalom
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.” …
A Little Perspective
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. -James 1:17 I know at times we all get …
A Greater Glimpse of Leadership
I was reading in the New York Times that there has been a 35 percent drop in coronavirus cases recently in the U.S. The article reports that, in response, leaders in other parts of the country are now …
Why I Choose to Stay at Grace
Most of the time, I write blogs based upon some particular topic the Lord has given me for that week, or something that’s happening in the world around us. Mark Batteson once called writing, “praying …
A Time to Mourn
After multiple years of annual Bible read-throughs, in this new year the Lord has led me to slow down, focusing and meditating on short passages of Scripture. Over the past couple of weeks, I have …
One Nation, Under God
As I write this, I’m watching the U.S. Capitol be stormed for the first time since the British did it during the War of 1812. The British were our enemies, trying to defeat us in a war and destroy our …
Blessed to Receive
I have two favorite stories I like to watch every Christmas. One is “A Christmas Carol,” Charles Dickens’ classic tale of an elderly miser redeemed after the visitation of three spirits. The other is, …
God’s Plan, Not Mine
I was thinking of my oldest daughter the other day, and how she has become a confident follower of Jesus, making her way in the working world. But, it wasn’t always this way. I remember vividly when …
Personal Annunciation
There’s a part of the Christmas story I really had not considered much in the past, perhaps because it’s distanced in time from the events of the Nativity, nine months to be exact. After all, most of …
Thanksgiving in a Pandemic
As crazy as this year has been, it has been a banner year for gallows humor. One of my favorite things about this year has been the memes commenting on 2020: “Turns out the Mayans were only off by …