Blog Posts

Signs and Wonders

“Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus …talking with each other about all these things that had happened.” –Luke 24:13-14 A year or so ago, I stopped by a gas station on my way to the church. While I had been to…
Read more: Signs and Wonders
Talking About Death

“Thanks be to God, who give us the victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ.” –1 Corinthians 15:57 On October 30th of last year my phone signaled an incoming FaceTime call. The name on the screen identified it as coming from my daughter-in-law, but when I answered it turned out to…
Read more: Talking About Death
Words of Healing

“Therefore confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed.”–James 5:16 Late in my junior year of college, a group of friends and I were planning our strategy for dorm assignments. Seniors in those days had first dibs in the room lottery. …
Read more: Words of Healing
The Second Time

“Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.”–Ephesians 4:32 In this blog, I am using the term “grace” in a broad sense. That is intentional and reflects my understanding of the variety of times when we receive a gift in those everyday…
Read more: The Second Time
When We Can’t See It

“The LORD God helps me… therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame.”–Isaiah 50:7 “When the days drew near for him to be taken up, Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem.”–Luke 9:51 Ten years ago, a man…
Read more: When We Can’t See It
The Place to Start

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son.” –John 3:16a During a clergy gathering years ago, I had the opportunity to visit Transitions of Columbia, South Carolina. That group helps move individuals from homelessness to permanent housing. Since its founding in 2011, Transitions has placed more…
Read more: The Place to Start
Perfect Love

“See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are.”–I John 3:1a Years ago, I was talking with a woman who owned a furniture store in the small town of my first pastorate. As a couple who lived…
Read more: Perfect Love
Just What We Need

“Jesus said to them, ‘Cast the net to the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’ So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in because there were so many fish.”—John 21:6 I met my wife at a hospital. I wasn’t a…
Read more: Just What We Need
Loving like Ellie

And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.”–1 Corinthians 13:13 When I was in high school, our church had a pastor named Ellie who worked primarily with teenagers. Ellie was probably in his mid 50s when he began to serve at our…
Read more: Loving like Ellie
The Nudge

“Now the LORD came and stood there, calling as before, ‘Samuel! Samuel! And Samuel said “Speak, for your servant is listening.”–1 Samuel 3:10 Have you ever heard God speak to you? Long ago, a boy named Samuel, came to realize that the voice at bedtime was none other than the…
Read more: The Nudge