So Julie's birthday was last week. June 28th, to be exact.On Thursday, June 25, I came up with a brainstorm on a series of great gifts for her. I was down a break point in the final set, but I felt like I had come through with a winner. Just in time.So I ordered the...
The word came to me during the singing of "All Because Of Jesus" at yesterday's 8:30 service: "George is here." Immediately, I got nervous."George," you see, is my boss. In Methodist parlance, he is my District Superintendent -- the pastor/boss to the roughly 50 or so...
This is the image that many people have of Christians and of churches. As places full of judging and lacking in grace. As we plunge further into the adventure that is unChristian, this Sunday we'll see what's really behind the judgmental attitudes so many of Jesus'...
I am always reading something. And while I like biographies, sports books, and occasionally even religious books, good novels remain my favorites.I like both "popular" novels that you read while sitting on the beach, and the more "serious" works about which you would...
Methodists have an interesting term we call prevenient grace.Coined by John Wesley, the founder of the movement in the 1700s that ultimately became the Methodist church, prevenient grace literally meanes "the grace that goes before." God's grace is at work in people's...
On the edges of every document you produce in Microsoft Word, you select the margins. Both on the sides of the page and on the top & bottom.The wider the margins, obviously, the more space you have on the page. The smaller the margins, the more the page is crammed...
No, it's not Christmas.It's Wimbledon, which starts today.The image to the right is of Centre Court, the most famous venue in all of tennis.This year, they have added a retractable roof to Centre Court, making rain delays into a distant memory.What could be better?...
Two faces are pretty frightening, aren't they? That's how a lot of the world beyond the church perceives the world inside the church: as full of two-faced people. Hypocrites, in other words. So this Sunday at Good Shepherd, we'll talk about becoming the kind of people...
I recently heard a pastor-teacher say, "We can get so wrapped up in what God is doing through us that we neglect what God needs to do in us."So true. Guilty as charged.Pastorally speaking, it is easy to become enamored with all the things God does through us: lead...
Psalm 28:7 stopped me in my tracks recently:The Lord is my stength and my shield;my hearts trusts in him,and I am helped. It's the last line that gets me.Not "I hope to be helped." Not "I might be helped." Not "sometimes I am helped." Instead, a simple, powerful...