Here I am at 11 losing -- badly -- to Boyd Bryan in the quarterfinals of the 1973 Texas Sectionals for Boys' 12-and-under. I'd estimate the score was 6-1, 6-2, maybe 6-2, 6-3. Boyd never missed and when I was 11 I had already started serve-and-volleying, and I...
At Good Shepherd, we talk all the time about inviting all people into a living relationship with Jesus Christ. But what exactly is a living relationship with Jesus Christ? What does it look like? Early on, we narrowed it down to seven "marks" or "measures." Here's...
You've heard of the five stages of grief? Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance? Or on a lighter note, the Five Love Languages? Acts Of Service, Words Of Affirmation, Gifts, Quality Time, and physical touch? So those cinco-centric lists got me...
Yesterday's message ... Began with an unusual (for me) exploration of how Julie and I met; Continued with an examination of ways in which we are under surveillance; Dug into Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 1, verses 26-31 Borrowed its title from the AA...
An assortment of reflections, observations, confessions, and odds & ends ... I like every Imagine Dragons song I hear on the radio. The Resident has become must-see-TV for me and for Julie. I read Timothy Keller's Preaching: Communicating Faith In An Age Of...
A number of years ago, I spent a season working with a particular counselor trying to help figure out the conundrum that is me. (Yes, I've had several such seasons and a few counselors and I am much the healthier for it.) Anyway, during one of our sessions, the...
My mom taught me to read at a very young age -- possibly four, certainly by the time I was five -- and I have been reading ever since. One of the happy consequences of all that reading is that there is no better way to learn to be a writer. Part of mom's lessons...
This weekend's Easter message ... Came from Mark 16:1-8; Hinged on NINE references to Jesus in the space of a verse and a half; Had its origins in my thoughts that many people careen from one life event to another, propelled by nothing more than their newest desire,...
Here's what we got: Today, Friday, March 30 -- Good Friday Good Friday Worship at 7 p.m. in the Moss Road Worship Center. Full color worship with communion plus a reflection on the meaning of the cross and its "remembering." Saturday And Sunday, March 31 & April...
I read Jonah awhile back and noticed a verse tucked away in its opening scene that I had long overlooked. As the storm gathered strength against Jonah's flee-to-Tarshish cruise liner, All the sailors were afraid and each cried out to his own god (1:5). At first...