Psalm 37:4 says this:Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.At first glance, the self-absorption of those words raises all kinds of questions.  What if my heart's desire is to make a ton of money and keep it all for...

While I was rummaging through an old photo album, I came across some very funny pictures from when I was 16:These come from the semi-final match of the 1978 Texas State Championship for Boys' 16-and-under, played that year in the heat of San Antonio.In the top photo...

The Memorial Day weekend is typically that time when classic rock stations air their countdowns of the "greatest rock songs of all time." Inspired by the Indianapolis 500 auto race, some stations go from 500 all the way down to Number One. Others have more modest...

In one of the most memorably ironic moments in all of Scripture, Pontius Pilate washes his hands of Jesus and declares to the mob:“I am innocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is your responsibility!”  (Matthew 27:24) The irony, of course, is that...

I have been wrestling recently with the different roles that I have played in the different sermon series of 2013.Not that I have been different people or that I am merely acting a part.It's just that different series demand distinct aspects of the pastoral...

Monday's post gave the background for and manuscript of Sunday's sermon called Conceived By The Holy Spirit, Born Of The Virgin Mary.The hook, as you may recall, was Luke's slightly sarcastic, thoroughly in-your-face comment:  "He was the son, so it was...

Pontius Pilate asked Jesus, "What is truth?" (John 18:38)And true to form, Jesus doesn't answer the question.  He leaves it hanging there, still to be wrestled with 2,000 years later.In the world of church, truth matters.  A lot.  We try to decipher it...

Yesterday's exploration of third line of the Apostles' Creed -- Conceived By The Holy Spirit, Born Of The Virgin Mary -- jumped off of four simple words from Luke 3:23:So it was thought.I was first alerted to the significance of those four words in a though-provoking...

One of the ways we measure how well we are inviting all people into a living relationship with Jesus Christ is through what we call serving in love.  The more people who adopt a servant life-style -- fostered by but not limited to church-related projects --...

I realize that when most people don't know what to do they do what they always do.In other words, when faced with uncertainty, crisis, or chaos, most of us revert back to what is comfortable and fall back into the familiar.This realization is especially instructive...