My occasional glance at this year's Olympics has again brought home the most troubling reality in sports:  choking.There are two ways of choking in sports.  The first happens when the athlete is so overwhelmed by the situation that he or she never really...

So yesterday we started Money Talks, a new series about faith, time, stuff, and money.Taking off from Psalm 24:1 -- the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof -- and inspired by Tony Evans, we landed together at the cautionary reminder:  Don't confuse the...

Money talks.But what does it say?What does it say about you?  Your values?  Your priorities?Your relationship with others?Your connection to God?Most talks about money in church include only two exhortations:  spend less and give more.  This series...

A random sample of some things I've noticed recently . . .Based on my drives past Rivergate Shopping Center on Wednesday, Thomas Menino and Rahm Emanuel have done Chick-Fil-A a huge favor.Tennis in the Olympics is a bit like football in March: it's nice, but who...

I remember moving into the parsonage at Mt. Carmel UMC in Monroe in June of 1990 and on that first day receiving visits from neighboring Methodist preachers in the area.Those visits and the friendships that emerged out of them became manna from heaven for me during...

Live albums are admittedly a mixed bag.All too often they feature poor quality sound, tired arrangements of familiar songs, and a longing for the original, "studio" recording.I still remember disappointment at the Moody Blues anemic Caught Live Plus Five.  Get...

In the middle of preaching the sermon yesterday, I realized I was stepping into some people's hallowed ground.Here's what I mean.Our Baptist friends have a teaching called Once Saved, Always Saved.  Our Reformed & Presbyterian friends believe the same thing...

Kenny Chesney knows How Forever Feels.Rod Stewart wanted to be Forever Young.  (It didn't work, by the way).Most of us want a BFF -- a best friend forever.But how about a Forever Upgrade?That's this Sunday.But be warned.  The Forever Upgrade has to be teased...

I recently had a conversation with a fellow United Methodist pastor who reminded me that she had been on the denominational building committee which approved the final drawings for Good Shepherd's current Worship Center.(That's denominational policy, by the way...

Exegesis is the art and science of pulling out the meaning of a particular passage of Scripture.The word comes from the combination of two Greek terms:  exo, which means out; and hegeisthai, a verb meaning "to lead, guide."Exegesis is the opposite of eisegesis,...