For a gardener, like myself, March is an in-between month. The dried, gray-brown stalks on the oak leaf hydrangea, left over from last autumn, stand at attention, like a proud, old war veteran in his outdated, ill-fitting military uniform. And like a Continue Reading
October 8, 2012
Discerning God’s Call for Your Life
One of my favorite stories about calling comes from south Louisiana. A Pentecostal preacher was having some chest pains and was rushed to the hospital. It was quickly determined by the medical personnel that he needed open-heart surgery. So they put him Continue Reading
July 6, 2012
Hollyhocks, Outhouses and VBS
Summer is here! A few weeks ago we had another wonderful series of graduations at our RTS campuses, and now summer school has started. General Assemblies and Synods are underway or now history, and vacations planned when snow was on the ground are now Continue Reading
June 14, 2012
Signs and Symbols Matter: Reflections on Flag Day
I have saluted it as it passed by at my son's recent Eagle Scout Court of Honor. I have, with greatest care and respect, presented it to widows of veterans at memorial services. I have preached and pointed to it as it as an illustration of the Gospel as Continue Reading
March 18, 2012
Letter to a New Pastor in the Springtime
In the springtime when the golden, Welsh daffodils gather in glorious brigades—brave, young, mythical sentinels appearing out of the fertile earth, guarding a new countryside painted with a Creator's palette of happy color—and spring lambs are born; Continue Reading
January 1, 2011
Reaching Up! A Sermon for the New Year
It is interesting to look back. Here is my sermon from last year for the New Year. It has some chronologically specific items in it. Yet I trust that it contains the timeless truths of Scripture which will again speak to us today. I am convalescing with Continue Reading
Old Spice, Hai Karaté and the Aroma of God
Then burn the entire ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the LORD, a pleasing aroma, an offering made to the LORD by fire. Exodus 29.18 For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. Continue Reading