Think About It

Last Sunday morning I was walking through the auditorium of the church building and found a centipede. I didn’t really feel like I needed to stomp on it, so I decided I would relocate it outside. As they say, no good deed goes unpunished and as I picked it up it stung me (or bit me or pinched me or whatever centipedes do). Needless to say, I was irritated, but I continued on with my quest of setting it free. I guess that the bug did what bugs do, but that didn’t make me none too happy. The reason I am sharing this with you is that it didn’t take me too long to see a spiritual application. How many of us are like that insect when it comes to our reaction to God? The Bible instructs us, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16). He saved us from certain spiritual death and destruction. However, how do we react to Him? How many of us fuss at Him, turn our backs on Him, critic...

The other day I was talking to one of our church leaders and he made an interesting statement.  We were visiting about some of the things we were doing in our young people’s ministry, and he said that one of his goals was to give them some positive memories of the church that would last them a lifetime.  In fact, he pointed to why he supported putting in a playground on our church property.  It may not have had an immediate spiritual impact, but he wanted the people who grew up in our congregation to back to look back and remember those times fondly. As I thought about this I was reminded of Solomon’s admonition, “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6).  It is easy to see the spiritual nature of biblical education and moral development, but there is another side to it as well.  If our children know that we care about them … if our children feel safe and loved … if our children are building ...

I have talked to a lot of people who have lost friends and loved ones recently.  I don’t know if people are dying at a higher rate, but I do know that I am aging and so are the people around me, so maybe that’s why death may be more prevalent.  The older we get – and the older our contemporaries get – the more likely death is going to be a part of our lives.  Yet, even when it comes to young people, there is plenty of death in the news and in our community. When I was growing up, I used to hear there were only two things for certain in America – death and taxes – and that’s pretty much true.  The fact that there is death in the world shouldn’t be surprising to any of us.  Nature affirms it and the Bible confirms it.  Yet, before we become too macabre, there is something different about Christianity’s approach to death.  Humans accept that death is a fact of life and while the timing can be shocking, the fact is well-known. Yet, to Christians, death doe...

Well, baseball season is over.   I know, I know … there are some of you who have teams in the playoffs and others who don’t really start casually watching games until the season moves into the fall, but after watching scores of games during the summer, unless my team is in the playoffs, I’ll probably pass on the rest of the year.   As I look back over the 2025 season, I am disappointed, but I have to keep in mind that the season also provided me with hours of entertainment and (at times) some excitement.   No, the games didn’t always go the way I wanted but compared to other things going on in the world, it wasn’t a bad way to spend a few months. Have you noticed how critical we can be – not about our teams, but about our lives?   As we go through life, it is easy to fuss about this or complain about that, but for most of us life isn’t all that bad.   Sure, we win some and we lose some, but all-in-all we get to enjoy good times with the people we love.   ...

The other night I was looking up why the police in Great Britain don’t carry firearms.   In recent years, some specialized British officers have been armed, but “policing by consent” is the fundamental concept of Law Enforcement in England.   In essence, the populace makes a commitment to the government to abide by the rules and accept the inherent authority of administrative government.   Now, I am not here to debate this concept nor its possibility in the United States, but I was intrigued by this concept as it applies to things like leadership – especially church leadership.   In all honestly, Christian leadership derives its practical authority from the congregational adherents accepting the leadership of those who have volunteered.   Sure, there are biblical passages that outline spiritual authority, but when it comes down to it, it is the group’s willingness to accept the influence of their appointed leaders.   Maybe the reason some church struggle ...

Several things have changed in my lifetime, but one of the ones that may have had the biggest impact is the number of news outlets.  When I was younger you may have had a couple of TV channels, a few radio stations and maybe a local or regional newspaper.  You may have subscribed to a magazine, but by the time they came in the mail, they were probably filled with old news and dated editorials.  Now we are moments away from local, national and international news.  We can find out the most intimate details of a situation in a matter of minutes.  Additionally, we can compare one version of a story with another and determine – in our own mind – the truth (and often the truth is somewhere in the middle).  Now, we might think that this mass presence of news is a good thing – and it can be – however, the modern problem is that we tend to news-shop.  Rather than digging deeper to find the truth, we are apt to find a media outlet that fits our chosen perspectiv...