Think About It

What are some of your most special holiday memories? While I do remember a few gifts, some of my most important memories involve more of who I was with than what I got. Our family often lived quite a ways away from the rest of the family, but periodically, we would travel back to South Florida for Christmas. (Even to this day, my thought a White Christmas is more about sand than snow.) We would spend Christmas Eve with my Mom’s family and Christmas Day with my Dad’s parents. More often than not, the Christmas Day dinner involved traditional fare, but Christmas Eve was highlighted by fresh fish and oysters. There were Christmas cookies and holiday cakes at the Schurmann gatherings and egg nog (made with ice cream) at the Whartons. There were a lot of people (and a bunch of kids) at one place and often it was just our family at my other grandparent’s house. Fifty years later, I can still remember waiting our turn to unwrap the presents that sat under the metallic tree at one place and t...

One of the things I have missed out on over the last few months is that ability to do public speaking. I am blessed to be able to preach on Sundays, but I also enjoy going out and doing training for people around the community and throughout the nation. I was invited to share at three conferences this year; but, unfortunately all of them had to be canceled. So, when I was given the opportunity to speak to a local group, I jumped at it … then came the reality – I was supposed to address the group at 5:00 a.m. (yes, that is 5:00 IN THE MORNING). Due to the nature of the material I was presenting, and the groups I was presenting to, I was going to have to get up at 0-dark-thirty, drive an hour and be ready to go before sunup! I was feeling pretty bummed about this, until I realized something – I get to speak in front of a group … this is what I had been hoping for … no matter what time of day it was. As I thought about my challenge, I got to thinking about the Old Testament prophet I...

During a recent Bible Class, we got to talking about hospitality. In all honesty, we don’t talk too much about this in our society – and certainly not this year – but, often overlooked in the purpose of Christians is the need to show hospitality to others. There are a few references to hospitality in the New Testament, including John’s praise of a Christian named Gaius who seemed to excel in taking care of traveling Christians. After a bit of praise John writes, “We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth.” (III John 1:8). As I thought about this Christian virtue, I got to thinking about how it plays out in today’s society. In our modern culture, I don’t know of many people who are in desperate need of a place to stay or something to eat. I am sure there are some, but for the most part, our society has done a pretty good job of providing for these folks, so how can we be hospitable? The more I pondered this issue, the more ...

One of the things I haven’t heard too much about this year is the commercialization of Christmas. Maybe it is because I haven’t been in as many retail stores as I typically am this time of year or maybe it is because people are doing more online shopping, but the typical lamentations aren’t as prevalent this year. I really believe that fewer people are stressed by the typical holiday issues – multiple holiday parties, finding space for all the presents under the tree, how to fit all the family and a few close friends around a table in our dining rooms – but, could there be another reason … maybe even a more mature one? Could it be that we are realizing that stuff is not as important as other things in our lives? We aren’t fretting about getting the perfect present because we are so focused on maintaining the gift of health. We aren’t stressing out over how many people will be gathering at the house this year because we are saddened that we can’t all be together. We aren’t as busy...

It was on this date in 1917 that the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed and sent to the states for ratification. For those of you who might not remember, the 18th Amendment ushered in Prohibition. For the next several years, much of the use of alcohol was regulated by the government. This created quite a stir until it was repealed by the 21st Amendment on December 5, 1933. While you might look at the preceding paragraph and think we are going to be talking about alcohol, I want to take this in a bit of different direction and talk about influence. The Prohibition Era brought together two viable (and powerful) influences: government and social morality. The decade and a half challenged the limits of government and the power of the people. As I look back on this footnote in our nation’s history a couple of things come to mind: First, government legislation can’t make something either “right” or “wrong”. Sure, it can make things “legal” and “illegal” (and...

We throw around a lot of religious words – some of which society understands others are a bit more obscure. Typically, people grasp the concepts of faith, forgiveness and peace – and many even capture the nuances of love. Yet, there is another word that many people tend to misunderstand, and that mix-up has caused quite a bit of confusion. The word is the antichrist. Often, when people imagine the antichrist, they either envision some mythical monster with 666 tattooed on their forehead or an evil influence armed with the purpose and power of destroying the God’s people. Yet, when we look at the New Testament use of the phrase, the imagery is a bit less intimidating, but a lot more deceptive. The word “antichrist” is used exclusively in the writings of John (in I and II John) and is applied both singularly and plural. It is used of those who will come the future, as well as those who were influencing the world during John’s day. Yet, maybe one of the most significant applica...

Not long ago, I heard a friend of mine use a phrase in a sermon – weasel words. I won’t give you the whole modern definition of the term, but basically it is language we use so that we can “weasel” out of things in the future. For example, we might tell someone that “We might try to do something with them (or for them).”. When we phrase it this way, if we don’t do it, we can’t be accused of breaking a promise. Another example is, when challenged with an improvement that needs to be made in our lives, we respond with “Yes, I know that I should do better.”. By using these weasel words, we cognitively assent that something needs to be changed, but we stop short of making the commitment to do so. Another phrase I got to thinking about is the promise, “I will do my best” at something. Again, we give vocal recognition to a promise, but since we all know that none of us can actually do our best, it gives us an escape when we don’t. We may not intend it this way, but when we use weasel...