Think About It

Since this is my final blog before February 14, I thought I would offer my Public Service Announcement a little early this year. Sunday is Valentines Day! I don’t know how big of a deal Valentines Day will be this year. With a variety of the restrictions still in place around the area, some for the more traditional events might not be as prevalent, but Valentine’s Day is still a good opportunity to remind us of our need keep our intimate relationships fresh and healthy. Like most things, it is easy to get lackadaisical in our relationship with our sweetheart, but we must make the investment to keep the spark alive. While I am sure a shiny diamond ring or a new SUV parked in the driveway might be something that would show that someone how special they are, I also believe there are other – less extravagant ways to express our love to one another. The first one is trust. One of the best gifts we can give that special person is a willingness to have the confidence to be close to the...

One of the greatest foul-ups in the Bible comes from one of its greatest heroes. There are a lot of stories of sin in the Scriptures, but David’s sins before, during and after he met Bathsheba included everything from lust to murder. His actions had to be embarrassing to the king and devastating to the man who loved his Lord. Yet, somehow David regained his status as a leader and his place as a child of God. Have you ever thought about how he was able to do this? First and foremost, he sought God’s forgiveness, but almost as importantly he had to be willing to pardon himself and move forward with his life. I cannot imagine everything that was going through David’s spirit as he reflected on his sin, but he provides us with a glimpse when he writes, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit....

Have you ever had someone come up to you and complain about something one of your friends said or did to them? It could be another friend or a complete stranger, but it is pretty common for people of integrity to be told about something that one of their friends did that was offensive. When I find myself in this situation, my first inclination is to defend my friend – either to agree with what they said or affirm the action they took. Yet, there are times when, like me, my friends don’t do or say the right things, then what? We’ll the first thing we must understand is that we cannot defend inappropriate speech or bad actions. While friendship should transcend good and bad times, blindly defending something that is wrong perpetuates the wrong and can foster an environment that regularly blurs the line between good and evil. On the other hand, it would not in the best interest of our friendship to belittle our friend to the accuser. It isn’t out of the realm of possibility that t...

While I see the traps of nostalgia, I have to admit there are some things that I do miss from days gone by. I long for the days of my childhood sports heroes, Shoney’s strawberry pie and watching the astronauts launching from Cape Kennedy and either circling the earth or walking on the moon. Another thing I miss are the days when our on-screen heroes were the good guys wearing the white hats. They did what was right and still came out on top. While I can see some of the allure of some of our modern media “superheroes” (and the reality of their complex moral nature), I do long for those days when the good guys transcended the moral landmines and did the right thing. The reason for this trip down Memory Lane is that the other day I was reading from the New Testament and came across this description of Jesus, “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:13-14). ...

Those of us in Southern Maryland got quite a shock on Sunday. After the weather forecasters prepared us for several hours of cold rain, Mother Nature decided to blanket us with several inches of wet snow. I have to admit they were some of the most beautiful snowflakes I have seen in a while but trying to get people out of the snow-covered church parking lot was a lot tougher than dealing with some rain. Meteorologists have gotten pretty good at pinpointing their forecasts but the snow was a good reminder that they can predict what might happen, but until it does, no one is for sure. As thought about the surprising snow, it reminded me that life can be uncertain. Sure, we can make plans and we can even do a pretty good job of predicting what should happen if we make this choice or that decision; but that doesn’t mean that it is a 100% guarantee. We often quote the warning that James gives us about the brevity of life, “You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and the...

In years past I would almost feel foolish reminding people that we were approaching Super Bowl Sunday; but I am not sure how many people realize the Super Bowl will be played this weekend between the Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Like many other years, this game features an interesting quarterback comparison … one that hasn’t been possible before now. With Tom Brady playing in New England, he never got to face Patrick Mahomes in the Big Game, yet this year the young whipper-snapper will come face-to-face with one of the greats of all time. There will be a lot of pressure on the whole NFL during this year’s game, but the two quarterbacks may feel it the most. Sure, their teams are playing against each other, but the one-to-one comparison will produce its own kind of heat. As I got to thinking about personal pressure, it got me to thinking about the greatest pressure of all time – being called on the save the whole world. What Jesus, the Christ experienced was more th...

One of the things I have seen over the past several decades is how our approach to noticeability has changed. When I was younger, I believe that more of us did our best not to be noticed. Sure, we wanted to get good grades in school or earn the raise at work, but when it came to our personality, we tended to be comfortable not standing out in the crowd. Yet, things began to change and more and more people started making a concerted effort to stand out; many of them did it by acting in ways that defied social norms. Sometimes, it was done in the name of bringing justice, but many other times it was in pursuit of a personal agenda. Again, in and of itself, this may not necessarily be bad, but before long standing out from the crowd required more and more outrageous behavior. Now, often the easiest way to promote ourselves is by doing something morally egregious. While this may get us noticed, not all the notoriety is good. When we do things designed to call attention to ourselves...