Think About It

How is the Lord’s church going to come out of the pandemic? I have been pondering this question for the last year. A year ago I was a lot more pessimistic than I am today. I feared that the lockdowns, illnesses and economic downturns were going to overwhelm us. While there have been some issues, as we stand on the brink of what we hope is a return to normalcy, I am a bit more optimistic; but still have to consider reality. Yes, we have been spared many of the issues I feared during my darkest times (maybe a better way of putting it is that we have been “blessed”); but we still have some catching up to do. So, how will the church respond to the impact of the crisis? As I thought about this challenge, my mind was taken back to a great man of God named Nehemiah. Nehemiah was a Jew who took on the task of helping the city of Jerusalem become inhabitable after years of desolation. He invested his skill and his emotion in an effort to restore the walls of the city – yet, there was so...

It was 26 years ago this week that my life took an interesting twist. After visiting with a local politician, I was asked to become a Police Chaplain for the Pierre (South Dakota) Police Department. While I had a little bit of an insight into what the job might entail, I had no clue how this appointment would impact my life or influence our family. I consider the times I have spend working as a Police Chaplain some of the most rewarding – and some of the most challenging of my lifetime. While I have been blessed to have been given this opportunity, if there is one lesson that has stuck with me the most, it is the concept of the ministry of presence. Those of us who work in the crisis field periodically get the chance to “do” things to help people, but the biggest benefit we bring is merely standing by with people as they navigate their own issues. We will never have all the right words, nor be able to heal all the hurts, but one thing we can do is be willing to sit next to someon...

After waking up feeling yucky, struggling with heartburn, debating on whether to buy larger clothes and doing all I could to avoid seeing my doctor, I decided to start eating better. I know, I know … it is no secret that eating better and investing in a little exercise can make us feel better – but sometimes I just need the reminder. Over the last couple of weeks, things are getting easier – no, I am not there yet, but I do feel better. The reason for this episode of “True Confession” is as a reminder that what we do today will have an impact on how we feel tomorrow – and not just when it comes to our physical health. When we practice patience with people today, we will have fewer apologies we need to offer tomorrow. When we invest in wise behavior today, we have less guilt in the future. When we show more hospitality today, we will have more friends in the future. When we practice true Christianity today, our eternity will be much more enjoyable. While it is important to live in...

For several years people have been harping about the need for the church to be relevant. They have warned that unless we take the proper stand or deliver the appropriate message we will be seen as irrelevant. It has taken me a while to understand it, but I believe that I am beginning to get it. You see, recently, I have stopped watching most sporting events because they have overshadowed the games I enjoyed for the need to make social statements. I have cancelled newspaper subscriptions because they have delivered more “opinions” than “news”. I have become disinterested in entertainment industries because they are pushing their agendas to the point that I can’t enjoy their stories. Things that were once pretty important to me have become irrelevant because they abandoned what drew me to them in the first place. Now, that brings us back to a discussion of Christianity. What is the purpose of Christianity? The thing that has drawn mankind to the Christian church is the promise o...

Do we get the feeling that our world is at odds with God? Maybe we could take it one step further – and make it more personal – and ask if our nation and the policymakers are trying to overthrow God? I hear people criticizing our nation and lamenting that modern secular leadership is destroying godliness. I don’t have time to fully debate this in the space allotted for this blog, but one thing that I will say is that if anyone wants to challenge God, He is big enough to hold His own. Powerful leaders have confronted God throughout history and He has always come out on top. David addressed this issue by observing, “Why are the nations in an uproar and the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, ‘Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us!’” (Psalm 2:1-3), then issued a pointed warning, “Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; take warning,...

Are we under-expecting from people? Throughout the years many of us have run into a problem where we expected people to act better than they did. We became disappointed when people didn’t do what they should have done or didn’t reach the potential they could have attained. (Oh, and by the way, I am sure that many of them could have said the same thing about us.) In days gone by, there seemed to be a higher bar that people were expected to reach and, when they didn’t do it, we became disheartened. I feel like there has been a shift in our collective mindset recently and we have intentionally lowered the minimum acceptable behavior. No, the problem isn’t that godliness or truth has changed, the issue is that we have just come to expect less from each other. We are willing to tolerate less in an effort to unify more. While this movement to dummy-down our behavior may have taken off in modern society, it hasn’t changed God’s expectations for us. Interestingly, if the truth were ...

Way back in 1999 Lee Ann Womack had a country song called, “I’ll Think Of A Reason Later”. The essence of the song was one woman didn’t like another woman even though she was good person who did good things. The animosity wasn’t based on rational thought – in fact, if the truth were actually told she should have been impressed by the other woman – but because they were romantic rivals she just flat didn’t like her. She made up her mind she didn’t like the other woman and, if necessary, she’d think of a reason later. Do we find ourselves in a similar position? Sometimes the pettiness doesn’t amount to much – for example I will never like the Oakland Raiders or the Norte Dame Fighting Irish. I just don’t and if I need to come up with a reason, I can – but that’s not the point. I just don’t like them. While sports rivalries can produce silliness like this, the problem is when we apply these standards to political parties, religious groups, races, genders and other criteria. Bigo...