Think About It

Typically, by this time of year, I am relishing in the beginning of the Major League Baseball Spring Training. Even when I lived in some pretty cold places where snow covered ball fields well into April (or even May), there was hope that somewhere, someone was playing ball on green grass in the sunshine. Unfortunately, that’s not the case this year. Management and Labor are at an impasse and the Grapefruit and Cactus League remain shuttered. I am not going to get into the particulars of what’s going on, rather I am going to make a generic statement – a sport that has been declining in popularity over the last few years could ill-afford to alienate fans and spectators. An industry that was struggling to stay relevant is in dangerous territory with this stoppage. As I thought about this dilemma, I got to thinking about the impact the Christian church is having on people – or maybe not having on people. If our goal is to reach people, we sure aren’t going to do it by being involve...

Have you ever heard the phrase, “relative truth”? There are a lot of people who will argue that there can be versions of truth but, by definition, there can only be one truth. In essence, what is true for you, must be true for me as well. Sure there can be shades and shadows of opinions, but truth is truth! Through the years there has been tug of war with the so-called truth. In fact, we have gotten to the point that we question who or what we can believe. In a sense, we quote the words of Pilate, “What is truth?”. Interestingly, when we turn the pages of the Bible back a few pages, we find the answer to his question and the world’s dilemma. When Jesus praying for His disciples, He asked that God would, “Sanctify them in the truth …”; then went on to explain, “Your word is truth” (John 17:17). Again, there are a lot of opinions and ideas floating around our world, but there is only one truth – the version presented by God. The success of Jesus’ disciples will be based on thei...

For the last several years I have been doing some volunteer work for the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office. There are a lot neat things about the agency, but one of the coolest is that it is one of the oldest sheriff’s offices in America. Its roots can be traced back to 1637, which if my math is correct that’s about 385 years of service. The reason I bring this up is a comment that was made at a recent retirement ceremony where one of the Captain’s lauded the retiree’s spirit of innovation – which is not always viewed in positive light in policing. He noted, “When we say we have done something a certain way from the beginning, being one of the oldest sheriff’s offices in America, we are telling the truth!”. While this comment got quite a chuckle, there is a sense of truth in what he said. The older we get, the more we like the way things have “always” been done. In fact, we make it very difficult for people to change things – and equally as difficult on people who do attempt...

The older I get, the more I realize how little I know. Now it would be easy to blame this on a declining memory, but the truth is that I probably didn’t know all that much in the beginning! Seriously, as I have aged (and hopefully matured) I have begun to understand that I have fewer answers to life’s most complex questions. As a younger person, I might have the audacity to think that I knew what someone else should do or pray for a particular way for God to intervene in another person’s life; but the more I see, the less I seem to understand. In fact, recently, I come to realize that one of the best phrases in our payer lives could be, “Lord, You know what we need, please provide it.” I am not smart enough to figure out all of life’s problems, nor do I understand just how powerful God is, so why not just dump the whole load on His shoulders? No, this isn’t a sign of weakness – in truth I have come to realize it probably more a sign of spiritual strength. Centuries ago, when J...

Here is a question for you: Is it really possible for mankind to be content? Many of us say that we have a desire to find peace and tranquility in our souls (as well as our world), but do we really mean it? As a whole, do we prefer to relax and enjoy the blessings we have been given or moving from one crisis to the next, constantly keeping ourselves stirred up. This is easy to see it in the current events that splash across the headlines. The caption “All Is Good With The World” will not sell newspapers or generate clicks on a digital page, so we shouldn’t be surprised when those who cover worldwide events create crisis; but are we guilty of this in our own lives as well? We say that we seek contentment, but do we spend our time investigating what’s wrong – not only in the world, but in our own personal lives as well? One of the more popular old hymns in modern Christianity is one that is entitled, “It Is Well With My Soul”. Do we believe it, or do we just like to sing it? Are...

While the virus numbers have been falling recently, it wasn’t until some announcements were made last week that gave many of us a glimmer of hope that things might be turning around. Personally, I have gotten too excited too soon on too many occasions – so I will be cautiously optimistic – but, maybe, just maybe we are making progress on the road to recovery. In hoping that we might be overcoming the most serious impact of COVID I want to offer a bit of a challenge. During a prayer prayed the other day by a fried of mine, I heard something that really inspired me. While asking the Lord’s guidance on us, the individual asked that God would not allow us to merely “return to normal”, his plea was that we “end up better” that where we were when this whole mess started. As I thought about it, I was inspired by the thought. It would be a shame to have endured all we have over the last two year only to get back to where we were – why not utilize the experience to become better! We c...

Peer pressure has been a problem since the beginning of time. We might like to think that it is the creation of our evil generation, but it doesn’t take much research to realize that people have been influenced by their contemporaries throughout history. From the idolatry at the base of Mount Sanai to the abuse hurled at Jesus at the foot of the cross, people have been leading each other astray for millennia. However, while it has been a problem for a long time doesn’t mean that we get a pass from being accountable for it in our generation or even in our lives. Just because we are influenced by peer pressure doesn’t mean that our actions won’t have consequences. Peer pressure is powerful – especially among our adolescents – but we have to do all we can to help people overcome it and stay on the straight and narrow. It is important that we recognize it, but it equally important that we remind each other not to give into it. We have been assured that we will not be tempted beyond w...