Walking The Walk

" Satisfy   us in the morning with your unfailing love,  t hat we may sing for joy   and be glad all our days." ~Psalms 90:14 One thing I had a tough time adjusting to when I retired from the university and became a full time pastor was the unpredictable nature of ministry.  Every day is different.  And that's not something I was used to. There wasn't a lot of variation in my day to day routine up until I retired almost two years ago now.  I did the same things week to week.  I had the same weekly meetings and monthly meetings and quarterly meetings.  There wasn't a lot of variety in the routine. Then I retired, and I went about turning full-time ministry into a routine.  I set up office hours when I would be at the church and available.  I blocked out time in my calendar to work on my Sunday message.  I blocked out time on my calendar for meetings.  I had time on my calendar to go visit people at home or in the hospital. ...

"We all stumble in many ways. Anyone who is never at fault in what they say is perfect, able to keep their whole body in check"  ~James 3:2 I have a Bible study that I lead on Wednesday mornings at a local coffee shop.  This week, it just so happened that the verses that came up in our study are the same verses I’m preaching on this Sunday morning.  I wrote the sermon two or three months ago, and the Bible study we just started a few weeks ago, so it’s a pretty remarkable coincidence.  And I couldn’t guess how many times I’ve told the congregation to pay close attention to “coincidences” because I’ve learned throughout my life, that often what we call a “coincidence” is God working in our life. I can’t think of a better time to talk about the power of words.  The importance of how we speak to each other.  Our culture is out of control, especially with our speech.  The hate we spew.  The foul language that’s everywhere.  The awful things...

Almost exactly one year ago, my life took a dramatic change.  I retired from a career that was 9-5, and very predictable, into full-time ministry.  It was a difficult change, because I was used to decades of working in a very set routine, with set hours, in a job that I knew inside and out. And then all the sudden I'm thrown into a vocation that doesn't have set hours (if I'm awake I'm the pastor).  And there is no routine, because every single day is different, and every single week is different, and you never know what each day and each week is going to bring until you get into it.  And it was a struggle, because I'm a planner, and you just can't plan in a normal way when there's so many variables.  It has taken pretty much a year to find my footing.  Change is hard.   I'm not the only one that struggles with change.  One of the biggest challenges we face in life is dealing with the constantly changing nature of our world. More often than n...

"What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!" ~Romans 6:21 (NIV) Think about that momentary satisfaction when we give in to temptation. Maybe it's that gossip that feels good for a moment, the small dishonesty that seems to make life easier, or the angry words we use that feel so good at the time. Or maybe it’s a bad habit we can’t seem to shake like drugs, or alcohol, or sexual immorality.   We can even view these sins as a “reward” for “being good all week.”   In the moment, sin offers us something that feels like a benefit—if it didn’t, we wouldn’t keep falling into that same trap. Paul challenges us to look back at those poor choices honestly. What lasting fruit came from those choices? What real benefit remained after the momentary pleasure faded? The truth is, sin promises satisfaction but delivers shame. It promises freedom but brings bondage. Jesus described this in John 8:34 when He said, ...

"Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer any part of yourself to sin as an instrument of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness."  ~Romans 6:12-13 (NIV) In today's world, we face a subtle but dangerous challenge: the redefinition of sin. What God clearly names as sin, our culture often labels as personal choice, alternative lifestyle, or even virtuous behavior. Paul's words in Romans 6 calls us to something radically different. The apostle doesn't mince words. He commands us not to let sin reign in our bodies. This implies we have a choice-- we can either surrender to sin's authority or stand against it. Victory over sin begins with recognizing God's definitions, not the world's.  The world can call sin whatever it wants, but the Bible is clear.   Paul balances this fir...

Just about everyone has at least one difficult relationship in their life. As Scooter would tell you siblings can be especially challenging at times. All of us encounter situations that test our patience and ignite our emotions. The book of James offers us profound wisdom in chapter 1, verses 19-20: "My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires." These words cut straight to the heart of how our anger can derail both our spiritual journey and our personal well-being. James makes a direct connection between our anger and our righteousness before God. When we allow anger to take root in our hearts, it creates a spiritual barrier. Ephesians 4:26-27 further warns us, "Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold." Unchecked anger grows.  It becomes resentment and unforgive...

"A joyful heart makes a cheerful face, but by sorrow of heart the spirit is crushed." ~Proverbs 15:13  It's easy sometimes to forget an important truth.  What happens in our hearts doesn't stay there. We have a profound impact on the world around us.  Like the outward rings from a stone dropped in a pond, we create waves that touch everyone and everything around us. This simple verse reminds us we have been designed with the remarkable ability to influence our surroundings through something as seemingly small as our attitude. Have you ever noticed how quickly a room changes when someone walks in beaming with joy? Or, on the other hand, how the atmosphere shifts when someone enters with a cloud of negativity hovering over them? This isn't coincidence – it's the principle from Proverbs 15:13 in action.  Our personality is visible and contagious. A cheerful face isn't just about putting on a smile-- it's the natural overflow of a heart filled with joy. ...

"There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them.   There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord.   There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work." ~1 Corinthians 12: 4-6 God calls some people when they're young.  God calls some people when they're older.  Sometimes what God has for us to do is clear.  Other times, what God has planned for us is a little murky.  And sometimes God calls you to do one thing for a long, long time and then calls you to do something completely different--something you don't know the first thing about even! We have to trust in God, and let God lead us to His purpose in our life.  And it's not an easy thing to describe, because God speaks a little differently to each of us.   When God called me to prepare for a ministry, I was well over 50 years old.  I started taking seminary class with no particular direct...

"But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." ~Matthew 7:1-2 This is a challenging verse.  This is a challenging concept.  Forgiveness. I'd say about half the challenges I help people deal with as a pastor has to do with forgiveness.  When people do us the wrong way, it's not easy to let it go.  But that's what we're called on to do.  And the consequences for not learning to let the sins of others go, is that our sins will not be forgiven.  That is a very steep penalty for holding onto those hurts, isn't it?  That doesn't even take into account the personal cost to us--that emotional cost of carry those hurts with us rather than give them up. But it's not easy to let go of those hurts for a few reasons.   We all make mistakes.  One of the most difficult things for us to do sometimes, is to admit when we've made a mistake.  If we could simply admit it when we're wrong, so many of the conflicts...

"Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not be terrified nor dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." ~Joshua 1:9 I often hear people lament about how things have changed.  And the older we get, the more difficult it becomes to change.  But change is normal.  Change is inevitable.  Time never goes backwards.  Things never go back to the way they were before.  If you don't believe me, pull out your high school yearbook, or an old family album and check out the clothes and the hairstyles.  Change is not unnatural it is inevitable. We have to learn to adjust.  And sometimes that's hard.  Especially when life changes in a very fundamental way for us.  Like with the loss of somebody close to us.  Or maybe we've moved to a new place and we're having a tough time adjusting to it.  Or we change jobs.  Or as I've learned recently, retirement can be a very unsettling change in lifestyle and routi...

“Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven." ~Luke 6:36 (CSB) One of the hardest things in life is forgiving.  When we are hurt.  When we are treated poorly.  When we feel like we've been cheated.  Man, is it hard to get over those feelings.   We're not called on to be doormats.  We aren't expected to let people treat us badly over and over again.  We're not called on to let the same crook cheat us over and over again.  Or to let the same liar mislead us time and again.  But we aren't built to carry unforgiveness with us either.  We need to learn the lesson, and let it go. There's a saying "live and learn."  Life is a learning experience, and we learn through successes, and we learn through failure--and believe me, we learn a lot more sometimes from failures than successes.  Some of the hardest lessons we learn are about people.  People ...

" Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." ~Matthew 6:34 I used to often feel like I was jogging through my day.  I had too many meetings.  I had too many responsibilities. I had things I was worrying about from yesterday, things I was worrying about that day, and I was already worrying about things that were on my calendar for tomorrow and next week and next month!  And what happens when you're always in a rush and distracted? You wind up making mistakes.  You miss things.  You wind up spending unnecessary time fixing something you messed up because you weren't focused on what you were doing.  I think the most powerful idea in this verse is the idea that today already has its quota of worry built into it.  Focus on where you're at!  Focus on what you're doing right now!  Focus on what you can control! You can't change what happened in the past.  Move on from t...

So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets. ~Matthew 7:12 It's such a simple rule--the "Golden Rule."  Just think of all the pain and anger and frustration and disappointment that could be avoided if we'd just follow that simple idea to treat other people the way we want to be treated.  But it's more than just that.  If you look at that first part, it says "so in everything." In everything?  What's that mean?   Well, it means we're not just talking about being nice to people.  We're talking about empathy.  It means putting yourself in the place of other people. It's not difficult for us to come up with a lot of reasons why we think we have the right to be rotten to somebody.  He was rotten to me first.  He has it coming.  What's good for the goose . . .  We can use all those reasons to "justify" treating somebody in a way we certainly wouldn't want to be ...

   "May the Lord direct your hearts into God's love and Christ's perseverance."   ~2 Thessalonians 3:5 I had a conversation a few weeks ago with somebody about faith.  He says he's an atheist, and questions anybody that would allow themselves to be "limited" by the "rules" of being a Christian.  He wanted to have a conversation he said, but what he really wanted to do was give a lecture about how silly I was to spend so much time studying in seminary, and how dumb I was to waste my retirement years going into Christian ministry instead of kicking back and enjoying my well deserved reward.  So I listened to him.  I interjected where I could, but he didn't hear me.  I left feeling sorry for him.  He is bitterly unhappy.  He is unfulfilled.  He has a secular view of the world and is unwilling to even acknowledge there may be a spiritual side of our nature that if he were to open up mind and his heart could show him there is a deep...

"And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever." ~1 John 2:17 I think about it at least once a week these days.  Pulling the plug on social media.  My finger has hovered over that delete button a number of times, and I just haven't been able to pull the plug yet.   I keep thinking there's some way I can use social media for good.  I think eventually I'll pull the plug.  It's not a positive thing.  I don't trust the people that run it.  I don't trust the things I see are true or the things I am prevented from seeing are false.  I think it's a tool and it's being used for purposes very few people even think about.  When social media began it was great fun to reconnect with old friends I hadn't seen in a long time.  Share funny stories from long ago.  Catch up with what my friend and family were doing, and follow them as they lived their lives.  I even connected in perso...

"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." ~Colossians 3:17 I don't know if it is your experience or not, but I have noted many times that if I start the day off on the wrong foot I'm usually out of step all day.  It's usually a small thing.  The lid comes off my coffee cup and I spill it all over my shirt. I forget something at home. It's always something small and insignificant that gets me rolling downhill and before very long I'm in a mood.   Once you get a mood, you ever notice you just can't see anything good.  Somebody brings in donuts and you're annoyed because you're not supposed to eat donuts.  Somebody says they like your shirt, and you think they either want something or they're being sarcastic. I finally figured out a way to to stop that once it gets started.  I just take a few minutes, I open up my bullet journal, turn to a clean page, and ...

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." -2 Corinthians 12:9 Theologians and historians have speculated for two thousand years what the "thorn" in Paul's side was that he talked about in 2 Corinthians 12.  John Calvin believed that thorn was spiritual in nature--the sting of a guilty conscience for falling into doubt or shirking his duties.  Martin Luther thought that thorn was Paul's constant struggles against those who opposed him and tried to undo the work he was doing--God's work.  Some have believed that thorn was sin, or sexual temptation.  Some believe Paul was referring to an actual physical ailment.  There have been many theories about what that physical ailment might have been--chronic headaches, epilepsy, bad eyesight (perhaps a lingering symptom of the blindness he was struck with on the Damascus Road),  or a recurring fever. The truth is, we really don't know.  We know it was a burden to Paul, and he as...

Throughout my entire life, I've dealt with critics and naysayers.  I've been told by others what my limitations are.  I've been told by others what my weaknesses are.  I've had all my mental disorders diagnosed by these same armchair pop psychologists.   These critics have been predicting my spiraling fall into disgrace and destruction for decades and they get increasingly upset when it doesn't happen.  Because they all have one thing in common--they are all completely wrong. And I just don't stop and waste time trying to convince them of that.  It would be a pointless waste of time because you'll never convince them.   We all deal with people like this.  It doesn't matter how good a person you are, somebody is going to be standing along the sidelines of life rooting for your failure.  I don't know why that is, but it's true.  Of course that says volumes more about the critic than it does the criticized, but dealing with critics is ...

I have two friends, and recently I realized they live in very different places.  They are close in age.  Similar backgrounds.  Grew up in the same area.  But they live in very different places.  One of my friends lives in the future, and the other lives in the past. We think a lot about where we live . . . on a map.  We live on this particular street, in this particular state, in this particular region, and that means we enjoy (or don't enjoy) this kind of weather, and we support this particular baseball team, etc.  But we spend as much time in our heads as we do in our environments.  Where we live mentally is just as important as where we live physically. I noticed this recently with a friend of mine.  He lives very much in the past.  He still listens to the same music he did when he was sixteen.  He still talks about what he did when he was sixteen.  He relives stories about when he was sixteen.  His worldview is very mu...

I spend a great deal of time in bookstores, and it never ceases to amaze me just how many new titles there are every week in the genre of "self improvement." I think people in general are always looking for that "one thing" they're missing in their lives. And readers are no exception--they're always looking for that book that will answer those questions for them.  We're always searching . . .  I saw titles today on topics like mindfulness . . . that's a type of meditation where you focus intently on what you're sensing and feeling at that moment.  It's supposed to help you relax and connect with your environment.  Make you more aware, more relaxed, more content and connected. And there titles on stress, and depression, and finding your place in the world.  There were titles on how to be a better person, and how to be happy, and how to eat better so you could be happy.  There were books about how to be content, and how to stop worrying all the...