For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. [Isaiah 9:6] If you’re reading this on Christmas Day! I am impressed! I wanted to do something different today and share with you the devotion I used with the church leadership…
The other day, I put on a YouTube video of a fireplace playing instrumental Christmas music. Why? Because I felt overwhelmed by the busyness of the season… and I don’t have a real fireplace in my home so, making a fire without one would be, well, awkward! Anyway, I put it on because I wanted to slow down. Life felt…
When I was in seminary I had an awesome professor, Dr. Ronald Allen. His outlines were amazing and most of the visuals he provided were pictures taken at biblical sites he had visited. We had two exams in the Old Testament Prophets class that semester that were a significant percentage of our grade. It was the first time in my…
Scripture references: Job 17:1-2, 13-16 and Psalm 139:7-12 Introduction: Something I’ve always appreciated and gravitated towards when it comes to song lyrics, is honesty. There are certain songs that when you listen to the words, you can tell they came from a deep place in the writer’s heart…not trying to appease a record label or write a ‘hit song’. The…
God declares in Isaiah 61:8 that He, the Lord, loves justice and hates robbery and wrongdoing. He assures His chosen people, His bride, that He will reward them for their suffering and for the wrongs done to them. He promises to make a covenant that will last forever. When we know the promises of God, we can rest assured of…
There is an ice breaker called two truths and a lie that is commonly used to help people get to know each other. My go to “truth” that always draws some curiosity is, “I was a music major in college.” That is true, but the journey in the major lasted about three months and then I was removed from the…
Pippa, our dog, is 12 pounds of joy in our lives. She greets you with a soft howling “woo” every time you return home. She is always eager to go for a car ride while running errands around town. She has an incredible ability to make you smile or laugh with just a look. She can give your lap extra…
I love playoff baseball in October. I love it even more when my Detroit Tigers are in it! A few months ago I was watching a game with my daughters and I learned a valuable lesson on Joy. The Tigers had been on an improbable run having a less than 1% chance to make the playoffs in August to ALDS…
A Christmas Love Story[Joseph and Mary]Matthew 1:18-25 In the summer of 2023 I was in a backyard anxiously waiting for the gender to be revealed of our grandchild who was going to arrive in a few months. We were all so excited, the moment came, and all of sudden there was a mist of pink powder in the air and…
What clothes do you wear to do messy jobs? What clothes do you wear to celebrate special occasions? What clothes do you wear when playing sports? Are they the same clothes you wear when lounging? No matter what we wear, each of us gets to decide how we present ourselves. What we put on in the morning says something about…