toddcast

Sometimes life is a mess!   As I sit in my own office you can barely see the top of my desk as just about every available flat surface is cluttered with some books or papers of some sort!   Sermons to preach, classes to teach, meetings to prepare for, schedules to keep - my office sometimes resembles the aftereffects of an F3 tornado! Maybe your life looks a lot like my office.   You just can't keep up with all the demands, you can’t tidy up all the clutter, you can't organize all the tasks.   Stacks of papers to be filed, toys to trip over, dishes waiting to be washed, laundry overflowing the hamper, to-do lists that seem endless.   Sometimes life can just get jumbled and untidy!   Sometimes life is a mess! Now I certainly don’t want to discourage tidiness and I'm not one to dispute the old adage,     "Cleanliness is next to Godliness" (I'm thankful that one's not in the good Book), but maybe we can look at our messy lives through a ...

It's Black Friday and the bargains abound.   Christmas shopping is in full force as bargain-hunters swiftly navigate the crowded aisles of stores and retailers rake in the profits.   It's the day circled in red for every serious present-purchaser as the quest for deep discounts celebrates its day in the spotlight.   I'm not out there this year (or at least that's my plan) but I've been out there in years past, and I have to admit, there is a certain adrenalin rush slapping down that credit card assured you have made the steal of the century.   You're so confident that you got the best deal ever you're surprised you’re not arrested for grand larceny on your way out.   I especially love those stores that print out your savings on the receipt -- "You spent $52 and saved $6,863,673!"   There's just something about getting a great deal! We humans love a great deal and maybe there's nothing wrong with that, but perhaps this quality re...

Six weeks ago my oldest daughter had a baby making me and my wife grandparents for the first time!   My wife and I were overjoyed and made arrangements to visit her, her husband, and the baby (Really we only wanted to see the baby.   I'm told that's how it is when you become a grandparent!)   They live in Indiana and to make the most of our time we decided to fly up for a few days.   They live in Fort Wayne and our flight made a transfer in Chicago. We boarded our flight in Dallas bubbling over with excitement only to be discouraged when the pilot came over the intercom and informed us that our flight would be delayed because of some technical issues in Chicago.   Usually that's not a big deal, but on this flight we had only a brief layover and now were in fear of missing our connecting flight.   We finally took off and calculated that there was a slim chance we could make the next flight, so upon landing we rushed out of the plane, located ...

It’s homecoming for Denison High School this weekend and being a parent of a couple of DHS students I’m experiencing some of the pageantry of the event. Thursday was the Homecoming parade right down the middle of Main Street. It featured the homecoming queen nominees, club sweethearts, the band, football team, cheerleaders, drill team, color guard, and hundreds of adoring parents, grandparents, citizens, and friends. All of that was great but what really caught my imagination in the parade were the echoes from the past, in particular the trailer carrying the 1984 State Champion football team.   They're all looking good, but you would have no trouble distinguishing them from the current team thirty years their junior.   Suddenly my mind shifted into fast forward imagining all the young, energetic young men and women who had passed my way decades from now returning to the parade as “echoes from the past.” Ask anyone from the class of 1984 and they’ll all agree...

I recently flew back to Texas from a short trip and, since I'm not a frequent flyer, I am still amazed at the whole idea of flying.   I am especially awed by the view from above -- being able to see the world from a totally different perspective.   I prefer having a window seat and especially make sure that the window is up at takeoff and landing.      I love to see the world grow smaller and smaller as we ascend and then to see the world return to normal size as the plane approaches the runway.   The view is always impressive, but this trip I noticed that sometimes the view from above is not as spectacular as it is from ground level. On our approach I got to see the tops of buildings that are not visible from ground level.   Beautiful structures seemed not so beautiful as heating and air conditioning units are exposed and unsightly steel beams hidden by facades are visible.    Buildings that may have exceptional curb appeal are less ...