toddcast

Have you ever shown up at someone’s front door for a party and as soon as you’re greeted by the host you realize you weren’t invited? The tongue-tied greeting gives it away, and soon all doubt is removed when the host hollers back to the kitchen to see if there’s enough food for another guest.  Awkward!  Or how about you show up at the restaurant where you’ve overheard a group of co-workers conspire to have lunch and when you walk up to the table you see there are no empty seats.  A well-intentioned invitee asks the table next to them if that extra chair is available and they squeeze you in between two other people whom you can’t believe were included over you.  Embarrassing! It’s painful not to be invited.  And even if you've never suffered the embarrassment of showing up uninvited it’s agonizing to be asked by a friend why you weren’t at the lunch, the party, the wedding, the celebration and your only honest yet heartrending response is, “I ...

I'm told that smells have the power to evoke powerful memories and one of those smells in   my life is fresh brewed coffee.   Every morning of my high school days started with my dad drinking his morning cup of coffee and, although I don’t drink it, the smell always reminds me of those mornings. My dad had one of the oldest drip coffee makers known to mankind. In fact, it may have been the original.   As I remember it, the coffee grounds would be placed in an upper chamber and boiling water would be poured in and slowly the water would seep through the grounds and collect in the lower chamber as coffee.   It may have taken a while for the process, but for him it was well worth the wait. I often wonder how my dad would take to these modern cup-at-a-time-in-a-minute coffee   makers we have today. He would likely say something like,   "Son, it takes time to make a good cup of coffee.     Trying to make a cup of coffee in a minute just ...

Don't you just love this season?   I'm not talking about fall; I'm talking about election season.   Polls, debates, policies - they all just add up for a fascinating combination of mudslinging, political mumbo-jumbo, and image control.   I wouldn’t call myself a real political person, but I must admit there is something about this cycle we go through every four years that intrigues me.    It's also interesting to observe how Christians perceive this process in differing and even opposing ways. Some Christians stay completely out of it.   The kingdom of God and the kingdoms of this world are two separate entities.   Neither Paul nor Jesus ever encouraged political action, accept to submit to the authorities, so why should we be the least bit concerned about laws and offices.   Let the people of the world take care of those insignificant details while I dedicate my full attention and allegiance to the eternal kingdom.   Real change a...

This week is a special week for Sherman and Denison high school football fans.   It's the annual Battle of the Axe.   (If you're not from Denison then just think of your high school's biggest rivalry and you have an idea of what I'm talking about.)   I'm not sure of the origins of the rivalry and why an axe is emblematic of that rivalry, but the occasion prompted me to do a little search through the Bible for any references to axes. (I'm a preacher, that's how my mind works!)   I thought there were and lo and behold I discovered   "Ax" is found 8 times in the New International Version while "Axe" is found 11 times.   I have no clue why there are two spellings of this word, but that is for another time and place.   Anyway, my search revealed no mention of Bearcats and Yellowjackets, but one reference especially seemed relevant to Christians like you and me. Solomon, or whoever wrote Ecclesiastes, makes several observations a...

A couple of weekends ago my wife and I decided to put some things out in the front yard and have a yard sale.   You learn a lot from having a yard sale. Lesson #1:   I have neighbors!   I already knew this of course.   I see people, the same people, driving up and down my street and walking into houses near me, but I sadly confess I have not been the neighbor I should be.   It seems we've become pretty adept at holing ourselves up in our air-conditioned and entertainment equipped homes that we can easily forget there are real people living all around us.   As we sat outside in our front yard people from up and down the street came by and said hello.   We may not have sold a lot, but we did get to know some new people.   I learned it's hard to love your neighbor when you stay safe and protected surrounded by your walls.   I might need to let some walls down and step outside a little more. Lesson #2:   Kids are the best shopper...