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Do you ever find it hard to be happy for people when good things happen to them? I do. Someone gets a promotion and instead of being happy for them I’m envious. A friend’s child gets an award and jealousy is my first reaction instead of joy. Why can’t I just be happy when good things happen to people?  Why can’t I just “rejoice with those who rejoice?” Why do these feelings of resentment set in? It seems to happen a lot to me, and I don’t like it. I wish I could find an answer, and a recent experience may have provided one. I am a huge baseball fan. I grew up near Boston and, even though I’ve lived in Texas for over 30 years, my heart has always been with the Boston Red Sox. They didn’t do well this past year at all. In fact, they finished in last place. The Texas Rangers won the World Series this year for the very first time. I’m not a Rangers fan but I found myself rejoicing with my friends who are. On the night they won the Series I was texting my Ranger fan friends congratulati...

Can you believe it? Another year is in the books. I don’t know about you, but as magical and wonderful this time of year is, it is exhausting. I’m tired! And the fact is that it’s not just this time of year. I find myself getting weary and tired often. Life is like that. It can wear you down. Life is hard work and hard work makes you tired.  And what’s strange is that you would think faith would exempt us from tiredness. Shouldn’t Christians be something like the energizer bunny always buzzing around doing good deeds with perpetual smiles on our faces? Sometimes I may feel that special energy but for the most part I find myself grinding through life. Add to the daily struggles of life, the Bible talks about an evil force that is working against us making life even more wearisome. The devil seems to delight in our exhaustion and leverages that tiredness against us tempting us just to give up. “Stop resisting the temptation and just give in,” he whispers to us. “You’ve done enough go...

You would think giving thanks would come easily and naturally but, for me and I suppose others, it often times doesn’t. So, with the season of Thanksgiving upon us I thought I’d write this little guide for my benefit and hopefully for yours. Give thanks for the good things This is the easy one. Even the most callous person feels at least a twinge of gratitude when something good happens. Nevertheless, let this be a reminder that we need to pause and give thanks for the good things in life like the new job, the financial windfall, the new baby, the fabulous vacation, the mended relationship, the restored health, and all the special joys and victories that give life that extra sense of joy and happiness. Give thanks for the ordinary things This is a little more difficult, but it would be a shame not to recognize all the simple beauties of life. Give thanks for those things that we often take for granted. Those small gifts that sometimes get overlooked. Things like a beautiful fall day,...

With football season in full swing, I often think of my high school football days. I wasn’t very good at all but, as the saying goes, the older I get the better I was. One of my few highlights from those days was a kickoff return. You may be thinking that my story is about a game winning return but it isn’t. Actually, the return was nothing to speak of. It was how I was tackled that I remember. As I was being brought down the defender reached into my face mask and poked me in the eye. There was no serious damage but I figured this was going to give me a black eye and, sure enough, after the game when I checked it out I had the worst shiner I had ever had. And boy, was I proud! We played our games on Saturday mornings and I couldn’t wait to go to church the next day and then to school the next Monday to show off my injury. I was anxious to let everyone know that I risked my life for our high school football team (I may have been a little overdramatic). I was privileged to wear this “bad...

The Bible Study Bible is exactly what its name suggests – this is a Bible designed for small group or personal Bible study. You might ask, “Don’t we already have plenty of those?” We do, but what sets this Bible apart is that it provides a series of questions for EVERY CHAPTER OF THE BIBLE! I’ve used similar Bibles, but none that provides study resources for every chapter. This Bible is ideal for a small group of people reading through the Bible or reading through a book of the Bible. All you need to lead a small group is right there. It even includes in the introduction some helpful tips on how to lead groups. I will keep this volume handy for personal reflection and, as a church leader, I will certainly use this as a resource for small group leaders in my church. If you are a small group leader, this Bible certainly needs to be considered for your group. As always, you need to know what this Bible is not. Although it provides introductions to each book of the Bible, a concordance...

I recently drove my adult son to the airport for a trip he was taking with some friends. He lives in Arkansas but was flying out of DFW, so he drove to our home in Denison to spend a little time with us. While he was gone I drove his car a few times just to make sure it was running well. I guess that’s what a dad does even with grown sons. His car had actually been given to him by my wife and me when he was in college and, as I was driving his car, the thought occurred to me how generous I was to have given him this car that is still running so well. I was thinking pretty highly of myself and figuratively patting myself on the back for being such a benevolent father.   Then I remembered. Several years back my wife’s uncle called me. Age had crept up on him and his health was failing and he and his wife, our aunt, had gotten to the point where they had no need for a car. I suppose they could have sold it and pocketed the cash, but they had talked it over and decided to offer th...

Don’t you just love spring? It’s simply glorious. Trees blooming. Plants blossoming. It’s all so beautiful. Unless of course you were looking at my front yard earlier this year. Last summer we bought three bushes that looked so promising. The leaves were supposed to turn all kinds of spectacular colors as the seasons progressed. We were so hopeful. But this spring all we had left were barren sticks. Two of the plants seemed utterly hopeless, but one had a few vestiges of leaves.  I uprooted all three plants and tossed aside two of them but decided to give the barely alive plant a second chance. So, I took the lone survivor and replanted it in my back yard. Maybe a new location where it could get more sun would make a difference. With little hope for a recovery, I dug the hole, placed the plant in it, watered it, and waited to see what would happen. The first week there was little improvement. The next week a little more. And the jury is still out on whether it will live into its po...

This week is the National Football League Draft, a day that thousands of young men have been anticipating for years. I love to watch as the player hears his name called. The smiles. The hugs. Going to the platform and being congratulated by the commissioner. And then donning the jersey and cap of his new NFL team. The incomparable joy of hearing your name called. I imagine that all the hard work that led to that day races through their minds. The path to the draft is filled with many joys, but also with many trials. And with those trials there must have been times when they wanted to quit. Times when the dream seemed out of reach. Times when discouragement nearly outweighed the will to go on. But hearing their name called makes everything worth it. The first time they put on the helmet and shoulder pads and breathlessly ran sprints. Worth it! The two-a-day practices in high school. Worth it! The losing seasons and determining to stick with the game they love. Worth it! The rehab from i...

In my recent sermon on I Corinthians 15, (March 26, 2023) I glossed over a controversial verse in Paul’s teaching on the resurrection. It’s 15:29 that gets our attention: Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? (NIV) What’s going on here? Let’s review the context. In 1 Corinthians 15:12-34 Paul is arguing that the resurrection of Jesus is absolutely necessary for our faith. Without the resurrection our faith is worthless.   To bring this point home he assures the readers that those who have died are actually only asleep. Death is not the end. If Jesus is not raised those who have died are lost. Playing on this thought he then introduces a practice among the Corinthians – baptism for the dead. Such a practice is meaningless if there is no resurrection. The question is the purpose or intent of this practice. Some suggest that Paul is being hypothetical here. It’s n...

Driving to work the other day I hit a pothole and, like most people, I reacted angrily. “Why can’t they do something about this?” I mumbled under my breathe. But this time instead of complaining I thought maybe I could learn a lesson or two from the pothole.  Here’s what I learned: Pothole Lesson #1 - There will always be potholes. It seems like every city that I’ve lived in has had potholes. They’re everywhere. In fact, if you find a city without potholes move quickly because they soon will have some. Do you, like me, expect life to be all smooth sailing? That’s a nice thought but it’s just not going to happen. There will be potholes in life. Some of my own making. Some the making of others. And some just because we live in an imperfect world. Maybe I need to just make sure that I don’t overreact to these inevitable potholes in life. Sometimes I can let something annoying ruin my entire day and the day of everyone around me. It’s not that potholes are enjoyable, but I shouldn’t le...

I’m a preacher. That’s my job. Most every Sunday I stand before the congregation and deliver a sermon. I love my job. I chose to do this. But, not to elicit your sympathy, it’s not easy. If you’re a church goer I would wager that on Sundays part of your worship experience is to listen to a preacher preach a sermon. Just typing that sentence makes me shudder. The words “preach” and “sermon” both can carry a negative connotation. Who really likes being “preached” at? Does anyone ever look forward to a “sermon”?  Admit it, the preacher has a difficult task. I would like to think I deliver an interesting and applicable sermon, but I admit some Sundays are better than others.  Sometimes I fumble through the words. Other times an illustration or a joke doesn’t connect. Most of the time when I take my seat I remember something I left out or think of a better way to say what I tried to say. Some sermons are great (at least that’s what my mom always said). Some are good. Some are okay....

Sometimes missing a flight turns into a blessing. My older son was flying from Little Rock  to Kansas City through Dallas but missed his connection because the flight was late leaving Little Rock. He called from the airport bemoaning his fate but said that there was another flight he could book that wouldn’t put him into Kansas City too much later than planned. Not long after that call he called again. This time with better news. While my son was booking the new flight he came across an older gentleman who was on the same flight and in the same predicament but was having difficulty booking a new flight. My son helped him out and got the gentlemen on the new flight.  All was well. In appreciation the man invited my son to the Admiral’s Club in the terminal – a swanky lounge for wearied travelers stocked with all kinds of food, drink, and comfortable chairs to pass the time. So, the second call came while he was eating steak! His missed flight turned into an unexpected blessing!...

Our family likes to play games. One card game we played when the kids were younger was a card game called “Fluxx.” It bills itself as “the card game with ever-changing rules.” Hence, the name” Fluxx.” During play the number of cards drawn changes. The number of cards you can have in your hand changes. The goal to win the game changes. It’s entertaining and frustrating at the same time. Life sometimes resembles the games we play and right now I feel like we are living “Fluxx.” It’s like we were all playing by the same, unchanging rules for centuries and BAM – the rules changed. And then, when we figure out the new rules, they change again. For me, it’s not so much entertaining as it is frustrating. I suppose change is inevitable and I guess change is not bad. I don’t want to be that guy who is so set in his ways and beliefs that I never question the rules and even acknowledge that some rules need to change. I want to be flexible, but I notice an ongoing craving for stability in my life ...

I don’t like being sick, but it might be even more difficult to see your child sick. You try to comfort them and help them heal, but there’s only so much you can do. There have been times when I would say to my child that if it were possible I would trade places with them. And it’s true. If you’re a parent you’ve probably had the same sentiment. We would gladly bear their pain if we could spare them. But as much as we want to take their pain, we just can’t. One of the prominent pictures of God throughout the Bible is that of a father. God is our father providing for us, guiding us, teaching us to walk, and even disciplining us. And I get this sense that just as I hurt when my children hurt, he hurts when we hurt. And as a compassionate father he nurses us back to health. He helps us heal just like we do for our kids. And I imagine that God has those same feelings I have for my children when they are sick. He too would gladly bear our pain to spare us. Though I can’t do that for my chil...

Today I said goodbye to a good friend.  Just to be up front, no one died so this naturally doesn’t rise anywhere close to that level of sadness. But I did say goodbye to something that has been a part of my life for the last 21 years. My 2001 Honda Odyssey van has gone to the big car lot in the sky. I sadly confess that it took me more than two years to finally scrap the old vehicle, but today was the day, and it was just as hard as I thought it would be. It was towed from the curb outside my house and left in a sad scrap metal facility populated by similarly old cars and other objects that had outlived their usefulness. I’ll remember this moment as much as I remember the moment we signed the papers to take ownership of a pristine new vehicle that would serve our family of four. That family would grow to five and then to six, and oh the memories we made. Road trips to South Padre Island. Football games and band trips. Tennis matches all across north Texas. School drop offs and pick...

A few years ago about this time of year I walked into a convenience store and the clerk asked me how the yard work was going. I hadn’t told him what I had been doing but he figured it out - probably based on how I smelled. You know that yard-work smell – a mixture of freshly cut grass, gasoline, and sweat. It’s hard to believe they haven’t come out with a designer fragrance for that one. Sometimes our smell can give us away. After camping you carry around that smoky campfire scent. If you've been around smokers, discerning noses can detect that odor. After you’ve cooked out some burgers or hot dogs your aroma goes ahead of you. Our scent can reveal a lot of who we are and who or what we’ve been around. What do you smell like? Of course, I’m not talking about our odor picked up by the noses around us. I’m talking about the attitudes and impressions we emit when we walk into a room. You know some people that can just bring down a room by walking in. Or others who can brighten up a ro...

Have you ever watched the reality television show Shark Tank? If you’re not familiar, it features aspiring entrepreneurs who pitch their ideas to a panel of successful, wealthy businesspersons in hopes of securing their financial and intellectual support. The premise is that once they can partner with one of the “sharks” they will be well on their way to prosperity. Some get rejected and leave the show dejected while some get chosen to team up with one of the panelists. For them it’s a dream come true to work with a financial expert. There’s a concept we see throughout Scripture that resembles this arrangement. It’s called covenant. A covenant is an agreement between two individuals or nations. Sometimes they are equal parties and enjoy some sort of mutual benefit through the agreement. In other cases, the covenant is made between a superior individual and an inferior individual where the superior offers the inferior some benefit in exchange for money or services. In some ways this is ...

This Sunday is traditionally known as Palm Sunday, the day when Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey to the praise of the Passover crowd.  Much is made of the palm branches, the shouts of Hosanna, the objection of the Pharisees, but overlooked in the story is owner of the donkey. As Jesus was approaching Jerusalem he instructed his disciples to go into a village where they will find a donkey. When they find the animal they are told to just untie it and bring it him. Sounds like a first century version of grand theft larceny. Who in the world is going to let perfect strangers just walk up to their donkey and take it with no explanation? Anticipating that someone may have issue with this apparent thievery, he further instructed the disciples that if anyone asks why they are untying this donkey just tell them, “The Lord needs it.” I guess the disciples are satisfied with the plan and proceed – an act of faith in and of itself. They followed the instructions and as they are untying th...

The recent invasion of Ukraine has resurfaced lingering questions believers have about the sovereignty of God. How can a good, loving, just God seemingly sit back while innocents suffer at the hands of a political juggernaut? How do we process recent events in light of the clear Biblical claim that God is sovereign over the nations? How do we make sense of scriptures like Daniel 2:21 , “He changes times and seasons; he deposes kings and raises up others;” and Romans 13:1 , “The authorities that exist have been established by God”?     I don’t have the answer, but I can propose a response - one that goes back centuries to an Old Testament prophet named Habakkuk. Let it be known that we are not the first to wrestle with this apparent contradiction, nor will we be the last. Habakkuk asked the same questions we are asking. In his case the evil nation was powerful Babylon who decided to flex their ungodly muscles at the expense of God’s chosen people, the Israelites. None of it mad...

Have you ever started a show on television and seen this warning? The following program contains mature language. Viewer discretion is advised. We all know what “mature language” means, but I wonder why they call it “mature.” We have a way of sanitizing things, don’t we? Shouldn’t they just tell us there’s going to be some cussing or swearing or profanity or words you don’t hear in church? Why would anyone ever call that kind of language “mature”?   Is it really “mature” to use those words? I think those warnings give “mature” a bad rap. I’m all in favor of using “mature” language, but not in the way these warnings define it. Here’s an alternative definition of “mature” language from the Bible in Ephesians 4:29 and few rules to help us. Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. Rule #1 – If it’s unwholesome, hold it in. If a word is dirty, foul, or obscen...