Sink or Swim (Matthew 14: 22-33) When my granddaughter was little, before she got into kindergarten, one of my duties was to travel over to Edmonds and take her to swimming lessons. It was an organized chaos to say the least and I have to give credit to her instructor, a woman with an [...]
Supply and Demand (Matthew 14: 13-21) Last Sunday we talked about that part of Paul’s letter to the Roman church where he assured them that: God works all things together for the good for the ones who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose. I can think of no better [...]
Practicing criminal defense in Smith County, Texas was challenging to say the least. My friend Richard Kennedy used to say that the milk of human kindness was not to be found in the Smith County courthouse. For elected officials who were a part of the criminal justice system mercy and forgiveness were seen as [...]
Hope For Tomorrow (Romans 8: 12-25) I remember growing up in the 50s and 60s when it seemed there wasn’t much on the television and we only had three channels to choose from as it was. Daytime television was the worst as after the noon news the airways were dominated by Soap Operas, and [...]
Strangely Warmed (Romans 8: 1-11) In May of 1738 John Wesley, the founder of our Methodist denomination, was feeling pretty low. He was an Anglican priest and was discouraged that his enthusiastic gospel message was not well-received by his Anglican brothers. In fact, it was flatly rejected. Today his message of “love your neighbor” [...]
Your Struggle is Real (Romans 7: 15-25) I’ve made a career out of listening. I know, sometimes it seems like I do more talking than listening, I know, I’m a chatty guy. I’m working on it along with a few other flaws. The challenge in listening is to not get in a hurry as [...]
The Slippery Slope (Romans 6:12-23) When I was in private practice in Tyler, Texas, I was hired by a young man who had been charged with a felony drug offense. Fortunately for him he was white and it was his first offense which made it easy to resolve with a deferred adjudication plea that meant [...]
No Excuses (Romans 6: 1-11) Back when I was with the Houston Police Department, I enjoyed working traffic and writing tickets. Traffic was tough in Houston, especially on the evening shift when people were trying to get home after a long day at work. I would keep an eye out for the impatient driver, [...]
Troubled and Helpless (Matthew 9: 35-10:8) Over the years I have made many references to John Wesley who is the founder of our Methodist denomination. I say founder, although forming a new Christian denomination was not on his bingo card. Wesley was born in 1703 into a religious family as his father was an [...]
Faith Plus Nothing (Romans 4: 13-25) It was a while back when I was here at the church on a Saturday morning during our busy time of ministering to those in need. I was outside pulling some weeds when I was approached by one of our visitors who engaged me in a conversation. He [...]