To watch video, please click link below; Thanks to Diane Johnson for filling in for me today. Diane regularly preaches on the fifth Sunday of the month to give me a little breather. It works well in December as there are a lot of moving parts in Advent. If you weren't in church or watched [...]
World Peace (Luke 2: 1-20) The running joke at my house every Christmas for the last forty plus years is my response to what I want for Christmas this year. And every year, when asked, I respond: World Peace. This year my daughter told me that she knew I wanted World Peace, but she [...]
Mary, Did You Know? (Luke 1: 39-55) We’ve all had big dreams growing up. We’ve dreamt of fame and fortune. We’ve dreamt of being a doctor, an astronaut, or maybe President of the United States. Afterall, we’re told that because we live in the United States of America, the greatest country in the world, [...]
God’s Produce Department (Luke 3: 7-18) Did you ever notice how nice and arranged the produce department is in most grocery stores? All the fruits and vegetables look so good and fresh, neatly arranged and recently washed. I like the peppers, bright red, dark green, vibrant yellow, eye-popping orange, and don’t forget the jalapenos [...]
Yes, Even You (Luke 3: 1-6) It’s not that I was naïve growing up or ignorant to issues like racism and exclusion. I grew up in the 1960s and got to see these struggles play out on the evening news and listening in on conversations around the table when the whole family would gather [...]
Stay Alert! (Luke 21: 20-36) When I was a police officer there was an observational tool that we had to learn called situational awareness that would soon, if you were good at it, develop into an invaluable habit that helped you spot irregularities and things that might become problematic. Apparently, I was, and am, [...]
Spoiler Alert! (Revelation 1: 1-8) I love books and movies of almost all types. And it doesn’t matter to me whether or not I know the outcome. Who would read a book or watch a movie if they knew the outcome? Yeah, I get that but sometimes the backstory is more interesting than the [...]
Need to Know (Hebrews 10: 11-25) When I was a cadet in the Houston Police Academy, we were told by our instructors that there were two types of knowledge: good to know and need to know. Good to know information usually fell into the commonsense category of a handy piece of information that could [...]
But I Am Guilty! (Hebrews 9: 24-28) Back when I practiced criminal defense one of the first things I told my new clients after I patiently listened to their side of the story was that they had three options. Their first option was to enter a plea of not guilty and demand a jury [...]
If You Had Been Here (John 11: 32-44) It was last year in December that my younger brother passed away suddenly. He had mentioned to my mother that he wasn’t feeling well and noticed blood in his urine. She urged him to see a doctor, but he declined reasoning that it was probably [...]