Worthy Words

This week after watching what was falsely reported about some Catholic high school students from Covington, Kentucky, I was reminded that there is more to life than what meets the eye. Much attention is given to all being right with the world. The term “Political Correctness” or “PC” is the catch phrase used these days to describe situations always in popular, upbeat and non-offensive ways. Some politicians in the past 25 years have begun to push the country in a direction that will to put government in charge of making everything for everybody—“OK.” We all want life to be “OK”. The flaw in this expectation is everything is “NOT OK.” That statement doesn’t mean I’m a pessimist or that I only see the glass half empty. It simply means that my expectations for “OK” are not based on what kind of day I’m having or if someone spoke to me in PC terms, but are based on what kind of day it is. My view is: “This is the day the LORD has made; I will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:2...

I’m reasonably sure no one, if truth be told, knows what it is like to serve a “lord” these days. The true meaning of the word originates form an earlier time in history. From generation to generation the expanse of time makes it difficult for our contemporary culture to fully appreciate the depth of its significance.   We have elected local, state, and national officials along with others in our society to whom we “give” authority. By contrast, in those by-gone days, “lords” had complete and sovereign control over everything within their territory. They had unrestricted control over everyone and everything under their authority. To acknowledge someone as “lord” meant that you obeyed their ownership and authority over your life without hesitation.   Using the focal lens of history stop and think for a moment about the following question:   Is Jesus the Lord of your life?   Is He really?   I confess there are times when Jesus is NOT Lord of my life in the...

My sister, Carrie, is an awesome cook. I think that if she hadn’t already invested almost forty years in the banking business she would be a chief somewhere or maybe a caterer. I’ve seen her move around her kitchen to whip-up some amazing dishes. Years ago I bragged on one of her dishes. She said it was a simple thing to make. She offered up the recipe from memory, naming off all the ingredients and their proportions and how to put it all together. I went home to try it out just like she described. I started over several times after leaving out some little something. I just made a mess of the whole thing. The harder I tried the more frustrated I became. The book of Luke, in chapter ten verse thirty eight to forty two, tells of a situation between Jesus and two sisters, Mary and Martha.  Jesus was visiting their home and Martha was busy doing chores and preparing dinner in order to serve her guest.  While she did this, her sister Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet and listene...

If you have lived in North Central Texas for any length of time, you’ll probably notice that many homes in this drought-weary area experience significant “settling,” including your own. In 2003, we noticed at the parsonage some small and large cracks crawling up the walls, doors not closing properly, and big cracks in the slab. Apparently, the kitchen sunk six inches and was in danger of splitting apart. To address the problem, a foundation company was hired to fix this issue. They pumped enough mud (cement slurry solution) under our slab to raise it six inches in order to level the house and keep it from slipping off into the creek just off the southeast corner of the lot. The work fixed the problem and stabilized the foundation, but we have to regularly use soaker hoses to keep the ground from drying out and more cracking to ensue. Life is essentially the same. We often don’t know how we will weather a storm until after it passes. And if we’re not careful, we miss the clu...