Thinking about Life and the Lord!

Typical of last minute Christmas shoppers, a mother was running furiously from store to store purchasing last minute gifts with her son before the stores closed. Suddenly she became aware that the pudgy little hand of her 3-year-old son was no longer clutched to hers. In a panic, she retraced her steps and found the little guy standing with his nose pressed flatly against a store front window. He was looking at a manger scene. Hearing his mother’s frantic calls, he turned and with great enthusiasm shouted to his mother, “Look mommy! Come quick! It's Jesus…baby Jesus is laying there in they hay!” With obvious indifference to her little boy’s wonder and joy over Jesus, she impatiently jerked him away from the window and started dragging him down the hall of the mall saying, “What were you thinking! We don’t have time for that! Don’t you know it is Christmas and there are lots of more important things to do today!” I am afraid that this story relates to many people at Christm...

We live in a society that has what I like to call a "whacked out worldview." When I was a kid in elementary school we had a day called "opposite day" where every kid in the school did everything backwards. We wore our clothing backwards, had fun walking backwards down the hall, we flip flopped our daily schedule, and we had breakfast for school lunch. It was a lot of fun to spend the day doing the opposite all day long. However, the fun and excitement would have gone away quickly if we had chosen to do the "opposite" of what was normal every day. In America it seems as if we now live in a time where everyday is "opposite day." It appears the things people should be doing are not the things they are doing and the things I never thought people would be doing all over our country are the very things they do with regularity, popularity, and with great fanfare. Again, we now have a "whacked out worldview." A worldview is the lens throug...

Recently I moved! It is sometimes hard to fathom, but I made a major move from a place I love to a place I have known for many years and know I will grow to love. For 15 years I lived in the small town of Marion, Arkansas in Eastern Arkansas just across the river from Memphis, Tennessee. This is right in the middle of Mississippi River Delta. I had the privilege of pastoring for 15 years at the First Baptist Church of Marion, Arkansas where we saw God do some amazing things! One of the constants for me over all these years was one place...my home! Right there on Apperson Drive in the RiverTrace Subdivision my family and I spent many days and nights of life. We lived there surrounded by our best friends and many acquaintances. When we first found that house it was under construction. We were able to provide input into all its finishes and colors. Then, before moving into the house, I got a call that the house had burned to the ground during the night. This was not the auspicious start...

            Let me ask all of you this important question. Warning: This question could be life-changing for you. Are you ready? Ok…here is the question: What would you be willing to attempt for God if you knew that you could not or would not fail?             Now that is a life-changing question for you life and for my life. Some of you who are reading this really have no clue as to how to answer it. I hope that you would at least give this important question some serious thought some time today and come to some kind of an answer. In Ephesians 2:10, Paul tells us that God created each of us to do something great for Him. Sadly, most of the people I know never even attempt something mediocre for God, much less something great! The result is that we miss out on the “abundant life” promised to us by Jesus in John 10:10. We are always settling for good when God wants us to...

One of my favorite television shows is American Pickers . This show airs each week on the History Channel. It is a show where Mike and Frank travel the country looking for treasurers hidden in people's old barns, houses, storage sheds, and businesses. I am always fascinated at what they "pick" at these locations as something that is valuable. On one recent episode Frank picked a tin robot toy from the 1960's. The toy was rusted, the knob that once was used to wind the toy up to walk was broken, and the paint was faded. That vintage toy which had been sitting in an old barn for years collecting dust was considered valuable because of its rarity. Apparently the creator was a famous toy manufacturer in Japan who had made only a few of these children's toys in the 1960's and today it is a major collector's item. Think about it...Frank found this treasure in a box full of junk, made a deal with the owner and paid him $60.00 for something that once sold for $...

Since it is the Christmas holiday season I thought it would be good to maybe give you a few thoughts that might help you have a better holiday this year. 1. Enjoy the moment! There were two buddies who decided to go sailing the week before Christmas. Suddenly they were caught up in a big storm and their boat was blown onto a sand bar. These two guys found themselves standing in waist deep, freezing water with sleet falling all around them and the wind howling out of the north. One guy looked at the other and said, "Boy this is sure is a big mess we've gotten ourselves into. Even if we are rescued we will probably have pneumonia for Christmas." His friend replied, "Yep! We are in a big mess...but it sure beats Christmas shopping with our wives!"  It is easy to get overwhelmed by the Christmas shopping, the gifts, the lights, the parties, and all of the activities of Christmas to the point that we forget to enjoy the moment. We sing "Silent night"...

God is speaking to the men who were supposed to be leading His people. Rather than leading the people, they had abdicated their roles as leaders and started living for themselves. It mirrors our society today. God asks, “Where is My honor?” Today I want us to see what God tells us He is looking for in our lives! First, let's talk about the Place of God in your life! Here is the question all men must ask: " Who is really in control?”                  Men, one of the clear reasons you are so confused as to your God-ordained role in your home, in the church, in our community, and on your job is because you have either never understood or have completely forgotten your role before God. God has ordained that it is men who should take the role of leader in all of these areas. In no way does that demean anyone else. In no way does this mean that men and women are not equal. What I am telling you is that men a...