Ecclesiastes 12:10

  Dean Holloway was having a bad day. Dean was the bus driver for Merle Haggard and his band. Dean and Merle were both Okies that grew up in California as their parents fled the Dust Bowl. Merle was in LA to record 23 songs in 48 hours for his label. Dean had spent the better part of the days outside with the bus with no air conditioning waiting. So when Merle came out to let him know they were almost done he wasn’t happy.   Merle asked how his friend if he was doing all right, He replied, “I hate this place. I’m tired of this dirty old city”.  As a songwriter, Merle was always listening for interesting ways people put things and something about. “This dirty old city” caught him. Merle said, “Mr. Holloway “I can see you’re upset, but why don’t we take that anger out on a piece of paper?   So Dean ranted and Merle wrote. Merle said to Dean, “You’re in the middle of Los Angeles now. Where would you rather be?” Dean said, “If it were up to me, it’d be ...

   I don't know how He does it….    In all my years working as a minister, either as a preacher, youth minister or something in-between, the thing I have hated most about my job are the ones that fall away.  The people you taught, feed and worked beside, that later you hear that are no longer faithful.  When you ask about them and the response is: They aren't attending anywhere I know of , They left their spouse and ran off with someone else , They live now in some sin .      I hate looking back at the faces of all those I know knew the Truth, yet have somehow fallen in the error of the world.  It doesn't matter if I knew them for six minutes, six months or six years it hurts me.  But to be honest those I loved the most are always the hardest. Why? I know they believed! I know they cared! What happened? I know I taught them to watch out, there would be trying times. Why did they change? Why did they give up? Wha...

   It is one of the most depressing books in the Bible. It's very name, Lamentations, means the passionate expression of grief or sorrow.  It is a book about when the worst happens, when the unthinkable happens. It tells of a time when everything lies in ruins, families are split apart; all the things that matter most are totally destroyed. When the carnage and grief are so great there seems nothing left to do but weep. It is a time when it seems all hope is lost.   So it is ironic that in its pages we have one of the most positive, uplifting expressions of hope in the Bible. In Lamentations 3:21-23 we read,  “ This I recall to my mind, Therefore I have hope. The LORD'S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, For His compassions never fail.  They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness .”       Even in the worst of time, when it feels and looks like God has left his people, and it seems He has had enough of them and...

A good friend of mine from Lawton shares the same taste in books as me. You would often find us discussing a new book we found or giving each other advice on what to read next. As close as our reading habits were, he had one quirk I could never understand. Whenever he got a new book he would turn to the last chapter and read the last several pages. I thought this was inane behavior. Why would you want to know how it turns out before you read the book! His explanation was simple. He said that if hated to feel tense while reading a book wondering it would all turn out OK for his favorite characters. If he read the just the end, he wouldn’t know the whole story but could be enjoy the events of the book because he had some knowledge of how things would turn out.  I don’t know if I like that in pleasure reading but I am sure glad that God did something similar for us.             You see we don’t know all the turn and pitfalls...

  I have never been blessed with good vision. For as long as I can remember, I have had to wear glasses or have some kind of corrective measures. This was worse for me when I was younger and played football. It was difficult to wear glasses and a helmet, so I usually went without. (The glasses that is, thought if it had been the helmet that might have explained a lot about me). After the game when my friends would talk about some plays of the day, I never could join in. If it had not happened within 5 feet of me, it was just a blur. Because of my limited vision, I hadn’t seen the same game they had!    Compared to God, we also have very limited vision of life. We only see in our own small focus. It can cause us to not see how much some of our actions, good or bad, have changed the world around us. We may view failure or success completely differently than the way God does. It forces us to trust not what we “see” but a God that sees all.

We live in uncertain times. Threats of war, economic collapse, high energy prices, and worries about the future leadership of our country all cause us tension. It seems every news report contains stories of some threat, from cell phones causing cancer, to toxins in our water supply or terrorist in our midst. So what should the Christian do? Well Philippians 4:4-7 tells us this, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus ." No matter what calamities man may create, God is still here and in control. We may not see the solution but He does. That peace from knowing God is in control is the best solution to our fears.