I am a big fan of Billy Graham’s books, and as I sat down one quiet afternoon to read one of Billy’s books, How to be Born Again, with anticipation and eagerness to glean as much of his knowledge about Christ and God’s word that I could. I came across this paragraph, “Before the teaching in the Bible about the cross can mean anything to us, the Spirit of God must open our minds. The Scriptures teach that a veil covers our minds as a result of our separation from God.” Have you ever experienced a moment while you were …
Foot of the Cross
Foot of the Cross While gazing out my front window, as I often do in the morning, I began to think about the transforming power of Jesus. There were several butterflies fluttering about; some yellow, some white, and some were a beautiful brown with meticulous markings of black lines and circles of all different colors and shapes. As I considered the Monarch butterfly with its colorful markings, it became obvious that it was more appealing to the eye than the plain white or yellow butterflies. Although the white and yellow butterflies were not as eye catching as the Monarch butterfly; …
Coping With Loneliness the Quiet Monster
Loneliness is a quiet monster: you can’t run from it, you can’t hide from it; you can’t escape from it, like the black of night it’s always there. That’s how I felt at one point in my life. But loneliness can be overcome. Loneliness is painful and very private; it’s hard to talk about, but it must be addressed and brought into perspective. I experienced loneliness from a young age. It may be hard to look back into our childhood, but the truth is, in some aspects, we carry that pain with us. We often experience that same childhood pain …
Sacred Wedding Vows
I was part of a wedding ceremony this past week, which, for me, is one of the happiest services a pastor performs. A wedding is full of excitement and hope for the future. With that said, it can be easy to get caught up in the preparation and pageantry of the ceremony, causing those involved to forget the sacredness of the vows that the bride and groom exchange. A marriage between a man and a woman is God’s design. God established the marriage covenant in Genesis 2:24, God after introducing Adam to his beautiful wife, Eve; wrote, in His Book, …
The Church: The Voice of God
I had a funeral to officiate this past week. Funerals are one of the toughest services for a pastor to do, especially if the service is for someone who did not know Christ, which was not the case in this situation this lovely lady had been a Christian for many years. As I was preparing for the service I thought about two things: how quickly our lives pass by (the Bible describes our years on earth as a vapor, and how quickly it vanishes (cf. James 4:14 NKJV), and as a blade of grass, which so quickly fades away, “All …