I like to make up stories about people. I observe random people at the airport while I am waiting for my flight at the gate, and create stories. The man sitting across me in a dark suit talking on his blackberry is a mafia Don strategizing about impending criminal activity in Chicago. The well dressed lady in the grey suit and black high heels is a top advisor to the new CEO of General Motors. No doubt she is typing…
It is camp time. We take our children to Walmart a few days before departure. If we have boys, we purchase Axe body wash, and urge them to use it more than once during their 6 day stint away from home. There is a boy raised in my home who came home from camp when he was 9 years old beaming with pride. He had gone the entire week without a shower. So…purchase the body wash and give detailed instructions….
Camp is officially underway. Once again I have been coerced into be the Head Men’s counselor for Camp Zenith hosted on the campus of Oklahoma Christian University. I want everyone to think that I have been coerced. Those who know me well will point out that camp is actually is personal high point of the entire year. Last night when I did dorm check I was not the least bit disappointed. The boys’ dorm rooms were giving off that familiar…
Robert came to live with us in June. The year was 1988. Actually it all began with a very innocent phone call from the director of a church supported boys’ home in Hollis, OK. He casually told me that the house parents at the home were scheduled for a three and one half week vacation. All of of the children under the care of the home would be placed with individual families for a few weeks, while the employees received…
Camp is on my mind right now. In less than a month, I will assume my annual responsibilty of being the Head Men’s Counselor at Camp Zenith hosted on the campus of Oklahoma Christian University. Our youth minister, Chris Robey, asked me a couple of years ago if I would be interested in filling that role. I actually thought it was time for me to retire from church camps, and draw my camp pension. In a moment of weakness in…
Easter is an interesting Sunday. A lot of people attend worship services who are rarely seen during the remainder of the year. I can relate…. I have been there. I always went to church on Easter with whatever girl I was seeing at the time, when I was younger. Here is a synopsis of my message last Sunday. Transformation REALLY HAPPENS!Do people really change? Human nature is corrupt. There is nothing innocent about us! Only a cursory reading of the…
I was working on a sermon early this morning…the text: Matthew 9:35-40. 35Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore,…
(Note: This series of ministry events began unfolding on a Friday morning, around 11:30, and were completed around 11:30 the evening of the same day.)I got to hold a baby today…you know it is one of those things that preachers get to do… We go to the hospital to pray for the newborn. We go and pray with the parents at such a joyful time. And sometimes, we enjoy the fringe benefit of holding God’s new and precious gift.I got…
She is a very quiet girl…. She is one of at least a dozen middle school age girls in the Sunday school class I teach every week. They are all sweet… This particulary young lady is precious. She is always attentive and quick to smile, but very reserved. She came up to me after class, and asked me if I would be present for her baptism this afternoon at 3:30. I told her: Of course I will be there.As her…