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Grace in the Desert

Great googa-mooga, can’t you hear me talking to you, just ball of confusion; That’s what the world is today, hey, hey —The Temptations, “Ball of Confusion” It seems that things are being sifted through a zero-sum sieve. By things I mean things…life and all that it has to offer—from health to sports, […]

Persecution Is Promised!

“Going through this race as a Christian is going to cost you.”  -Pastor Nathan Houston I’ve read the Bible. I still read it, thank God. And I always want to skip the verses about peace, joy, love, abundance, grace, and mercy. I don’t sit too often with letters such as the […]

A God-Made Void

“We have a void in our souls, a spiritual void in our souls that cries out and really demands. It’s going to be filled with something.” – Pastor Mark Meeks But with what? This past Sunday we intentionally focused on 2 Timothy 2: 22-26. During the lesson, Pastor’s comment above […]

Follow the Leader

Growing up at a time (5+ decades ago) and place (Bakersfield) there weren’t too many playtime options. Baseball was always first choice, but there weren’t always enough people to hit, pitch and field. One game I vividly recall playing with my friend (Aaron) from across the street was Follow the Leader. We shared the role of […]

Thank God for Grace!

  I think we’ve all heard this one: “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.” Although, the next one is new to me: “Truth is, you knew what you had, you just never thought you’d never lose it.” Appreciation. Gratitude. “Thanks. Giving.” The latter was this Sunday’s title […]

Leadership

Leadership is inevitable. My recent experience riding “Lincoln” the horse, while vacationing in Tahoe, reminded me that headship (authority) occurs and, if I didn’t lead, Lincoln would invariably take control. Given an animal’s responsiveness to sensory stimuli, Lincoln immediately sensed my mild to moderate trepidation, which escalated to shouting-out-loud, full-blown […]

Just Trash!

Will the real Jew with confidence, please stand up? Please stand up! Please stand up! I know this is probably old school music now, but this lyric resonated with me as I listened to the scripture and Sunday’s sermon. In Philippians 3: 1-8, Paul reminds the believers that circumcision of […]

What are You Prepared to Do?

It sure seems that we’ve arrived at time and place when things seem to be spiraling out of control. In the musical words of the late Marvin Gaye, indeed, “What’s going on?” Sadly (or reassuringly), there is a constant and consistent theme. Well over two millennia ago the poet was […]