PASTOR’S BLOG

Divine Deliverance John 6:1-15 In May of 1940, Britain was desperate for hope. Germany had swept across Europe. Poland had fallen. France was collapsing. The British army was retreating toward the English Channel. Morale was fragile, fear was widespread, and the nation was looking for a new prime minister to say the right thing at the right moment. When Winston Churchill took office, people expected reassurance. They wanted confidence. They wanted a promise of quick victory a

The Courtroom Testimony John 5:30-47 In 1989, five teenage boys were arrested and charged with a brutal assault in New York’s Central Park, a case that came to be known as the Central Park Five. From the beginning, the story did not fit the facts. Interrogations stretched for hours. Confessions contradicted one another and failed to match key details of the crime. When DNA evidence was eventually tested, it did not match any of the five men who had been accused. Yet, they wer

The Resurrection Voice John 5:1–29 There are few places that expose human desperation more honestly than an emergency room waiting room. You walk in surrounded by people who would rather be anywhere else. Some are pacing. Some are holding loved ones. Some are staring at screens, waiting for their name to be called. Everyone there shares one thing in common. Something is wrong, and no one can fix it themselves. You check in, explain the problem, and then you wait. You watch th

Believe and See John 4:43–54 Augustine once wrote, “Faith is to believe what you do not see; the reward of this faith is to see what you believe.” That sentence captures the tension most of us live in every day. We say we believe, but we often want to see first. We want evidence before obedience. And when life presses in, when fear rises, when outcomes feel uncertain, our hearts quietly reverse Augustine’s order. We tell ourselves we will trust God only once we see. That inst

Thirsty John 4:1-42 Greek mythology tells the story of Tantalus, a man condemned to stand in a pool of water beneath branches heavy with fruit. When he bent down to drink, the water receded. When he reached up to eat, the branches lifted just beyond his grasp. He was not punished with scarcity but with nearness to abundance. Relief was always close, always visible, and always out of reach. That image feels uncomfortably familiar, it is a common theme in literature. Dante capt

He Must Increase John 3:22-36 In the world of competitive swimming, few rivalries have been as memorable as Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte. Both were elite athletes and world champions, training at a level most of us cannot imagine, but as the years went on Lochte found himself competing not only against the best swimmers on earth but against the greatest Olympian of all time. Later in his career, Lochte was asked if he was grateful to have competed in the same era as Michael

Steadfast Hearts for a Sure Harvest Galatians 6:9-10 Are you weary this morning? Maybe you are a faithful volunteer who has served in children’s ministry for years and wonders if anyone notices or if you are making any difference. Maybe you are the husband caring for his wife through a long illness, grateful for the privilege but worn out from long nights and quiet loneliness. Maybe you are the parent trying to disciple teenagers, praying and speaking truth while feeling like

Loved John 3:16-21 I didn’t grow up with a very refined sense of culture.  I was more of a meathead who only cared about sports. If it involved a ball and a field, I was all in. Plays and musicals were not my kind of fun.  I may have been dragged to a few as a kid, but if so, I must have blocked them out. But one of the first plays I actually remember seeing was on New Year’s Eve in 2004, about six months after Ellen and I got married. Wanting to do something special, I took

What do you believe? John 3:1-15 What do you believe? How do you believe? Christian writer and philosopher, once a confessing atheist, C.S. writes in his classic, The Weight of Glory ,   I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen—not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. Lewis did not become a Christian because he wanted to. He actually said of himself,  I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that

Zeal for My Father’s House John 2:13-25 Americans have become passionate about Halloween. A simple drive through town will reveal a score of houses littered with 30-foot skeletons, tombstones, and spider webs. According to the numbers, Americans will spend 13.1 billion dollars this year on Halloween. Now, I am not against children dressing up and getting candy, but the intense passion that has grown for Halloween is hard to ignore, and it makes me think often of the hot passi

The New Age John 2:1-11 How many of you traveled to work last week on horseback? Probably no one. Yet, just over a century ago, that was the most common form of transportation. How many of you read stories to your children last night by candlelight? Again, probably no one. Today, we flip a switch, and the room fills with light. How many of you stored your milk or meat in an icebox packed with blocks of ice? Likely none. We rely on refrigerators powered by electricity to keep

Come and See John 1:35-51 Edward Kimball was one of the most important men in the 1800s that very few people have ever heard of. Kimball was the youth boys Sunday school teacher for Mount Vernon Congregational Church. He had a special burden for each of his students seeking to lead each of them to saving faith in Jesus Christ. On Friday, April 21, 1855, Kimball had a strong prompting by the Holy Spirit to visit one of his boys, Dwight, while he was at wor. Dwight, didn’t seem

Look! Look! John 1:29-34 We loved taking our kids on hikes when they were younger. We’d pass out water bottles, tighten little backpack straps, and point at the map—“We’ll follow the blue trail to the overlook.” Within minutes their shoes were dusty and the questions were constant. Every turn in the trail felt like a new discovery: “Dad, look! Look at that flat rock! “Mom, look!—look at that flower!” Look! Look at that waterfall!” They’d show us deer tracks in the mud or a sh

The Word Became Flesh John 1:14-18 This past weekend, JD and I traveled to Maine so I could teach on longevity in ministry at a pastor’s...

Are you Happy? John 1:1-13 Are you happy? Are you truly happy with your life? It seems that happiness is on the decline. According to the...

The Promise-Keeping God Leviticus 26-27 In her classic, To Kill a Mockingbird , Harper Lee paints a world where justice feels fragile and...

Sabbath and the Jubilee Leviticus 25 Famed Patriot and bacon enthusiast, Ron Swanson, once captured the pride of the American spirit in...

Holy Time: God’s Gifts in the Rhythms of Redemption Leviticus 23–24 My grandmother had an old, tall grandfather clock in their living ...

Leviticus 20-22 Professor Carl Trueman gets right to the heart of what we see in our world today. He writes, A society is defined much...

Leviticus 19:19-37 I have always thought of myself as a good driver, but I have learned I am only a good driver when I drive on the right...