PASTOR’S BLOG

Hope in the House of Death John 11:1-44 “Hope is the word which the finger of God has inscribed upon the brow of every man.” Victor Hugo wrote those words in his classic work Les Misérables, one of the greatest stories of redemption ever written. It is the story of Jean Valjean and his journey from hatred and despair to mercy and hope. Hugo understood something that every human being eventually discovers: we cannot live without hope. As Hugo gave hope to the world with his pe

Hear and Hold John 10:22-42 One writer nails the human heart with one sentence, “All of humanity’s problems stem from man’s inability to sit quietly in a room alone.” When was the last time you sat alone in a quiet room for 30 minutes without checking your phone? No multitasking. Not with music playing in the background. No reaching for a screen the moment your mind slows down. Just you… and silence. For most of us, that feels almost impossible. Within seconds, we feel the u

The Voice You Trust John 10:1-21 Picture three year old Benson on a playground, full of energy and curiosity. He runs from one piece of equipment to another, climbing, laughing, completely absorbed in the moment. His parents are nearby, watching, but for just a moment he rounds the corner of the building and cannot see them anymore. He is still safe, still within reach, but now he is out of sight. Now two voices begin to call out to little Benson. From one side of the buildin

Questions for the Blind John 9:1-41 In 1748, a young sailor was caught in a violent storm at sea. As the ship, the Greyhound, was battered by the waves and began to break apart, he worked through the night, desperately trying to keep it afloat. And with every bucket of water he threw overboard, he began to think about his own soul, wondering if this would be his last day and asking, “Could God forgive my sin?” This was no ordinary ship. It was a slave ship, and he was a slave

Never Taste Death John 8:48-59 Benjamin Franklin once said, “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” And every year about this time, we are reminded of at least one of those. April has a way of bringing reality into focus. You can put it off for a while, you can try not to think about it, but eventually it comes due. Taxes have a deadline you cannot escape. But there is another certainty that no calendar can contain and no deadline can postpo

Are you free? John 8:31-47 If you listen to the messaging around us, freedom is often described like this: live however you want, be whoever you feel you are, and do not let anyone tell you otherwise. That is the air we breathe. Freedom, we are told, means no restraints, no authority, no limits placed on your life except the ones you choose for yourself. As Princess Elsa popularized this theme for a generation of young girls, “No right, no wrong, no rules for me… I’m free.” A

The Light of the World John 8:12-30 I went tent camping recently. We were out in the woods, away from the city lights, where the night sky is actually dark. If you have ever camped somewhere like that, you know how different that kind of darkness feels. There are no streetlights, no porch lights, no glow from nearby houses. When the sun goes down, it really is dark. In the middle of the night I woke up and needed to walk to the bathroom area. I had my phone with me, and I cou

Can this be the Christ? John 7:25-52 History is full of mysteries that capture the imagination of entire generations. One of the most famous is the story of the Man in the Iron Mask. In the late 1600s, during the reign of King Louis XIV of France, a mysterious prisoner was held in several French prisons under the strictest secrecy. Wherever he was transferred, guards were ordered to conceal his identity. When others might see him, his face was covered with a black velvet mask

Demands and Divisions John 7:1–24 If you have ever lived with a toddler, you know something about demands. They do not request. They declare. They demand juice in the blue cup, not the red one. They demand a snack they refused five minutes ago. They demand to put their own shoes on, and then demand help when they cannot. They demand that bedtime not exist. And if their demands are not met, the world collapses. Tears. Protest. Full emotional resistance. The thing about toddler

Hard Words John 6:60-72 Aaron and Luke had been close friends for nearly a decade. They met in a small group at church, prayed through job changes and miscarriages, stood beside each other when their children were born. They used to joke, “If I ever drift, you have permission to call me out.” It was the kind of friendship built on shared faith and long conversations. Over time, though, Luke began to notice something in Aaron. Aaron often said he loved his wife, but he was con

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