I am writing this on Sunday afternoon, September 25, 2005 from our son Jeremy's home in Dallas where the four generations of our family in Houston came last Thursday to escape Hurricane Rita's expected arrival there on Friday/Saturday. We did not anticipate that three million other pilgrims would be travelling west and north from Houston that same day! The trip from our homes in Houston to Jeremy & Kristy's home in north Dallas normally takes about five hours. This time our daughter Melanie, son-in-law Michael and their two little ones left at 4:00 a.m. and got to Dallas 14 hours later. … [Read more...]
‘LITTLE GRANNY’ GOES HOME
It was an eventful year, 1912. The Titanic sank, New Mexico and Arizona joined the Union, Juliette G. Low founded the Girl Scouts of America, Woodrow Wilson was elected President of the United States. And in Wartrace, Tennessee, Kate and Frank Taylor welcomed their firstborn -- a daughter they named Celia Baldwin Taylor. She grew up to marry Jamie Locke of Leiper's Fork, Tennessee, to whom she gave a daughter, Sara Faye, now my wife of 42 years. As mother, grandmother and mother-in-law, Celia was surely among the best anywhere. We called her "little Granny." She lived 97 years, three months … [Read more...]
SECULAR SACRAMENTS
If we are very fortunate, every now and then our senses encounter a moment of beauty so transcendently marvelous that the experience becomes for us a portal or gate to the eternal. Wordsworth saw in such moments an "intimation of immortality," a memory of the soul's eternal existence before our birth, when "trailing clouds of glory, we comef we are very fortunate, every now and then our senses encounter a moment of beauty so transcendently marvelous that the experience becomes for us a portal or gate to the eternal. Wordsworth saw in such moments an "intimation of immortality," a memory of the … [Read more...]
THE RIGHTEOUS RULER
For nearly 2,000 years, Christian believers have differed concerning the proper role of earthly governments and what, if anything, Christians should seek to accomplish through them. For more than four centuries, they lived under the authority of imperial Rome, which sometimes looked like God's agent (Rom. 13:1-7) and at other times like an enemy beast (Rev. 13). Jesus acknowledged Caesar's limited realm (Luke 20:19-25) but reminded Pilate that all authority came from God (John 19:10-11). Some believers would use the state as an arm of the church. Within a century after Constantine legalized … [Read more...]
Reconciling the Bible and Science A BOOK REVIEW
God has no controversy with evolution and evolution poses no threat to faith in God. That is the message (though not a direct quote) of Reconciling the Bible and Science: A Primer on the Two Books of God, by Lynn Mitchell and Kirk Blackard (self-published, 2009, softcover, 266 pages). The fight is not between creation and science, these authors insist. The fight is either between creation and scientism (which they say claims too much for itself and assumes there is no God), or it is between science and creationism (which they say misuses the Bible by wrongly reading Genesis as if it were … [Read more...]
SPRINGTIME IN SEARCY
April 13, 2010 -- The deadness of Winter has given way to the greening of new life, and the fields and forests of Arkansas are now lavishly adorned in a living palette of jonquils, firepinks and wisteria, complemented by redbuds, dogwoods and flowering trees of all kinds. Contributing the audio to this visual splendor, a host of robins, bluebirds and martins cheerfully announce the arrival of Spring. Meanwhile, the Grand Artist is also moving among the community of rescued humans, in whose lives he is working a rebirth and transformation fully as awesome as his work in nature. Sara Faye and I … [Read more...]
OKLAHOMA OKAY
(03/28/2010) Today, God willing, I am speaking twice at South Brooke Church of Christ in Tulsa, Oklahoma, talking about Jesus our great high priest, the Son of God who became a man to make men and women children of God.This weekend follows three full days of The Tulsa Workshop, which offers far more than any one person can take in. Much of the joy and benefit of such gatherings is the opportunity to meet, renew acquaintances and enjoy fellowship with a host of brothers and sisters from around the world. On this occasion that included international gracEmail subscribers Jacob Agak from Kenya … [Read more...]
MINISTRY IN MASSACHUSETTS
I praise God for the privilege of presenting the gospel message last week in Boston, Massachusetts, in the course of seven sermons/lessons from Hebrews in two separate venues. Thursday through Saturday, I had the honor of extolling the accomplishments of Jesus Christ our Savior four times to pastors, delegates and spouses of the Eastern Regional Association of the Advent Christian Church, meeting in annual convention in Peabody, Mass. On Sunday, I was privileged to do the same thing three times at the Church of Christ in Burlington, Mass., a congregation planted by a group of Southerners who … [Read more...]
BREADFRUIT AND THE BREAD FROM HEAVEN
Two of our new friends at the Maui Church of Christ are Akira and Carlyna Tosie, natives of Micronesia and long-time residents of Hawaii. Earlier this month we were honored to join their extended family of 16 for a Micronesian home cookout, to celebrate Akira's 71st birthday and grandson Steven's fifth. Because Akira and Carlyna tend the church building and grounds, we have enjoyed their company at our place also. One day Akira, who served as a legislator on his home island, cut off a coconut growing in our backyard, made two swipes with his machete, and handed me a fresh sampling of nature's … [Read more...]
MEMBERS WORKING TOGETHER
We arrived at the Kahului airport on Maui last Wednesday evening where retiree and associate minister Bob Harp met us warmly, wished us "Aloha," placed leis around our necks and led us to "the cottage" (parsonage) that is our home this month of September. At Bible study that night, Tim Shiroma led us in singing before I led our discussion. On Thursday, the primary window unit A/C in the cottage began leaking water inside the house, and Tom Hickox "jerry-rigged" it on Friday to get us through the weekend. On Saturday, several vehicles pulled into the church parking area, and people scrambled … [Read more...]
