AnotherJohn.Com

  Click here to listen to today’s devotional 2 Corinthians 12:14-18 “You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours" sounds friendly enough. Helpful, even. You do something for me, and I’ll return the favor. There’s even a familiar Latin phrase for it: quid pro quo. This for that. But if we’re not careful, “this for that” can become the math we use for relationships. I helped you, so you should help me. I showed up for you, so you should show up for me. I gave, so eventually you should give something back. Paul wants nothing to do with that kind of relationship with the Corinthians. In 2 Corinthians 12, he tells them, “I do not want what is yours but you.” Then he uses the parent-child relationship as an example. “Children ought not to lay up for their parents, but parents for their children.” Paul’s not saying children never give anything to their parents. He's describing the direction of mature love. Mature love asks, “What can I give?” before it asks, “What am I getting?” Tha...

  Click here to listen to today’s devotional Matthew 13:1-9 This weekend, we traveled to Corpus Christi to celebrate our son’s birthday. Well, that was the official reason. The real reason was to get our hands on our newborn granddaughter. Knowing I’d spend the day with our kids and then drive four-plus hours home, I needed to make time for some reading. So I woke up early Saturday and went downstairs to the hotel lobby. There was only one other person there. Breakfast was still being set up. And the Weather Channel was the background noise. I wasn’t paying much attention until I heard something that sounded familiar. I was reading about innovation in the church. One of the images was nurturing saplings. That is, planting something new, tending it carefully, and giving it room to become what it might become. At almost that exact moment, an apple farmer appeared on television. He explained that some trees produce more fruit than others. The same orchard can receive the same rain, su...

  Click here to listen to today’s devotional When the Bible Bothers You September 1, 2026 2 Samuel 12:7-15 I've read dozens of commentaries and articles based on 2 Samuel 12:15. None of them satisfy me. Not that the Bible has to prove anything to you or me. But it is our sacred text, and there are stories within it that I know trouble me. Most people remember that King David created for himself a web of adultery, murder, and cover-up. God responds by sending the prophet Nathan to confront David. David hears what the prophet says and repents. But, as a consequence of "utterly" scorning the Lord, the text says, "the Lord struck the child..." that Bathsheba had. Again, I've read many words that seek to resolve the tension we probably all feel when we read that. Some talk about that child being spared from living in David's family. Others assert that life and death are in God's hands. Does this passage connect to the practice of child sacrifice? Nothing ...

  Click here to listen to today’s devotional Revelation 3:1-6 I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to remind myself, “It’s not rocket science." Have you ever made a mountain out of a molehill? John Foxe used the “mountains out of molehills” language in 1570 when he warned about our tendency to make small things too big. Interestingly, he also warned that we can do the opposite: make big things too small. Apparently, we’ve been getting the size of our problems wrong for a while. And maybe that’s part of the problem in Revelation 3. Jesus sends a simple message to the church in Sardis: “Wake up, and strengthen what remains.” Then he says something even simpler: “obey it and repent.” Sardis had a reputation for being alive. Apparently, you could look at the church from the outside and think things were going great. But Jesus saw something different. “You are dead.” I wonder if they were surprised to hear that. Churches can get pretty good at looking alive. We can have programs, c...

There's no rhyme or reason to how I create memes. When I'm paying attention and think of something, I make something quickly BEFORE I FORGET IT! So, don't look for order here. Just laughs.  Stay blessed...john

This weekend, we traveled to Corpus Christi to celebrate our son's birthday. Well, that was the excuse to visit our newborn granddaughter.  Knowing I would be spending the day with our kids and driving for 4+ hours later, I needed to make time to do some reading. So, I woke up early Saturday morning and went downstairs to the hotel lobby. There was only one other person downstairs. The crew was still getting breakfast ready. The only real noise was The Weather Channel going on in the background. I wasn't paying too much attention to the TV until I heard something that I thought I had just read. My reading was about church innovation. In particular, a theme of my reading was about nurturing saplings to grow. While I was reading these pages, an apple farmer was on The Weather Channel. He was talking about how some trees grow more fruit than others. Weather conditions can impact individual trees in different ways. Then he said something like, "That's why we plant more tha...