AnotherJohn.Com

 I left my phone at church yesterday. Oh, yesterday was Thanksgiving.  At Kelsey, we have a Thanksgiving Day worship gathering. I even told the congregation I used to dread it because it kept me from being with my family for the holiday. Over the years, though, I've come to cherish this time. It's a meaningful way to mark the holy day. But who knows how many people would attend if we did it earlier in the day. :) When I got to the house, I noticed my phone wasn't in my pocket. I didn't leave it in the car. I didn't go back to the church, but I could almost see my phone on the stand where I'm sure I left it. Unfortunately, I didn't get to share my Thanksgiving memes. I didn't get to share my snarky remarks about the football game. I didn't even get to share my family picture to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving.  Turns out, the world went on. Our family ate. And we ate some more. We laughed and watched football. Someone even checked the mail--we hadn...

  Joel 2:21-27 Being a diehard Philadelphia Eagles fan in South Texas has its fun moments. Let's just say some of us take our sports affiliation a little too seriously. Recently, someone told me they had never met an Eagles fan before me. It was like I was extraterrestrial. They asked me what I was doing during the last game. It had been a blowout win for my team. How would someone like me respond? Turns out, like any other fan. Speaking of choosing the wrong team. When the apostle Paul traveled to Thessalonica, people believed his Jesus message and a church was born. Following Jesus as Lord, though, to the rest of the community, was a treasonous act. So, Thessalonian Christians faced persecution. Paul wrote 1 Thessalonians to encourage and strengthen their faith through this time. He was happy to hear a good report that they were holding strong (1 Thessalonians 3:6). But he also wanted to challenge them to keep maturing as Christ followers. Towards the end of the epistle, he ...

  Joel 2:21-27 A reading from the prophet Joel is appropriate for today, Thanksgiving Day. There had been much tragedy surrounding the people of God. As Joel describes it, this was God's judgement against the people. They had turned from the Lord. Their leaders were anything but godly. And God acted against them, apparently, in the form of locusts that destroyed their lands. God's judgement is sure. But so is God's lovingkindness. The prophet tells the people in Chapter 2 to "be glad and rejoice." Actually, he tells the soil to be glad before he tells the people. Why be glad? "Because the Lord has done great things!" The renewed pastures could tell this story of God's power. The abundant rain could as well. These are signs God has not turned away. God's people, now able to "eat in plenty" and "satisfied" are to "praise the name of the Lord." Abundant crops and full bellies are wonderful signs of life, gifts from the ...

  2 Samuel 2:1-17 Roughly six hundred verses pass before it happens. That represented fifteen years. In 1 Samuel 16, Samuel anointed David as king. That's when David's father brought out each of his sons thinking one of them had to be who Samuel was looking for. They looked the part, but "the Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7). So, it surprised Samuel and David's father when the youngest son, David, turned out to be the one. So much filled the next fifteen years. God's anointing doesn't always come with everyone else's approval. And it certainly doesn't make life easy. I'm not sure what David ever thought about his anointing. Was he anxious to be king once Samuel left? Were there times when he felt like maybe he misunderstood what Samuel meant? We live in an instant world. If something doesn't happen soon, we assume something's not righ...

  Psalm 63 In scripture, the wilderness is a geographical location. But it also speaks to an experience. As a location, the wilderness is a tough place to survive. No, it's not impossible, but you better prepare yourself. As an experience, it represents the hardships and adversities that come with life. At some point, then, we all walk through the wilderness. According to Psalm 68's title, David was in a wilderness. Scholars debate what that was for David. It could represent some part of his life before he was king. Maybe it's when he fled Jerusalem during his son's rebellion. Or he could've been on the run from King Saul. Whatever his situation, what's most notable is David's focus on God. To say you believe in God is a worthy affirmation. But if David is in a wilderness, think what he must mean when he says, "my soul thirsts for you." David found his satisfaction in God and decided he would cling to God. All while in the wilderness. It's easy...

  Daniel 7:19-27 It took me a while to understand the difference between going to school and learning. I was an adult before I learned that lesson. As a mere student, I found out what I needed to know to get through. When I was kid, I hated the questions at the bottom of a page. Those were the put-into-practice-what-you've-learned scenarios. All I had learned was how to get by. And, truth be told, I got by with good grades. I could pass a test. But something changed when I finally wanted to learn. To sound a bit cliché, a new world opened up to me. That applied to school work in college and in life. Even faith and ministry took on new meanings. It's possible to get through school and church, after all. Daniel 7 introduces one of Daniel's dreams. The prophet not only interprets dreams, he has them. If there were a movie about Daniel, this would be his wake-up-in-a-cold-sweat, terrified scene (Daniel 7:28). I've woken from a dream I've wanted to remember plenty of tim...

  2 Kings 22:11-20 People say all the time, "I needed to hear that." That normally comes after reading something encouraging. Maybe it was a message about taking it easy on yourself or having patience with your struggles. A good reminder about trusting God in difficult circumstances gets that response, too. I can get that message after sending a daily text about keeping hope. We do need reminders. That's part of having a human heart. Though I often wonder if our needing to hear these messages so much can mean something else as well. Maybe we need to hear them so much now because we didn't pay attention to them before. King Josiah needed to hear that. But he didn't only say it. "When the king heard the words of the book of the law, he tore his clothes." His action was an outward sign of repentance. Israel needed to hear it as well. The peoples' disregard for the law had been longstanding. Other kings had led them astray to follow other gods. Josiah...

  2 Kings 22:1-10 I was driving one day and a church's marquee caught my attention. It wasn't a pithy quote or bad pun that interested me. It was an invitation to attend "Our last worship service." The congregation was of a mainline denomination, but not a church I had any connections to. Still, I attended their final service. After several decades in the community, the church had decided it was best to close its doors. The grief of closing a church was real. But the decision allowed the remaining members to celebrate the ministry God gave them before they found a new local church to join. There were several former pastors of the church in attendance. As it turned out, I knew a couple of them. So, after the service, I asked what had led the congregation to their decision to close. There were several reasons, but the one that got repeated was "the facilities." The cost of upkeeping the buildings overwhelmed their finances. That's all their money went to. ...

I attended a district leadership meeting yesterday. Actually, there were two meetings. In all, I was at the district office for almost four hours.  When I went to take my usual back seat, someone redirected me. There was a seat reserved for me. A card and birthday cupcake held my reservation.  It was a nice surprise. Something small given with a big dose of love and kindness. Don't you wish we could have more of that? I do.  And I guess we could have more if I decided to make it happen. Don't you? Stay blessed...john

  1 Kings 8:22-30 My congregations have always had some form of liturgy. So, there's usually a written prayer everyone follows at some point. In those prayers, I always try to include two important elements. As Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord to pray and dedicate the Temple, he included them as well. As you pray throughout your day, you, too, can let them guide your praying. Solomon stood in front of "the whole assembly of Israel." As he spread his hands to heaven, he prayed to God. But notice in today's reading there was no mistaken who this God was and what this God had done. To say "God of Israel" is to recognize the Lord as his God and his people's God. And this God keeps covenant and steadfast love with Israel. God had done it before with David. God promised and God kept true to those promises. That to say, Solomon directly acknowledged who God was and what God has done. Sure, "Dear Lord" is an appropriate way to open a prayer. ...

  Hebrews 10:32-39 "And many mooore!" wasn't so sure this year. There were some intense moments in the hospital after my transplant. How dangerous things were was lost on me at the time. I was just mad they wouldn't let me out of the hospital bed. There were times, though, I could see anxiousness and fear in my wife's eyes. Eventually, they did let me out and now my family and I are getting closer to our normal lives again. As the world is reopening up to me, so to speak, I've reflected a lot about my birthday. This whole experience with cancer helped make my birthday this week all the more special. Of course, so did my family, friends and so, so many of you. I haven't read any of the Facebook messages yet. I'll do that over the next couple of days. When I do, please know I'll take time to pray and thank God for each name I read. That's the same thing I've done with all the cards we've received over the last two years. Friends, you are ...

This is the third or fourth 30-minute sermon I've preached recently. I don't have a big problem with that. Hopefully, they've been engaging enough to not feel like half an hour. A lot of preaching is rhythm. So, I might need to be careful. 31 minutes? Do I hear a 31-minute sermon coming? Long sermons aren't bad. Unless they are. Short sermons aren't less faithful either. Most of us who preach (most times) shorter sermons have our reason. No, it's not that we don't have anything to say. It's not that the Bible isn't important. But our worship includes more than just a sermon. So, we use time to make sure to do others things that are just as important. So, here's my latest 30-minute sermon. Watch on YouTube BR> Stay blessed...john

  1 Samuel 3:19-4:2 When I read today's passage, I thought of the "King of Queens" opening credits. The starring couple stand at an ice cream truck and then turn to leave. Both have an ice cream cone in hand. As they turn, Doug drops his cone to the ground. Instinctively and in sync, they both turn back to get another cone because once the ice cream hit the ground it was useless. These days, a lot of words fall like that ice cream. So many people have so much to say. Political commentary fills our airways. Constant speculation about the economy and world events consumes many of us. And then there's the sports and entertainment worlds. People host television and talk shows every day. They so often share what turns out to be misguided or hollow observations. A lot of it is downright silly and absurd, if not meaningless and dishonest. We're so accustomed to the bombardment of words we don't realize how much goes unchecked. But they keep talking because we keep li...

  1 Samuel 2:18-21 "Focus on the children." That's something an older colleague ingrained in my mind. It was his advice on how to nurture and grow a congregation. Of course, he was repeating something important within our Wesleyan heritage. John Wesley emphasized the church's need to prioritize ministry with children. If we don't, he said, "the present revival will be  res unius aetatis ; it will last only the age of a man." Wesley instructed his Methodist preachers to hold a 5-point plan for this ministry. If a preacher didn't feel called to this ministry, it didn't matter. A preacher might say, "I have no gift for this." Wesley's response was, "Gift or no gift, you are to do it; else you are not called to be a Methodist Preacher." So, childhood education, spiritual and otherwise, was a high priority for early Methodists. And just so you don't think this is about quaint, cutesy lessons or programs, consider something ...

 But this was no ordinary haircut. It was the first since my transplant.  My family had already seen more hair on my pillow. One day, in the hospital bed, I ran my hand through my hair. A chunk of hair came out. I was quick to request the nurse shave it off. The next day, she did. It took a while for my hair to start growing back. I had a weird mustache for the longest time.  But once it started growing back, there was no stopping it.  I didn't want to cut it until my six-month visit with my oncologist. He told me I was doing great. That was last week. So, today, it was time.  @anotherjohn.com My 1st haircut #stemcelltransplant #haircut ♬ Happy - Juragan751

  1 Samuel 2:1-10 After last night's online Bible study, I went to the living room to watch a movie. The kids had already started the first Christmas movie of the year. But they had to leave. So, I looked for a worthy title. I wasn't ready for "Home Alone." Other than that, I can't tell you why I landed on "The Wizard of Oz." So, I took in the munchkins, the journey on the yellow brick road and the ruby slippers. And I noticed something about the opening scene. Before she's thrust into Technicolor, Dorothy visits Professor Marvel. When she decides to return home, the weather changes. The professor notices the storm brewing and calls it a "whopper," according to "the vernacular of the peasantry." Back home, Hickory calls it a cyclone. Zeke knows it as a twister. If it was my story, I'd call it a tornado. Whatever you'd called it, there was no avoiding the havoc it brought to everyone. And so is life. Trouble comes in all fo...

  Luke 4:16-30 I've always been proud to be from Galveston. BOIs (Born on the Island) love seeing other BOIs "make it." And there have been plenty of notable people from the Oleander City. From pirates to politicians and celebrities to athletes. I haven't done a search on prominent pastors yet. According to Jesus, though, we'd be leery of welcoming home a prophet. While there are parallels to their ministry, a prophet is different than a preacher. We look to prophets to tell us what we need to hear to turn us back to God. We want to hear a prophet's word until we don't want to hear it. And if Luke 4 is any indication, we have a low tolerance for what we want to hear from our hometown prophets. It's a familiar story to many of us. Jesus attended synagogue in Nazareth where he grew up. He stood to read from the prophet Isaiah and sat down to share his message. At first, the people loved what they heard. God is using one of us, they must've thought. T...

  1 Timothy 5:9-16 In my pastoral experience, the more money available, the less people worry about details. When it's short, though, everyone wants to know how everything gets spent. Now, I'm not sure what the budget was, but there was a concern on how to take care of a particular group of people.  A widow is a widow if we say she's a widow. At least, that's how you can read the passage before us today. We take 1 Timothy to be an older pastor instructing a younger pastor how to lead his congregation. In previous chapters, it was important to rundown the qualities of who could be a bishop, an overseer of the church. Today's passage aims to secure an accurate listing of women who were truly widows. 1 Timothy 5 includes a section outlining who real widows were.  Whoever wrote the epistle wants to ensure only women with no access to care otherwise get included on the widow list. Even in a previous verse, the writer says, "Honor widows who are  really  widows"...

  Genesis 24:1-10 Abraham was 140 years old in Genesis 24 when he set out to find a wife for his son, Isaac. We know this was more than important for Abraham for several reasons. First, he sent someone else, but not just anyone. Although nameless in Genesis 24, tradition says the servant was Eliezer. We learn his name in Genesis 15 after Abraham first assumes he will be his heir. Whoever it was, though, the servant "had charge of all that he had." He was Abraham's major leaguer. There's also the specificity of the assignment. The servant was to return to Abraham's home to find someone from his "kindred." It would have been easier to find someone from among the Canaanites where Abraham now resided. Easier isn't always best. And Isaac was not to go there himself. These details call back to God's promises to Abraham. So far, God hadn't backpedaled on the patriarch. Now, Abraham was ready to see more signs of his promised descendants. Finally, Ab...

I shared with the church this morning something about my recovery. Namely, that the recovery was the hardest part of my stem cell transplant. In fact, I was days away from deciding to take a full leave from ministry. But my family, my church and my friends have given me so much strength through this experience. And this is my story: I'm praising my Savior for each one of you. And thinking of all we've been through, Ashlei and I shared this song with the c ongregation today. Stay blessed...john

Don't ask me how I came across this video when I was supposed to be finishing up a sermon. But whatever you're doing, you'll like this cover of Total Eclipse of the Hea rt. And his voice at the 2-minute mark! Stay blessed...john

  Deuteronomy 15:1-11 It's unclear whether ancient Israelites observed any of the sabbatical year commandments. Resting every seven days is one thing. One thing many of us still struggle to do today. Deuteronomy 15 highlights another kind of rest. A rest Israel was to give each other. The seventh year remission of debts was a way to ensure no one would accumulate too much land, money and power. Especially at the ongoing expense of others. Every seven years, your debtors forgive your debts. And you forgive the debts you have against others. What kind of banker was God? Of course, none of my credit card companies have fulfilled that commandment. So, what can we take from this ancient tradition? Especially knowing there's a real chance no one's ever made it happen? I have an idea for today. Can we give each other a break? Give some of the contemptuous attitudes a rest?  As a nation, we've muddled through another (another!) contentious election. That didn't bring out th...

  Psalm 127 When I read Psalm 127, a Sunday morning conversations comes to mind. A member asked me about another church in town. What did I know about what they were doing? The question came because, apparently, the church was growing. I didn't know the specifics of that congregation. But I knew of their denominational heritage. So, I offered my input. To me, their tradition focused on prayer and other spiritual disciplines. There was a high expectation of that kind of participation from everyone. I don't recall word for word what the member's response was. But it was something along the lines of, "That can't be it." In other words, emphasizing the holy life was not an impetus to church growth. There had to be some kind of marketing campaign or otherwise secret recipe to success. I've long believed you can get people to show up to church pretty easily. If showing up is the main goal, spend the right amount of money and fine tune your message. But then what...

  Acts 7:17-29 I have a nice drum set at home. It was my dad's set he used when he was younger. He gave it to Brittani some time ago and she used it to play some gigs. We've even used it for worship at our church. But for the last several years, it's sat in my garage. I see it every day collecting dust. I've moved it around plenty of times to make room for others things we've put there. But I have it. Last week, I acted on something I've had in my mind for quite a bit. It's a project that'll take me a while, but not nearly as long as I've been thinking about doing it. I've got the polish rags, cleaner and handheld buffer ready. And I'll order new drum heads soon. I'm going to clean up the set and get it looking new. Who knows, I may even buy a new snare drum or cymbals as a personal reward. Either way, get ready, neighbors, for some noise. Because what good is having the set if it's just there? Week in and week out, Christians gather ...