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...

 Joel 2:21-27Being 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...

 Joel 2:21-27A 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...

 2 Samuel 2:1-17Roughly 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...

 Psalm 63In 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....

 Daniel 7:19-27It 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...

 2 Kings 22:11-20People 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...

 2 Kings 22:1-10I 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...

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...

 1 Kings 8:22-30My 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...

 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...

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...

 1 Samuel 3:19-4:2When 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...

 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...

 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 weird mustache for the longest time. But once it started growing back, there's was no stopping it. I didn't...

 1 Samuel 2:1-10After 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...

 Luke 4:16-30I'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...

 1 Timothy 5:9-16In 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...

 Genesis 24:1-10Abraham 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...

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 congregation...

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 Heart. And his voice at the 2-minute mark! Stay blessed...j...

 Deuteronomy 15:1-11It'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,...

 Psalm 127When 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...

 Acts 7:17-29I 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...