Thawing Out Some Lessons From Historic Cold

Today the temps soared over 70 degrees in Texas. That was an eighty degree swing in just a couple of days. The snow is just a memory but the effects of a record-breaking cold will linger for days and weeks. Joni and I were fortunate to not lose power for more than a few minutes at a time. We dodged the broken pipe issue that continues to plague so many fellow Texans. We had clean and drinkable water throughout the storm. Many of our friends and neighbors were not so fortunate. Thousands lost power for days as household temps dropped to dangerous lows. Pipes froze and left them without hot or cold water. Stores were unable to restock essential items and shoppers found aisles of empty shelves and coolers. As I prayed for those affected I reflected on the hard lessons learned through the pandemic and this polar blast. For me the main lesson I have learned is realizing what
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Don’t Pack Away the Hope of Christmas This Week

This week we will finish one of my least favorite tasks of the year. Taking down the Christmas decorations always makes me melancholy. I love Christmas and the message of hope it brings. That God entered human form and gave us hope in a Savior who understands our struggle. We will pack up a treasured Nativity creche that has been a part of our family tradition for decades. That miracle in Bethlehem is where I place my joy as I head into a very unstable New Year. I find my joy in the Messiah, the Lord – who was born in the city of David. It is so easy to remember the reason for hope during Christmas. But now that we are past this wonderful season it is also easy to pack my hope away in the attic and unpack lots of worry. The twenty-four news cycle feeds on negativity. Hearing the message of gloom and doom over and over has it’s effect
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A Little Perspective Before November 3rd

We live in such an unsettling time. A global pandemic. Disunity in our nation and even among our church family. Political anger that destroys relationships between family and friends. If my focus is on social media and the news things might seem completely hopeless. But my focus is not on those things. My hope is not in Washington, D.C. My hope is in the finished work of Jesus. This life is just the warmup act for followers of Jesus. A classic tune from the Righteous Brothers reflects my hope. If you believe in forever,Then life is just a one-night stand. Those lyrics reminded me that even if you hit triple digits on the age odometer this journey is still an eternal blink of the eye. Your significance is not how long but how well you live your life. Not how much fame or money you gain but what you do with time you are given. This weekend a song popped
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Don’t Let Covid Cause a Fruit Shortage!

I have some mileage on the life odometer and I can honestly say I have never experienced a season like the one we are currently in. The late sixties were pretty wheels off but even that turbulent time didn’t match this. Instead of uniting as Americans over a pandemic we have divided. Isolation and fear have caused a collective national depression. Christians have too often been a part of the problem. In theory we have a message of hope in Christ. We should be a light of courage because we know and trust a loving God. Instead we too often get sidetracked by arguments over wearing masks and whether we should be meeting without restriction. The sound you hear is Satan chuckling that we are missing a chance to show grace, hope, love, and courage. How can we make that kind of difference? Paul has an annoying suggestion that if walk in relationship with Jesus you should display the traits
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Looking for Hope in all the Wrong Places?

A song by Joe South reflected my teenage disdain for those in power who seemed to not care a whit about the regular folk. I check the comments of young adults today and I realize that not much, if anything, has changed since this song was recorded in the turbulent late 60’s. “The Games People Play” was recorded by Joe South and here are the first two stanzas. Oh the games people play nowEvery night and every day nowNever meaning what they say nowNever saying what they mean And they wile away the hoursIn their ivory towersTill they’re covered up with flowersIn the back of a black limousine I have to admit that a bit of the anger and power of the protest was diminished with this hard-hitting chorus. La-da da da da da da daLa-da da da da da deTalking ’bout you and meAnd the games people play Hard to gin up a lot of “in your face” intensity
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I Choose Hope and Light over Doom and Gloom

I remember reading Chicken Little when I was a child. The story goes that a young chick was walking along when an acorn hit him on the head. With no further investigation Chicken Little came to the kind of well reasoned conclusion that floods our internet today. The sky is falling! Today Chicken Little would be an excellent anchor for a cable network. Every time I violate my own personal mental health policy and turn on a news network I am plunged into despair and fear. The sky is falling! Look! There is an expert with an important title displaying a colorful chart to prove it! Hear me out. I know there is an important role in communicating information for our safety. But the tone, choice of graphic descriptors, and sheer volume of fear mongering is depressing. When I really fall into the abyss and survey social media I see overwhelming fear, anger, gloom, and apocalyptic doom. Again, I understand
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21 Connect: Day 19 – It is Still a Wonderful World

There is a country song by George Strait that laments about how long it took him to figure out things in his life. The lyrics humorously admit that he was wrong about a lot of things and slow to the dance on many others. One of my favorite lyrics in that song is when he hears “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong and it brings a tear to his eye. “After all these years,” Strait sings, he finally gets that song. Me too. That song by Louis Armstrong sees the beauty in this sometimes-ugly world. Flowers, the blue sky, rainbows, smiles, love, and babies crying. And like a modern psalmist, Armstrong sits back and with a smile in his distinctive voice proclaims to himself and others that it is a wonderful world. Martin Luther said that “God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees, and flowers, and clouds, and stars.” I believe that more than
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