Traditions are the basket that holds our collective memories.

Circumstances have forced a new kind of Christmas but not one outside the blessing of God, recalling that the Holy Family ended up as displaced refugees in Egypt, bereft of home and comfort.

Above the dull roar of shopping crowds there, unmistakably, are the carols that proclaim the birth of a Savior on the store PA system.

Do I hold on to that which will evaporate or do I go with the wind of the Spirit?

We are as unable to pay the price as the worst sinner in our town. Our pockets are empty and there is no line of credit.

The nets were full to breaking with what was another unwanted harvest. Peter’s heart would break again under the examination of his Lord and he would hear for the final time the same words he heard before, “Follow Me” (John 21:19).

The light given to them was viewed more as a personal reading lamp than the beacon God intended.

So what is more important?  That we know the name of the Unknown Soldier or what he stood for?  What counts?  That the prophet has left his name or the message?

What greater compliment to a person’s life than for people to see in us a reflection of our Savior, a miniature incarnation of our Incarnate Christ?

There is a difference treating God as another spectator in the stands or seeing Him as the star of the game.

My only regret is that I haven’t done it better. My great joy is that I have been allowed to do it at all.

Someday, maybe today, you will be confronted with a choice of whether to take care of yourself or lay down what you have in obedience to the Spirit. Like the rich young ruler you will have to make a decision about what is more important.

The luluai simply sat down and listened. After several weeks, he got up and walked to the front. The singing stopped because no one knew if he was going to kill the captain or order everyone to leave.

People are “staked down” too often with the lies they believe about themselves. 

While in training, my appearance was constantly a discussion point with the staff.  Could I not get a haircut?  Is that a blue with a black sock?  And those shirts really could use some starch.

One of the great sins of this generation has been the way it has treated the sacred as common.  Never has there been a time that people in the Western world have been more self-absorbed than now. What might be expected among unredeemed humanity we sadly acknowledge has spread among the people of God. 

If God points you to a hovel, don’t seek Him at a mansion. But if He tells you to meet Him at the golden stair, don’t look for Him in the slums.

 No wealth could ever buy that moment when a mother’s outstretched arms receive her newborn child. There are songs whose melodies cannot be captured in musical notes. There are poems whose lines cannot be composed in pen and ink. There are colors whose rich hues lie beyond the vision of human eyes. Few victories are greater than the moment the lame stands, the voiceless speak, the deaf first hears.

My crime was unreported.  All I dreaded did not come to pass. 
 

Every battle plan must have flexibility. Then there was another setback. And another. And another until finally there was total collapse.