Putting on Spiritual Armor for our Children
Dear Friends and Family, Putting on Spiritual Armor for our Children Ephesians 6:4, “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” The greatest declaration of our witness as fathers and parents to our family is standing as true followers of Christ in the deadly spiritual war against the enemy. Life in Ephesus was similar to our culture today and forced Christians to stand up to the test of truth. If something is true, we cannot speculate on
Lord of the Storm
Dear Friends and Family, We pray that you and your loved ones have successfully weathered last week’s epic, historical polar vortex of brutally cold temperatures and freezing precipitation that affected the entire state of Texas as well as other parts of this country. Our life storms and Mother Nature’s storms are not news to God. No matter how epic the proportions of our storms—our personal crises—appear to us, Jesus is still Lord of the Storm. No matter what kind of storm Jesus encountered—a storm on the Sea of Galilee,
The Gospel According to Ruth: God uses ordinary people
October 13, 2020 Dear Friends and Family, This morning during a men’s group, we shared how God leads different people into our personal lives to connect us to our faith in Christ. In the New Testament, Matthew 1 starts with a list of ordinary families God used to become part of the lineage of Jesus Christ. God presented his Son, Jesus, to the world through normal, but problematic, human families whose lives were messy and challenging, but whose roots of faith were in God and his promises. We too have
Become SALTY Disciples of Christ
Dear Friends and Family, As in any culture, Christians are called by the world to blend into “political correctness.” In the first century Jewish-Roman culture, Christ was also expected to be religiously and politically correct. However, he challenged the men and women following him as disciples to be like salt and light and leaven in a dark and decaying humanity. Centuries later, we know there is nothing new about sin in our world or the pressures we feel to be like everybody else. Christian persecution, because of our Lord Jesus,
5 Simple Truths for Father’s
June 18, 2020 Dear Friends, This weekend, as we celebrate Father’s Day with families across the United States, I will have the privilege of sharing a gospel message with families in East Asia. Though their Father’s Day celebration falls on a different month and day than our celebration in the United States, I plan to share some reflections I have had from my father and mother’s influence on me. I hope I will have this same effect on my children and their children’s lives as a father and grandfather. I
Lessons Learned from 52 Years of Marriage
June 1, 2020 Dear Friends, Today, Beth and I celebrate fifty-two years of marriage. I remember a book I read years ago describing some things we learn in kindergarten. Thinking back at the beginning of our marriage, I, too, have learned many things I never would have understood “reading a book about marriage” or “googling marriage” on the Internet. So this morning, I wrote down some things God has taught me - a stubborn, selfish, and a typical “know-it-all” kid from Lindale, Texas - from the very beginning. 1. Spiritual