In the “Family Circus” comic strip there are four kids: Billy, Dolly, Jeffy, and P.J. But occasionally there’s a fifth, a ghost-like child named “not me”. He or she suddenly appears when mom or dad discover something amiss and ask, “who did this?” “Not Me” gets the blame. Even P.J., the youngest, gets in on the act and if you and I are honest we too have a “not me” sibling close at hand. It’s convenient. When I didn’t cause the problem, who’s going to fix it? “Not Me”. Trash

I received my bank statement the other day. (electronically) It’s time to reconcile the statement. That means, according to Google A.I.: “checkbook reconciliation involves matching each transaction in your checkbook or accounting records with the corresponding entries on your bank statement.” Sometimes something shows up on the statement and for whatever reason (memory lapse/lost receipt) the records don’t match, thus the need for reconciliation. (I know some of you are thin

There is a three-letter word that parents of young children hear, repeatedly, that drives them crazy. That word: WHY? Why is the sky blue? Why is water wet? Why do trees lose their leaves? Why…Why…Why? As parents we grow accustomed to answering with general explanations and pacify the “whys” with “because”. That pattern of answering might explain the reason we tend to pacify some of the “whys” Jesus asks. For example: why do you worry about clothes?/Why do you look at the spe

Most of us, if not all of us, have some kind of weather app on our phones. The apps generally provide a 7 – 10 day forecast, a hour by hour prediction and a radar showing current condition. Still, with all that in the palm of our hands how often are we caught off guard by the sudden downpour disrupting our plans. Chapter 27 of Acts is such a disruption. Luke’s life and death story is riveting. Fourteen days of hurricane winds, desperation that ends in shipwreck, but no loss o

BYSTANDER: one who is present but not taking part in a situation or event, that’s Webster’s definition. That’s what a recent news story called a crowd of people, phones recording, as three young boys beat and robbed an elderly man. Once Jesus went into a synagogue to teach. Present was a man with a cripple hand and Pharisee bystanders watching, not in hope of healing but to accuse Jesus of healing on the Sabbath. Of-course Jesus is going to intervene, it’s what he does. After

What does it take for a product brand name to become the generic name of the product itself? Wikipedia’s answer is “when a brand name becomes so widely recognized and used that it replaces the general term for a product or service.” The process is called: genericization. Examples are: Kleenex (facial tissue), Xerox (paper duplicate), Ziploc, Thermos, Chapstick, Band-aid, Vaseline…many more. Here’s another brand name: Christian. It was first used in first century Antioch label

There are those moments when the only thing to say is, “oh no”. It’s that split second before the unexpected happens, and you know it’s not going to be good. I’ve said it as a bystander witnessing: a fall, a car collision, a bumped table followed by the shattering of glass, images of a storm’s aftermath. I’ve said it when news affecting my life reached my ears. “Oh No!” Here’s my thought: God never says, “oh no”. Of-course things happen in our dysfunctional world that ignore

I hit a pothole this morning. No damage, but I didn’t see it coming. The pothole is on my street where I pass over several times a day. It began as a crack. No big deal. Not long after that it became a rough spot, then gravely, then a little dip in the road. All that was noticeable but nothing to cause you to swerve to miss, till today. I’m not sure when it earned the title “pothole” but there it was, and it got me! The Bible often speaks of sin as “opportunistic” (Rom. 7:11)

We have wind chimes hanging in our back yard, three specifically. One is handmade and moves with the wind but makes very little sound. The other two are store bought, both with its own unique sound. One is more of a jingle sound while the other has a gong-like sound. The wind blows, the chimes chime. The fiercer the wind, the more robust the sounds. The point is wind chimes only respond to the movement of the wind. I think that’s why Jesus so often refers to the Holy Spirit a

Tomorrow. A favorite word of procrastinators, prognosticators, optimists and to-do listers. We live today but deep down we live with a certain confidence there will be a tomorrow. It’s a delicate balance. When tomorrow weighs too heavily on our today all kinds of disfunction unfolds. Worry: Jesus has something to say about that: do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own . (Matthew 6:34) Uncertainty: We don’t yet

04-08-2026 In a world prior to GPS (and no it wasn’t that long ago) we relied on two things: maps and word of mouth directions. Once I was in a caravan of cars heading to a restaurant I’d never been to in a town I was visiting. I was following a driver who knew the place and how to get there. A traffic light turned yellow, the driver sped through, I got stopped at the red and lost sight of my leader. Nothing to do but pull over and ask a local for directions which got me to t

Passion. I’m tempted to turn to the fanatic passion of collegiate and pro sports fans to define passion but that diminishes the week we are in, Jesus’ Passion Week. According to Luke immediately after his Palm Sunday entry he Luke 19:45 entered the temple courts, he began to drive out those who were selling : passion for God’s house. Mid-week he taught in the Temple courts often barraged with trick questions by opponents: passion for truth. Thursday, in an upper room, he was

It’s spring. In fact it’s been an early spring, evidenced by the blooming of azaleas, wisteria and crepe myrtles. Crepe Myrtles are planted along the driveway of our church and all but two are green and leafing out. I’ve been concerned about these two trees, they look dead. I looked closer this morning and noticed tiny buds beginning to sprout. They’re not dead, just “slow-leafers”. I don’t know why they mature at a slower pace but by mid-summer they’ll be indistinguishable f

As Jesus’ mission began to progress he began to empower his followers to fully join him. First it was the twelve. (Matthew 10:5-8) These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give.” Then it grew to the seventy-two. (Luke 10:1-2) After this the Lord appointed seventy-two oth

The Psalms are filled with the prayers of God’s people. And just as Jesus gave to us “Our Father” prayer as a perpetual prayer patterned after his prayers, so the Psalms has given a prayer we have applied to our Lenten journey to the cross. Pray daily with me Psalm 143: LORD, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief. …for no one living is righteous before you. My spirit grows faint within me; my heart within me is di

Do you have a promise from God? I’m not talking about the promises God has made to all His children. The promise of eternal life, the promise of never leaving or forsaking, the promise of His indwelling Spirit to all believers and countless others you can name. He is faithful, He is true, and Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments . (Deuteronom

I recently had to use the circular saw to cut a foot off five six-foot 2x4s. It only took about five minutes but in that short amount of time I accumulated a dustpan full of sawdust along with what had to be brushed off my clothes. No sawdust got in my eye but it did take me to Jesus’ words in Luke 6:41-42. “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take th

As you can imagine the daily sacrifices offered on the temple altar created a huge amount of ash, from the wood and the sacrifices themselves. And so you read in scripture of the “ash-heap” that was placed outside the camp. Occasionally a specific sacrifice was made outside the camp and its ashes were mixed with water to make holy water for cleansing rituals. It is curious that the sacrifice which made the priests holy to enter God’s presence is the sacrifice offered not on t

So your alarm didn’t go off this morning, now you’re rushed. Your morning routine, which sets the atmosphere for the whole day is shot. Maybe skip the shower or breakfast, anything to get back on schedule. Traffic’s heavy, you catch every red light, ugh! You get to work on time, everything’s going as it should, no surprises, still there’s that uneasy, something’s out of place feeling. And there it is, a feeling, that internal atmosphere that stifles like summer’s humidity. Yo

It was a clear night this past Sunday, so it was easy to see February’s full moon, a.k.a “snow moon”, “hunger moon”, “storm moon”, “wolf moon”, “bone moon”, and others. The names make sense. February is the snowiest month, food is scarce, storms begin, animals prowl. So let’s name the moon according to our life perceptions. “See the moon?” Here comes snow, hunger, danger! We do that, don’t we? Filter circumstances according to how they impact us and tag it with attributes goo