A Sermon From My 16-year-old Self
A few days ago I uncovered an old spiral-bound notebook from my high school days. “Aha! This should be humorous!” I thought. “What sort of peculiar ideas was I scribbling down at that age?”
As I thumbed through various notes from my landscape business, exam preparation material on American government and economics, backpacking food recipes, and other random jots, my interest perked up when I happened upon a sermon I wrote concerning prayer and the status of our country. Interestingly, all the dates in this notebook are from 1999, which indicates I penned this sermon-essay a little over 16 years ago, when I was 16 years old…
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Dear Pastor Michael… My Heart Aches
Pastor Michael, Thank you for your sermon today and the elements and reminders that give us believers such hope. The thing I struggle with is not being able to say, “Jesus, Come Quickly”. What about all the people that believers might know who don’t know the Lord Jesus as their Savior? One of my close relatives, for instance, is living a life separate from God. There are many more I could think of.
My heart aches for what the day would look like for the unsaved…
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Our Ruler-Creator and Personal Savior
In God’s immeasurable power, He is not only the ruler and Creator over all things but also the personal Savior of all who trust in Him. The God who has the power to make all things also has the power to make personal, real contact with those whom He has made. Herein is the heart of the Gospel…
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The Song of Christmas: A Poem
A wicked king ruled o’er the land
Darkness and dread poured from his hand
A thick gloomy mist draped over the people
Weary and worn, there was no sign of a steeple
This evil king was not heir to the throne,
His path was crooked and cruel, “so let it be known!”
He usurped authority, overturned the law,
Coerced to the place where he now sat sneering with set jaw
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The Heart of Christmas
We love all the festive decorations, candles, lights, trees, and ribbons of Christmas around our house. In fact, Christmas music has been ringing and singing through our place since the beginning of November… or maybe even October. Memories of snowball fights, goofy red sweaters, sleigh rides, and hot chocolate warm my soul. How about you?
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Transparency: A Four-Letter Word
Transparency: a four-letter word.
A four-letter word? Really? Perhaps you read that and raised your eyebrows. Maybe your lip curled in disgust that I would dare liken a harmless word such as transparency to a cuss word.
Regardless, we treat transparency and all that comes with it, with an attitude of disdain and fear. Why? We need it, yet we dread it. We are afraid of it or of what it may bring. So we treat transparency, in it’s raw and honest form, as taboo. Genuine, relational transparency seems like unnecessary or awkward territory to traverse.
