Celebration Church Podcast

John 1:1-5

So here we are at the close of another year and the start of a new year. Usually this is a time when we pause and set new goals for the year. Those goals tend to be about health, physical fitness, maybe financial goals or career goals. What I want us to do at this time, though, is to pause at this time and look back and look forward...

What are your plans for the Fourth? Hot dogs? Gathering with friends? Time at the pool? Fireworks? This Fourth of July weekend should be an exciting time as more people are vaccinated and eager to get together for a fun time with friends.  Growing up just north of Atlanta, the Peachtree Road Race was synonymous with this annual holiday for me. My dad faithfully ran the July 4th race for decades, a...

With the celebration of Father’s Day this past Sunday, I reflected back on thirty years ago when I first became a father. While I didn’t panic at the thought of raising this newborn, I did wonder quite often if I was saying and doing the right thing.   I had a similar feeling years earlier when I conducted my first wedding at the age of twenty-two.  After it was over, I thought, “Did I say the rig...

Several weeks ago, I had minor surgery.  I now understand the saying, “it’s only minor surgery when it’s happening to someone else.”  While this surgical procedure meant I would be off my feet for a few days, the surgeon said I’d be good to go in five days.  In five days, I was horizontal, in pain, and unable to go about my daily routine. Two weeks later, I was no better and experiencing other com...

Is there anything better than a wedding celebration? Especially a wedding celebration post-Covid? This past Saturday, I had the privilege and honor of conducting the wedding of my son, Stephen, and his fiancé, Abby. After the wedding ceremony, so much of the talk focused on how you could tell this bride and groom really loved each other. You could tell it in their eyes, in the gestures they made,...

Did you run out of gas last week? My wife called me from Toccoa last Tuesday as she was coming home from work.  The gas warning light had just come on in her car, and she could not find a gas station that had gas. I began calculating how far she should be able to drive before she would run out of gas. Fortunately, as she got near Gainesville, she found a QuikTrip with gas. Later that evening I dec...

Do you wake up to the sounds of an alarm clock yelling at you to get out of the bed, or does your body’s internal clock wake you up in the morning? Do you hit the snooze button, begging for ten more minutes of sleep, or do you bounce out of bed ready to take on the day? I had a college roommate who made out his minute-by-minute schedule for the next day before he went to sleep at night. He envisio...

Rudyard Kipling wrote, "God could not be everywhere, and therefore he made mothers." If we could take a quick trip around our community today, we would see mothers accompanying their children to school, baseball games, dance practices, gymnastics, soccer games, school plays, and concerts. Mothers give time to washing clothes, preparing meals, providing resources for a science project, pr...

Have you tried learning a new skill lately? Recently we purchased a new piano. My wife took piano lessons as a child and has played off and on throughout her adult years.  When we first started dating, she played at the nursing home while I led the music and preached. Fun date, right? These past couple of weeks, I’ve enjoyed listening to her learn new songs along with playing old hymns and piano c...

These past couple of weeks, I found myself repeatedly sneezing and grabbing tissues from the Kleenex box. I don’t remember always having such a reaction to the pollen. It probably doesn’t help that I’ve spent a couple of afternoons wiping a coating of green dust off my backyard patio furniture. Sneezing is one of those uncontrollable acts that we all wish we could limit to times when we are alone...

Do you remember when someone wanted to celebrate an accomplishment with you, and they approached you with their hand raised high and palm directed at you?  You raised your hand, and both of you connected palms for a brief moment. That moment of connection was more than a slap of the palms; a shared spirit of approval and affirmation was captured. While giving a high five happens often with athlete...

This past Sunday, Christians around the world celebrated the resurrection of Jesus.  Easter Sunday is the Super Bowl for the church. A lot of planning, energy, and resources go into making this day special for all who gather. After worship, most of Easter Sunday afternoon is spent with family and friends sharing a meal, having several engaging conversations, and looking for a few hidden easter egg...

March madness is here! Last year, the only madness we experienced in March had to do with Covid: hospital patient count was surging and restaurants, bars, movie theaters, and churches were shutting down. Caught in the crosshairs of the pandemic, college basketball’s annual tournament was canceled.  I didn’t realize how much joy and excitement I would have this March to see college kids once again...

Are you wearing green today?  Have you pinched someone for not wearing green?  Any luck looking for the leprechaun’s pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? How about your menu for today - does it include corn beef and potatoes? For dessert you can add a Key Lime Pie from Publix where they have tinted the whip cream green for this special day. While most of us associate Saint Patrick’s Day with wea...

“Quick, hide!” I said to my little brother as we heard mom pull up the driveway.  We had convinced her we were old enough at the ages of ten and seven to stay at home while she made a speedy trip to the Stop-N-Go up the street.  Once she left, we enjoyed our newfound freedom by running into the den and celebrating by jumping up and down on the sofa. With the pillows on the sofa bouncing in the air...

Have you ever thought, “How can I see life one way and others see it completely different?”  Or even more specifically, “How can professing Christians have such opposing thoughts and viewpoints?”  Christians line up on opposite sides and across the spectrum when it comes to current issues such as Covid-19, the vaccine, climate change, gender equality, LGBTQ, abortion, and capital punishment. Have...

Do you like your name? Most of us did not get to choose our name.  It was given to us by our parents. Some of us have shifted from the formal name we were given at birth to a shorter version or to a nickname that we picked up in childhood or teenage years. I only ever heard my full first and middle name, Michael James, when I was being scolded by my mom.  Other than my mom, my wife is about the on...

Did you ever send your child to time out? I recall times when we told one of our children to go to their room or over to the corner of the family room and sit in time out. Time out was a way of pulling them out of the misbehavior they were presently exhibiting and giving them a few moments to think about their actions. Have you ever wished you could send adults to time out? Have there been occasio...

Valentine’s Day is drawing near.  Do you remember giving Valentine cards in elementary school?  Rather than giving one card to your chosen valentine, you were tasked with giving a Valentine card to every person in your class.  And to hold all those cards, we were all assigned to make a Valentine box. With an old shoe box provided by mom or dad, we taped the lid on, and then covered it with red or...

Super Bowl Sunday is here again!   Unlike last year’s Super Bowl where we naively thought our world would remain the same as a virus, labeled Covid-19, began to get a little attention, this Super Bowl will remind us what has transpired over these past twelve months. Rather than a packed stadium at game time and parties held in homes and sports bars throughout our nation, the Tampa Bay stadium will...

Do you wake up some mornings feeling like the Tin Man?  Your alarm clock tells you it’s time to hop out of the bed and start your day, but your body doesn’t want to move. The older I get, the more experiences I have where my body is not as eager to go as my mind.  My back and legs cry out for a shot of oil to loosen the muscles and ease the joints.  Fortunately, a morning routine of stretching and...

Today marks the transfer of power in our country.  Every four or eight years, we experience a transition from one president to another.  This occasion has not always gone smoothly, and the man leaving the White House has not always shown humility and grace.  From John Adams to Andrew Johnson, history records numerous transitions where the defeated or outgoing president did not cordially hand over...

We are two weeks into the new year.  How are you doing with your New Year’s resolutions?  Are you celebrating that you’ve gone two weeks without any soft drinks or sweets?  Have you maintained that routine of crawling out of bed, lacing up your running shoes, and hitting the treadmill or pavement?  Did you set up your bank account with an automatic transfer so that you could finally start saving m...

Have you ever had a light switch moment or an aha experience?  I’m talking about a time when a new discovery set your life on a different course.  Maybe this awakening led to your career path or choosing a life partner.  Possibly this epiphany interrupted your life as normal and rerouted you to a whole new direction. Or sadly, out of fear of change or need for security, you walked away from this e...