Citizen of Heaven

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! If you have the idea that I did Texas Month as an excuse to talk about barbecue, I plead guilty. I may have trouble getting through this, my mouth’s watering so much. This week we’ll talk about how shortcuts come at a price, with food and with Christians; an unabashed celebration of the ridiculous things ridiculous men do; some non-Texans’...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! Texans have a reputation for bragging. In reality, we’re just worried you may not know how much better than you we are. I’m joking. I’m mostly joking. This week we’ll cover Bible braggadocio and whether it’s warranted; the many stories of Texans chasing treasure and bragging about not finding it; a Texas crooner who wants to help you under...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! If it’s Texas Month, we’ve got to talk about the most sacred site in Texas – the place that defines what it means to be a Texan more than any other. We’ll discuss the ultimate sacrifice and when it’s appropriate to make it; the long-disputed story of exactly how Davy Crockett died; the current state of the Alamo and how we have to make the...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! We are wrapping up our conversation Reagan McClenny of the Timberland Drive church of Christ in Lufkin, and Terry Starling of the Grissom Road church of Christ in San Antonio. Links are in the show notes. We’ve discussed the pros and cons of the concept of independence. We conclude by discussing how we are not as independent from the world...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! I’m talking with a couple of Texas boys this week — Reagan McClenny of the Timberland Drive church of Christ in Lufkin, and Terry Starling of the Grissom Road church of Christ in San Antonio. In the first part of our conversation, we gave the idea of independence a pretty good flogging. But being independent isn’t all bad. How can we take...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! I know July might be a more typical month to discuss this topic, but Reagan McClenny, Terry Starling and I are native Texans, and Texans do things our own way. You’ll get a lot of that this month. Reagan preachers for the Timberland Drive church of Christ in Lufkin, Texas; Terry for the Grissom Road church of Christ in San Antonio. How imp...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! I had more ideas for Animal Month, but we’re out of weeks. Maybe we’ll do it again sometime. And thanks to everyone in the Heaven Citizens Facebook group who participated in the poll – we’ll do it again soon.  We’ll cover how camels and their drinking habits saved the family of Abraham; how an Englishman failed to get the Arabs to leave th...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! In all my obsessing over books the last year or two, I’ve gotten away from board gaming a bit. I’m still playing, mind you, and occasionally I’m still purchasing. But the closet’s pretty full already. True, the same could be said of my bookshelves, but board games are a lot bigger and more expensive than books. Today I’m going to use this...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! Donkeys won the poll last week for the animal to feature this week. That was done through the Heaven Citizens Facebook group – check it out if you have not already. This week we’ll discuss the lesson a donkey taught Balaam and is trying to teach us today; the donkeys we meet every day and how to avoid becoming one of them; the rationalizat...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! We did dogs last week; this week it’s about their wild and perhaps evil predecessors. Exactly how wild and how evil, well, that’s why you’re here, right? We’ll discuss Jesus’s ideas about wolves – if anything they’re worse than dogs; the wolf that became a dog, and the baggage he brought with him; the living space wolves need and why it do...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! It’s all animals this month, and we’re starting with my favorite – the one that’s most likely to defend me if I’m attacked, and least likely to eat me when I’m dead. This week we’ll discuss how the Bible does not love dogs nearly as much as I do; how the wolf inside every dog is there looking for a chance to get out; how my dog communicate...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! This wraps up a terrific conversation with Josh Collier and Steven McCrary; if you haven’t checked out the first two sections, please do yourself a favor and give those a listen. Here we conclude by discussing the beast that hides from the mirror, and how he looks a lot like us on our bad days. How should we respond when God tries to lift...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! We are back with part 2 of my talk with Josh Collier and Steven McCrary — two “beasts” in the absolute best sense of the word. Josh preaches for the church of Christ in Joliet, Illinois; Steven for the Golden Springs church in Aniston, Alabama. The talking beasts in the Narnia books start the conversation going on the topic of rising above...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! We kick off Animal Month on the podcast by talking about beasts and beastliness. Here to help are Josh Collier, who preaches for the church of Christ in Joliet, Illinois; and Steven McCrary, who preaches for the Golden Springs church in Aniston, Alabama. In the first of three segments of our conversation, we talk about the beasts in Revela...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! I’ve completed more than 100 books thus far in 2024 — a bit behind my pace from 2023, but still, not too bad.  And yes, some of those books were on the short side. But not all — I’ve read six books this year that were 500 pages or longer. I try to balance my reading between fiction, non-fiction and inspirational books. Fiction is lagging b...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! We’ve accidentally stumbled on a bit of a theme this week. Knives are deadly. Poison is deadly. Passion is deadly, too, and I could not be more serious. This week we’ll cover what the Bible says about living a passionate life and why it’s different from the world’s idea; the rivalry that largely defines the state of Texas; what tropical fr...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you!  Thinking is the whole reason the “What I’ve Been Reading” segment exists on the podcast. In fact, it’s why I read at all. It’s gratifying to read things that confirm what you already were thinking, and that can be a worthwhile exercise. But usually the “thinking” to which I refer in this list is the tougher kind — getting outside my comfo...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! Poison is bad. You should avoid it, generally. That’s my policy, anyway. And as obvious as I may think that approach is, clearly some people disagree. Today we will deal with people who think the poison of the world can’t possibly hurt them; people so distraught they would rather take poison than deal with their day-to-day lives; the possi...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! When I buy a book, I weigh three considerations: my level of interest, the cost, and the. book’s length (more or less in that order). I will never read a book I don’t want to read. I will rarely pay anywhere remotely close to retail (Hal Hammons, famous tightwad; you know my schtick by now) And I would rather read a short book than a long...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! A knife is like most tools – helpful when used properly, dangerous when used by the wrong person or with the wrong training.  This week we’ll discuss the strangest knife story in the Bible and what it says about our connection to God; the strangest and most beautiful knife story on my bookshelf; the debate over whether sharp knives are wor...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! Today we wrap up my conversation with Edwin Crozier and Tyler Sams, from Lutz, Florida, and San Antonio, Texas, respectively; I hope you’ve gotten as much out of it as I did. Links to the great work they do are included in the show notes. Here we discuss the centrality of Jesus in the life and work of a Christian, how we can forget about t...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! We’re back with more of my conversation with Edwin Crozier and Tyler Sams. Links to the great work they do are included in the show notes. In our second session, we discuss the problems that may come when growth is the actual goal, and when we accomplish our goal in even more remarkable fashion than we had hoped. If you’re just wishing the...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! This week I’m blessed to be joined by Edwin Crozier and Tyler Sams. Edwin works with the Christians that meet on Livingston Avenue in Lutz, Florida, and cohosts Text Talk, one of my favorite podcasts. Tyler preaches for the University Oaks church in San Antonio, Texas. In the first segment, we discuss the smallest seed in a Jewish garden a...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! My plan this month was to start my halftime report on the books I’m reading this year, but that’s going to have to wait. The plan now is for a show on my most thought-provoking books, another for surprising books, and then one for my best books. I’ll be sharing those with you in June, Lord willing, instead of the regular monthly report. Bu...

Register your feedback here. Always good to hear from you! I hope you’ve enjoyed the numbers this month. I have a confession. I did the previous three episodes as an excuse to do this one. This week we’ll discuss the four winds of the earth and how they carry God’s judgment to the four corners of the earth; an example of four-part harmony that works because it doesn’t work; an album that I’ve been...