Perspectives

The proverbial question, who picked the watermelon ? is not borne out of insatiable satisfaction, but of one’s questionable ability. An antagonistic statement, frequently followed by "you can't pick watermelons anymore". They head off ever confident in their tested and perfected process only to discover after their thumping, shaking, twisting, and flipping, they fared no better than we. We thump i...

Early Christmas day, I believe 1972, we hurried to unwrap our gifts. It was the year I vividly remember my brother and I receiving something both unique and uncommon. I do not know if we asked for them or if our mother and father found the dog-eared page of the JC Penney catalog we previously looked. To our astonishment it was two authentic ventriloquist (not dummies) dolls, my brothers was Charli...

Many of us have traveled the expanse of prairie lands, in the mid-West, witnessing as we speed past the endless miles of corn visible both through our windshield and unendingly through our rear-view mirror. Have you ever wondered how did it get there, or inquire about the geometric exactness of each row? Achieving such feats requires immense labor, one so detailed that it determines if each indivi...

Before I begin today’s episode in a rush, I would like to pause and ask that you join me in prayer on behalf of friends, family, and those that I share fellowship within the body of Christ. In moments where words of comfort seem inadequate there is a marvelous power that flows from the midst of our prayers and reaches beyond the heavenly places and rises before the throne of God. For those listeni...

How do we measure life and time? How often is what we consider to be important, drastically different than what others may presume about the same thing? I am not referring to mathematical equations that allow us to calculate time and space as we pass through the universe, but the simplicity of things that greet us on our very doorstep. Things so simple, yet not important enough to pay attention. W...

I recall when I was in love for the first time (so I supposed). It was seventh grade, in junior high school. I actually had a fight over her and got suspended. I would write a note asking her, do you like me and offer two carefully drawn boxes in which to respond with an “x” indicating “yes” or “no”. I will not tell the answer is received, but I am sure many of you listening today did the same. I...

As a young Christian having given my life to Christ, I was, excited and anxious to see what awaited me. Like a sponge I soaked up the words that emanate from the pulpit, while doing my best to apply what I heard to my life. As I raced towards and through salvation, I was urged to give up certain things. Prepared or not as a means to draw closer to God. Some was God led, some out of fear, and other...

In his song, “Move Mountain,” Clay Evans sings, If you have the faith the size of a mustard seed, just say move mountain, move mountain, move mountain, mountain get out of my way. If I were to ask, where is your faith rooted, what would be your response? Is it rooted in beliefs, self-sufficiency, institutions, long awaited promises, or in people we consider trustworthy? While each is credible in i...

I would like to thank so many of you for your feedback last week concerning my conversation with Turquoise. It was refreshing to me as well to get a different viewpoint from someone that sees the world through a much younger set of eyes. As an administrative oversight, I must make a correction, and apologize in advance as I inverted her last name. It should be reflected as “Griffith-Sidibe.” &nbsp...

The past few months and weeks I've been involved in a number of in-depth conversations surrounding young people, and how they view salvation and their relationship with God, surprisingly there are many things that are similar to those of generations past, yet there are others that are highly influenced by today's environment, full of skepticism, cynicism, questions, and doubt. We have an incredibl...

While attending a leadership course some thirty-years ago, one of the most feared blocks of instruction was, “land navigation.” We would go through hours of lengthy study of maps, identifying varying terrain features, and understanding the nuances of manually measuring distance based on the need to travers from one grid coordinate (point on a map) to another. As lengthy as the classroom block of i...

I have never liked sea food. I used to give my fish sticks (if that can be classified as such) to my sister, secretly wrapped in a napkin. Living in new jersey my father would order the best tasting caecilian pizza. I recall, however to my disgust, he would order it so that half was covered with anchovies. I am not sure, however, if he liked them or if it was his way of preventing us from eating h...

I heard a preacher tell a story once about a certain occurrence that unfolded at a concentration camp during World War II. Beaten, tortured, and starved, the Jewish prisoners (men, women, children) were marched to what would be the firing line, as the pit immediately behind them was filled with lifeless bodies. It was the dead of winter and well below freezing as they were told to strip off their...

I want to first begin by wishing all of the mothers a Happy Mother’s day, and to my mother a very special thank you for all that you’ve been and everything you are, I love you. Cambridge dictionary defines deed as a legal document that is an official record of an agreement or official proof that someone owns land or a building : (retrieved from: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/engli...

In the youth of my Christian I was on my way, like a rocket ship, on fire for the a journey to heaven unrestrained. Based on the theoretical checklist of Christian attributes; I read, I prayed, I fasted, I did not drink, cuss, or smoke, I was ready made for my robe and crown. It was not long, however, before I realized I had not even begun to scratch the surface or lived enough adult life to under...

In the days of my youth, I recall evenings at the dinner table and each of us (my brother, sister, and I) were given an opportunity to say a verse (or blessing) before the meal. Being the youngest, I was most often last of course, as my hope was that neither sibling would say the one, I was most prepared to say, “Jesus wept” and “God is Love.” While each in their simplicity served as Biblical benc...

Life altering events. There are things that have occurred in my life, in which they were so significant, I wanted to quit, because I could not see myself moving forward. What’s the use, I would say, if I could no longer share with whom I have grown accustomed to sharing and their absence leaves an irreparable hole in our heart. No one can say "it's going to be ok"; "just go on"; or quote a multitu...

A few days ago, I was visiting with family, as my mother and her siblings gathered as they customarily do. In my aunt’s living room sits an old piano that has been there for as long as I can remember. Ever so often, as I passed by, over the years I would hit the ebony and ivory keys, as I have always dreamed of learning to play. My eldest aunt, who is eighty-six, sat beside me on the bench and beg...

This week during Bible study the topic of discussion was growth . How we as Christians mature and grow in faith. There was, however, one question of the night that captured my attention more than the others; Why do many people believe that Christianity should offer a carefree life? I am reminded often of a time when an associate of mine and I attended an eight-week training course. As everyone was...

When we read the remarkable nature of scripture, we often place ourselves right in the thick of every chapter and verse. Among the people we have become most familiar with, in the many lands in which they sojourned and journeyed. Suppose as we often say, knowing what we know, if we could go back we would change a whole lot, and maybe the more we know, the more things stay the same. Consider the co...

Have you ever wondered how many people we have caused to miss heaven? Right when the kingdom was there for the taking, we suddenly do something completely contrary to the will of God or the leaning of the holy spirit. Those moments when God places something on our heart, but we choose to do the opposite, because it gives us personal satisfaction, but leaves the intended recipient at a loss. We mus...

James 4:1-3 4 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? 2 You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. 3 When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. Somet...

While we may not openly admit, many of us have prayed, asking the Lord to save us, not from others, but from ourselves. Unsure of what awaits us or what to do, knowing that we are powerless to save ourselves. No matter how many promises, no matter the desperation of our resolve, we find ourselves helpless of escaping the very thing(s) that await us. How great our Savior must be. We often discover...

Why do we waste time with idle disputes, which bear very few meaningful results, which are much more successful in tearing down, than building up? Meaningless arguments that are better at sowing seeds of division rather than encouraging, with immense joy, our fellow yoke men in Christ, but we often find ourselves as the scribes, pharisees, Sadducees, and the religious elite in the days of Jesus. H...

Written throughout scripture from Genesis to Revelation, and un-written through the persistent tugging and urging of the spirit, even now God invites us to “come and see.” To witness the marvel of his creation, to proclaim his glory, to abide with him, to gird the shadow of his wings upon us as a cloak of protection from all hurt, harm and danger. Each day as precious seconds tick by, we receive a...