A Morning View

Pentecost Come Holy Spirit........ Few words, much thought, sadness, twisted justice, extreme disorder in my heart.  Come Holy Spirit........ Arms spread in the middle of the fight, heart broken, empathy abounds, anger stirs. Come Holy Spirit........ Why, when will it end, what can I do, where is peace? Come Holy Spirit........ Peace, Peace, I cry for Peace. Come Holy Spirit........ “The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received. How long, Lord, must I call for help,     but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, “Violence!”     but you do not save? Why do you make me look at injustice?     Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me;     there is strife, and conflict abounds. Therefore the law is paralyzed,     and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous,     so that justice is perverted.” - Habakkuk 1:1-4 Lamenting, PB Come Holy Spirit........ please.

Selfishness or selflessness? My way or the highway? Live for me or live for others? Do unto others or do to others before they can do it to me first? Well they said. Yes, but he hit me first. Did you see how they reacted? They deserve everything they get. There is no way I can forgive them.  These are many phrases I have heard and perhaps even have used. There are many other self focused statements and actions which are floating in our current culture. We are greatly divided into many segments over many issues.  Are we followers of Jesus Christ or lovers of self? Really, what would Jesus do and how would Jesus live? “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but not everything is constructive. No one should seek their own good, but the good of others. - 1 Corinthians 10:23-34 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or ...

Ace is our 10lb.  Rat Terrier. Ace also has a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde temperament. He can be the sweetest, hugging and lovable dog. He will snuggle and adore me then in the same moment when I get up to walk to the kitchen, he will incessantly bark and nip at me. In that moment I get so frustrated and I want nothing to do with him. He is such a multi personality project to deal with.  This makes me wonder how God feels about humanity. Honestly, it makes me wonder how God deals with me. Do you think God looks at us sometimes in the moment and just wants nothing to do with us? We seek God's grace and forgiveness through authentic repentance and often in the same breath turn right around and live like we are still separated from God's love. Humanity lives much the same as Ace!  Why would Ace turn on the best gift he has? He is loved, he is fed, he has shelter and he is spoiled. Yet Ace turns on my love and care for him. But I eventually still keep loving Ace. God did flood th...

Authors note, I am not writing this post to create a debate. My intention is to help us each to stop and evaluate our lives, who we are, how we live and authentically seek deep within our hearts if we are who we proclaim to be in Jesus Christ. How can I make a difference? Please read, pray and seek God's heart through the Holy Spirit you proclaim to be living within you. We must start with being willing to be wrong, confess our sin and strive to live differently. You might be offended, and if you are ask yourself why? I am not giving answers, I am seeking help from God and others to impact the world for Jesus Christ.  George Floyd. This man represents too many people  unknown  to me. He has a name because he died on video begging for a breath. We know him because of media outlets. Because of outrage and because he did not need or deserve to die. For the purpose of this discussion, it does not matter the reason, it matters that he died and did not need to die.  So I a...

When I played football I had a routine which I went through before each game we played. Part of the routine was to put on my protective equipment and uniform. I made sure I followed the same order putting it on each game and that ever piece of padding was there. The coach was always asked before the game if his players were properly dressed with their equipment. It was important to be prepared. Proper equipment was vital to being able to play the game as safely as possible. There was always a temptation to leave a few pads out of the uniform because it was often uncomfortable and restrictive to wear. But I wore the required equipment and played the game with all my heart. Ephesians 6 reminds us to always be wearing the full armor of God. We are to be ready for action at all times. We are to be properly equipped so that we can participate in the battle as best prepared as we possibly can. Sometime our armor may seem bulky and restrictive, but when we are fully prepared we are at our a...

Children mimic what Mom and Dad do. They learn behaviors both good and bad from the example set at home. I have heard the story told that when I was very little I did mimic what I had heard. My understanding is that Dad and Mom had a pretty good argument going on in the kitchen while I was in the living room playing. I had a toy hammer in my hand and was playing with a train. Again, I have been told the Dad and Mom heard me in the other room and stopped their argument to walk in and see me pounding on the train with the hammer saying, "Damn train, damn train." Immediately the argument stopped and they realized I was taking in everything they were modeling for me in the moment. We do mimic what we watch and learn. Today's scripture from Ephesians 5 tells us to mimic God. If we proclaim to be followers and believers of God then we should live and act like God. We need to mimic and model the love God has for us and the world. Jesus Christ loves us with an extravagant love...

"If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all." - Mom, probably your Mom too! I might be wrong, but somehow I think many people have misunderstood the right to free speech with the right to say whatever we want with no respect for others and perhaps even for the complete truth. The verses in Ephesians 4 which I have chosen today are a small part of the message Paul is sharing with the church. Early in the chapter he talks about pouring ourselves out in love looking out for each other, mending fences and loving each other through the differences. So, PB, how do we do this when there are so many differences? It seems we have turned our fences into walls. We do not listen to the other, we attack the other, avoid mending the fence and we just build walls. Fences have important functions as life boundaries set up so that we have direction and guidance. Fences allow us to talk with each other and walls become ways in which we can talk about one anothe...

You may or may not know that the United Methodist Church is famous for two things, committee meetings and carry-in dinners! Praise God for the dinners! I used to be the Lay Leader of the church I attended and the Lay Leader is a part of most of the committees in the church. That is a lot of meetings. Most often I greatly preferred of the food. One Sunday the pastor delivered a sermon where he did a parody of the church leaders using their title and not their name and what the person in the position might say in the moment. When he said and the Lay Leader said, "Why don't we just stop and pray? Have we prayed over this yet? Perhaps praying first and seekGod would be important before moving forward?" Following the sermon I thought, "If I am labeled as a praying leader seeking the heart of God in everything, even if praying is seen as overkill, then I think I am alright." After reading Ephesians 3 this morning, I was slapped onside my spiritual noggin. I have spe...

Looking around me at others and then looking intensely within me I am wondering if Christians really get it. We proclaim new life in Jesus Christ pointing us toward eternity in heaven and in turn we continue to live like hell on earth.  I am most critical of me. It is easy because I know me best and I know the inner thoughts and outer actions which are not always pleasing to God. I should be living a life of complete surrender to God and I do not do well with surrender. Honestly, there is some strange sense of comfort holding on to the selfishness of sin in my life.  Are we willing to be comfortable in our salvation, avoiding our need to surrender? Colossians 3 tells us to focus on things above and not things on earth. I know we must live in the world, but it seems we, maybe just I, place our focus on the world and not things above.  I have been stepping up to a challenge to read a chapter of Ephesians each day. My thoughts are spurred on by the scripture I am sharin...

When I was a young boy we lived in the country and I had to become very creative in how I played. Much of the time I was alone and hd to create imaginary situations so that there were "others" around me. I would also "become" someone else and emulate everything they did. I would know them, study them and learn all I possibly could about them and then become them. One of the people I "became" was Wilt the "Stilt" Chamberlain. At the time he was a famous Los Angeles Laker NBA star. I always wanted to become Wilt. I practiced his famous hook shot, watched him play on TV and learned all of his moves. I had some of the most amazing NBA battles all alone in my uneven gravel driveway. In my mind I was Wilt the "Stilt" Chamberlain. There were a few drawbacks in becoming Wilt. First, my skin pigment was as white as could be. Wilt was African American and I was never going to become Wilt. Second, Wilt was over 7 feet tall. At my peak of vertica...

Sometime I just sit and wonder Death that just shouldn't happen Long suffering illness Anger, fear, unsettled hearts Opinions attack Self rightness cries out Attitudes of selfishness for me, to hell with you Little regard for others Silent, lonely people Loneliness in a crowd, claustrophobic in an empty room Does humanity really believe in God God, are you there Sometimes I just sit and wonder “How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?      How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts      and day after day have sorrow in my heart?      How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, Lord my God.      Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,      and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”      and my foes will rejoice when I fall. But I trust in your unfailing love;      my heart rejo...

In our culture we have become consumers. It seems we seek the new and the best, often beyond what we can afford. We are selfishly consumed by all that we can get, whether it is the next best item, the next best deal or money and power. Even in the church, a disciple making factory, we seem to be focused on more, bigger and better.  During this pandemic there are opposing viewpoints about what is going on and who is gaining and losing, how it is being handled and what should be done. There seems to be a large amount of I and me statements and attitudes. I do not write this to debate any or all of the sides, I only share my observation with the intent of trying to truly love and understand one another. What I do encourage us as Christians to do, no matter which end or middle place we stand, is to surrender. What surrender??? I try to always approach situations from the understanding that I am probably wrong. I think of every point and counterpoint from different perspectives and...

Are you in a place where you are tired, afraid, lonely and just plain worn out? Does your world seem to be crashing all around you? Just when you start to move one step forward you take two backward? It seems like anything that can go wrong does? Fear grips us and the unknown future shakes our foundation. Voices all around us are giving us advise, some good, some bad and who should we believe? Perhaps you feel attacked........lost.......unloved.......and all alone? When we find ourselves in the midst of these feelings we often scramble for anything we can get ahold of. Perhaps we turn towards the temporary pleasures of the moment to bring some satisfaction. Just one more cookie or another drink will deaden my emotions. If I can just feel good for a few moments, the temporary pleasure will replace the pain of my soul. If I were just gone everything will be alright....... 430 years of slavery became normal for the Israelites in Egypt. Moses led them out to go to the Promised Land. The...

Many of us have habits or routines we follow and they have become a natural and normal way of doing things. Habits can keep us consistent and in a rhythm so that we do not miss doing something important. Locking the door to the house to be safe inside is a good habit to follow. Well, at least it can be a good habit to follow. Yesterday Sharon and I were outside looking at some completed yard work and she went into the house with one dog while I played ball with the other dog. When Gabby and I were finished playing ball we attempted to go into the house and were stopped because the door was locked. Sharon has a habit of locking the door behind her. I rang the door bell and apparently I had developed a "look." Enough said..... Do we as Christians get into habits and routines which do not seem to be issues, while in fact they are good ways of doing things? We have habits which are good and routines that seem fine so why would we change them? They have worked for us before? Oft...

"It doesn't cost anything to be nice." Great quote to share and a great way to live.  “Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk. Be gentle with one another, sensitive. Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.” - Ephesians 4:31-32   The Message Remember,  "It doesn't cost anything to be nice." Peace, PB 

In my daily struggle striving to live as a child of the Living God I am constantly reminded from Matthew 16:24-26 that when I get up each day the I need to deny myself, take up my cross and follow Jesus. This passage also asks the question, "What if I gain the whole world and lose my soul?" Maybe I am crazy, but the more I read, learn and experience this Jesus in my life, the less I worry and depend upon myself. I just desire to get better each day denying myself and following Jesus. Why would I be so arrogant to think that I would not have difficult, even devastating times in my life just because I am a Christian? I do not always get it right, and I know there are steps on my journey to take action moving forward, but do I deny myself, take up my cross and follow Jesus FIRST? I have been struggling to write for the past hour and a half. I do not have any cute illustrations or puppy dog stories to tell. There is nothing coming to my heart to share other than feeling like a ...

Every few years we have landscapers come in and do a complete intense cleanup of our outdoor areas, which includes the Patio from which I write. We do a good job maintaining for a couple years, but the we just need a professional spruce up. Yesterday, toward the end of their work, I went outside and saw a phenomenal transformation of our flower gardens and surrounding landscape into what it was intended to be. Edging was done on the sidewalk, stray tree starts were pulled up by their roots, weeds were mostly gone and the area was looking like it was supposed to become in its original creation. Do you ever feel like you need professionally landscaped? Are you not as you were originally created to be? Do you need God to come in a do an intense cleanup of your heart? Sure, you might be alright, but could your spirit be better landscaped to be rid of the stray sin starts, nagging unkept weeds of your soul be pulled, your attitude toward others be edged and cleaned up and you act and live ...

It is difficult to live like Jesus in difficult times. It is easy to live like Jesus when everything is great. Living like Jesus is not just for the good times, but also for the bad times. We give praise for the blessing during the prosperous time. Do we give praise for seemingly little blessing in the valley of the shadow of death? Just a thought, which is actually more of a question, as Christians, why do we approach the world as privileged citizens instead of as humble servants? At seminary we talked a lot about privilege, but I never heard it discussed or thought of it the way I see it today. Maybe I was not paying attention during that discussion!!! We would look at it from cultural and economic perspectives and discuss privilege from human worldly labels and I never remember looking at it from the attitude of being Christian and not being Christian regardless of race, economic status or any other human label. Putting all of the earthly labels and viewpoints of privilege aside,...

My soul is deeply disturbed today. My spirit has been angry since yesterday. Actually, my spirit has been disturbed since March and even before. I am wanting to lash out, call others out and attack them as they, from my experience are hurting their proclamation of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior while causing great harm to others in the name of said Jesus. I find it difficult when we proclaim the love, grace and mercy of Jesus Christ as our God but when times are difficult we lash out and live little like the example Christ gave us. My heart is wrong in desiring to lash out.    God I seek forgiveness for my selfish anger at the selfish pride of your children who, I believe, choose to not live like the example you modeled for us in the Holy Scriptures. Lord forgive my human desires to lash out and help me to live and love all your children who proclaim the name of Jesus Christ as Savior and all who reject your gift of love and grace. After all my God and my Redeemer, you set t...

Short, simple question for everyone, myself included. Do we go to Jesus Christ first or is Jesus our last resort? “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after a...

I am disturbed at how those who proclaim Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior and live purely in selfish ambitions. I know the journey is a process and we all fall short, but I wonder are Christians giving lip service to the proclamation of their faith without the actions of an authentic change of heart? Are we living in the Spirit standing different than being a part of the world? I am afraid in what I read, hear and see that many are not. Are you living for personal gain and selfish ambition? Or are you living in an authentic, self sacrificing, life changing relationship with God through the presence of the Holy Spirit? Striving to take on the character of Jesus Christ? Are others experiencing the fruits of the Holy Spirit in all of your words and deeds on your life journey? “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the...

Happy Mother's Day to all of the Mom's out there! I hope and pray that this day you are honored and remembered as you should be each day. I give thanks for my mom and many other special ladies in my life who have chosen to adopt me. Even as a child and teenager there were special ladies who were nurturing mothers to me. I have been blessed by three older sisters who during different times in my life have invested in me and impacted my life as mom. I remember Mrs. Hazeltine who chose me, while a teenager, as an extra son. If she were alive, she would not be happy today because of my facial hair developing from my staying at home situation. Mamma Ruth Rowley still calls me son. She stepped up when my mamma went home to be with Jesus. My favorite Mother-In-Law has stepped up and loves me as best she can! She calls me son. Friends, there are many other women in my life not mentioned here who have impacted my life and for all of you I give thanks! My mother loved me as best as she...

When I awoke this morning I looked outside and thought what a beautiful, warm, bright, sunshine filled day! Then I went outside! Looks were deceiving because it was unbelievably cold for May 9! Even knowing the forecast, I had a false sense of what it looked like outside compared to the reality of what was truth. Have you ever looked at someone or perhaps another family and believe that they have it all together? They always present well, look happy, do all the right things, have a strong foundation in their God relationship and seem to be well adjusted. They are just perfect. But, much like the way I was shocked by the way the weather looked and the way it is, we may be shocked when we get below the surface of the others we encounter. We often put on a good look for others when deep inside we are a mess. Friends, do not be surprised that others are in the same place you are. Our stories may be different, but our internal results are similar. So what to do? First, it is imperative t...

The complex simpleness of creation. Perfection, balance and a world in harmony. It is good, very good. Genesis 1.  Thoughts of all the chaos in our world has been swirling in my mind. The world is out of balance. It is not good, very much not good. Romans 8 says that, "Creation cries out."  I find it interesting all the knowledge of good and evil in Genesis 3 is what is driving our world today. We try to fix the world. We use intelligence, knowledge and amazing technology and instead of better the world gets worse. Oh yes, there are some good things out the and many advancements. But Creation cries out.  The weather is crazy. I am believing people are crazy depending on our own knowledge and wisdom. Power, wealth, position and greed run wild in the hearts of humanity. Selfishness seems to be a foundational force. There is a large use of me and I in our sentences and in the examples of the lives we live. Even worshipers of God are finding ways to worship gods. Perhaps...