Part of my childhood meant playing ball beside the church I attended.  It was a wonderful place to grow.  The building itself was tall and imposing.  Built two years after the Civil War, it has such a treasured history.  The windows of the church were amazing.  Towering over ten feet, they pieced together with stain glass and each one was dedicated to a former member who has served God so faithful...  Read More

1 Corinthians 11:17-34 But in giving this instruction, I do not praise you, because you come together not for the better but for the worse.  For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that divisions exist among you; and in part I believe it.  For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you.  Therefore when you meet tog...  Read More

The HBC Sunday School Lesson for March 14th focus on the life of the "Prodigal Son".  I always thought the older son got a bad rap in this story. Luke 15 recounts the history of the two brothers.  The younger son wanted his share of the father’s estate "before the father died" (vs. 12).  That tells us of this young mans nature and character at the time.  The father agreed to the son's demand.  Jew...  Read More

My wife forbade me from doing laundry last week.  I was trying to help out.  The problem is not knowing how to help.  My idea of laundry is to put it all in a the same time and push start.  Apparently some items cannot be washed or dried together.  Who knew?I have been married for 25 years.  I am 47 years old.  I still can't figure out this laundry thing.  But I am not going to stop trying.  I wan...  Read More

"I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may reside in me" (2 Corinthians 12:9).Over the years I've learned to celebrate my imperfections. Indeed, I have a shopping list of imperfections that might read like an invitation to group therapy. And I'm OK with them now. But it took time.Growing up with a harsh father shaped much of my thinking about myself as a...  Read More

1 Corinthians 15:35-49But someone will say, "How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?"  You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies; and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else.  But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own.  All flesh ...  Read More

"My times are in Your hand" (Psalm 31:15).St. Patrick’s Confession (autobiography)My name is Patrick. I am a sinner, a simple country person, and the least of all believers. I am looked down upon by many. My father was Calpornius. He was a deacon; his father was Potitus, a priest, who lived at Bannavem Taburniae. His home was near there, and that is where I was taken prisoner. I was about sixteen ...  Read More

During one of the severe potato famines in Ireland, a number of families wrote letters to their landlord saying they had absolutely no money at all to pay their rent and begged to be let off all their debts. The Irish landlord was Canon Andrew Robert Fausset, born near Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Ireland, in 1821.Canon Fausset wrote back to his tenants. He said it was quite impossible to let th...  Read More

1 Corinthians 15:20-28 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep.  For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.  But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ's at His coming, then comes the end, when He hands over ...  Read More

For the believer wanting to know God's will for her life, the first question to pose is not "What should I do?" but "Who should I be?"Perhaps you've tried to use the Bible to answer the question "What should I do?" Facing a difficult decision, perhaps you've meditated for hours on a psalm or a story in the Gospels, asking God to show you how it speaks to your current dilemma. Perhaps you've known ...  Read More

I love bar-b-que.  I never turn it down.  Bad bar-b-que is better than any salad or healthy treat.  Last Saturday and Sunday nights I feasted on a pork butt prepared by the BCHS Softball team.  (Yes I can eat bar-b-que multiple days of the week).  The meals were filling.  They satisfied a small moment and need.  I cannot help to think of how wonderful it is to enjoy the bar-b-que prepared by HBC o...  Read More

Lord Radstock was staying in a hotel in Norway in the mid-nineteenth century. He heard a little child playing the piano downstairs in the hallway. She was making a terrible noise: 'Plink... plonk... plink...'. It was driving him mad! A man came and sat beside her and began playing alongside her, filling in the gaps. The result was the most beautiful music. He later discovered that the man playing ...  Read More