Monthly Archives: June 2021

He was born October 21, 1808, in Boston, Massachusetts, and attended the first public school in America, the Boston Latin School.  He was a good student and became proficient in foreign languages, becoming eventually a translator and thereby earning money to pay for his Harvard college education. Called to the ministry, he would enter Andover TheologicalContinue reading “Sweet Land of Liberty!”

The Scriptures are replete with mysteries.  A Biblical mystery is some truth that is knowable only by special revelation or illumination from a supernatural source; in this case, from God through His Spirit by His Word.  Mysteries include the mysteries of which Jesus spoke when, in Matthew 13, he related a series of parables HeContinue reading “The Mystery of Iniquity”

Jesus, in His dying hour, cried out “I thirst.” (John. 19:28) And, in another hour of darkness, having fasted 40 days and 40 nights, tempted of the Devil, it was said of the God man that He was hungry. (Matt. 4:2) Reading through the gospel accounts of the life and labors of God who hadContinue reading “When Jesus Groaned”

My children experienced something I never experienced—that is, growing up in a manse:  they were part of that often wonderful, and always special and unique group of individuals known as “pks” or “mks”—preachers’ or missionaries’ kids!  Being a pastor and having a family is a two-fold privilege, but the combination of the two is notContinue reading “Life in a Glass House”

If you read “You and God” regularly, you know that it is usually Tuesday and Thursday that it will show up in your inbox; but on this Father’s Day 2021 my heart is telling me to share with those who read these posts some reflections about a grandson whose absence from our family gathering today,Continue reading “As the Hart Panteth…”

Another opportunity looms near this coming Lord’s Day, June 20, which has been designated “Father’s Day,” to reflect upon our fathers and find cause to thank God again for loving fathers who cherished us, taught us by example and exhortation, and disciplined us in faithfulness to God’s will, way and Word.  It was my privilege toContinue reading “And Ye Fathers”

That was what he was known by most people in Wilkes County, NC, where he grew up and lived his 87 years. He was one of nine children and he and his brothers and sisters learned early in life the meaning of hard work and values that would stand them in good stead.  Marvin would neverContinue reading “Brother Marvin”

In the late 40’s, a young mother learned that she was expecting her third child, while she was desperately trying to nurture two small boys. Her second son had contracted tetanus at 18 months of age, but that diagnosis was “missed,” resulting in his condition digressing to the point that, in the hospital, he stoppedContinue reading “The Missionary that Almost Wasn’t”

Recently, I read a story about a person who found a baby in an open field, a newly born infant, abandoned and helpless, still covered with birth-blood, unwashed and unclothed. This kind person stopped, took up the baby, washed it and clothed and cared for it, and over the course of years nourished, fed andContinue reading “Abandoned Baby”

Yesterday was my wife’s birthday and though I will not broadcast the number of birthdays she has celebrated; I will share this key clue:  in August of this year, we will have been married fifty-six years!  She was a young bride.  I think I have written in an earlier post about the value to a pastor’s ministry theContinue reading “From Ellen’s Corner”