Monthly Archives: October 2021

Often those of us who are past the mid-point of life look back upon the days of our youth and reminisce about “the good old days.”  Life seemed simpler and more civil. Families were closer, churches stronger and neighborhoods safer. A man’s word was as good as his signature. A dollar was worth more andContinue reading “The Good Old Days”

Charles Spurgeon once said “It is a blessed fear which drives us to trust.” That is true. We should fear God and fearing Him should lead us to trust him. Charnock, in his Attributes of God, defined fearing God as a “reverential fear of him because of his holiness….” That kind of fear is healthy.Continue reading “The Spirit of Fear”

“May hurt my bones; but words, they can kill.” Ella Wheeler Wilcox captured the power of a single spoken dart-like word: “You never can tell when you send a word like an arrow shot from a bow, by an archer blind, be it cruel or kind, just where it may chance to go. It mayContinue reading “Sticks and Stones…”

I have just returned from Watertown, Wisconsin, where the Calvary Baptist Church, led by Pastor Bob Loggans, graciously hosted the 60th annual meeting of the Baptist World Mission on which it has been my privilege to have served as a board member with 30 or so other pastors and Christian leaders for forty of those sixtyContinue reading “On Missions and Missionaries”

“If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.” (Provs. 24:10) Those wise words from Solomon’s pen have often come to my mind when either our family or someone else’s family is going through the deep waters of tribulations or adversities. With the turning of every new month or year on ourContinue reading “Handling Adversities”

(Editor’s note:  Ellen and I married in August of 1965 whereupon we moved to Minnesota where I began seminary classes in early September.  Ellen never “looked back” and from the first day of seminary to the present day, we have been involved in ministry and have seldom gotten to go “home” to see family.  Ellen never complained aboutContinue reading “Back Home to the Blue Ridge”

Solomon, in Proverbs 30:19 said that there were four things too wonderful for him, one of which was the way of an eagle in the air. (Interestingly, Benjamin Franklin bemoaned the fact that the eagle was our national emblem, opining that the turkey would be more fitting!). The eagle, faster and stronger than any birdContinue reading ““The Way of an Eagle””

“Two are better than one,” Solomon tells us in Eccl.4:9,10 “because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow:  but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him.” There was a dachshund pup, Milo, that wasContinue reading “I Had a Friend”