First Thoughts

Looking Through the Right Lens There’s nothing quite like getting a new pair of glasses. When you put them on for the first time, you suddenly realize how sharp and bursting with brilliance the world is. You go outside and look at a flower in all its intricate beauty, you look up and see the bright blue sky sharply contrasted with the fluffy white clouds, and you realize that it has been quite some time since you’ve seen clearly. To see clearly, all you need is the right lens. This is certain…

For I, the LORD your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you.” Isaiah 41:13 Hard Nights in the Hospital When it comes to hospital stays, I’m now something of an expert. Since the fall of 2020, I’ve spent roughly 15 nights in the hospital. That is not as much time as some have spent in the hospital, but it is more than most. For me, 15 nights means I’ve spent more time in the hospital than I have in hotels, visiting relatives, or having sleepove…

Dear First Baptist Family, You have been so faithful to pray, and I wanted to write and let you know the latest update after the appointment with my neurosurgery team this morning. First of all, I want you to know that I feel good. In fact, as I write to you now, I feel as good as I have felt since August 4. I haven’t taken any pain medication, and my constant dizziness and disorientation has become a much more tolerable light-headed, sort of swimmy feeling. That improvement allows me to walk…

The Disciples on the Road to Emmaus  Luke 24 records one of the greatest Bible studies in all of history. After his resurrection, Jesus appears to two of his disciples as they walk from Jerusalem to a town called Emmaus. When he first appears to them, they don’t even recognize him and aren’t even sure if he has truly risen from the dead. But as he walks and talks and eats with them, he opens their eyes to see who he is, and he teaches them one of the most important Bible lessons you’ll ever h…

Dear First Baptist Family, Today is the first day I’ve felt able to reach out to you (and been allowed to!), so I wanted to share with you some of what has happened. Most of you know that on August 4, I went to the hospital for surgery to relieve the pressure on the trigeminal nerve in my brain that now, for five years, has been causing pain, spasms, and difficulty chewing, speaking, and swallowing. After surgery, it was immediately clear that the operation came with some significant costs as…

Proverbs 29:25 says, “The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe.” The Bible sounds an alarm in Proverbs 29:25, telling us that we are in danger. It is a warning for a subtle, nearby sin that regularly visits though most are often unaware of it and the snare it lays. A snare is a trap laid and disguised to catch an animal. The trap is set, so the animal never sees it and is ultimately killed by it. Likewise, this sin is a hidden trap that will capture us if we are no…

January 1, 1773 is a momentous date for hymnody. It not only serves as the date that ‘Amazing Grace’ was first presented to the public by John Newton now almost 250 years ago, but it is also the date that William Cowper penned ‘Conflict: Light Shining Out of Darkness,’ based on John 1:5 “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” We know the hymn today as ‘God Moves in a Mysterious Way.’ It is hard to imagine a more fruitful single day in English hymnody nor a st…

If you are an evangelical Christian, the odds are that you know someone in the LGBTQ+ community. If you don’t, you will. 20% of Gen Z identifies as something other than heterosexual. Pretty soon, you will meet someone who has a partner of the same sex or “identifies” as something other than their biological sex. What do you need to know as you minister to your friend? This can be an overwhelming question if you are a Christian who believes the Bible. That is because two things are crystal cle…

A Dark Day “Oh, my! It looks like you are having twins.” These were the first words the doctor spoke to us at my wife Kate’s routine ten-week ultrasound. The news was surprising and wonderful. God had given us not one beautiful child created in his image but two. “Hang on,” the doctor said only a few seconds later. “One of them doesn’t have a heartbeat.” We walked out of our doctor’s office that day bearing the weight of a reality that was unthinkable when we walked in. One of the beautiful a…

Let’s be honest; some people are hard to love. Unfortunately, from the stories I hear, it is often a spouse. Your difficult person may not be a spouse; he could be an extended family member or even someone in your church who just “rubs you the wrong way.”  A Model to Follow As we live our lives, the realities of our fallen world are realized in our difficult relationships. Scripture is realistic about this. In particular, as Paul writes, he applies biblical teaching to this very subject. In …