Look to God and Live… Joyfully!

Today at church we sang an old favorite hymn, Onward, Christian Soldiers. I’ve always loved this hymn. It fires up my blood and makes me desire to march fearlessly toward all foes standing between me and my eternal reward waiting just beyond those beautiful pearly gates. I know that for many the hymn conjures up…

This evening I watched a video that really touched me. The great Sidney Poitier, during an interview with Leslie Stahl in 2013, talked about the man who taught him to read (starts at about 4:30 in the video). Poitier was a young adult who wanted to act but couldn’t really read. He’d just had a…

This week I was driving down the road with my Christmas playlist serving as background music to my thoughts. I wasn’t really paying that much attention to the music when all of a sudden something just seemed off. I listened closely and sure enough, it seemed that Penatonix was messing up the order of The…

Christmas is, of course, a time for gifts. The ultimate gift initially from God to us and now from us to others. Obligatory gifts aren’t fun, but the gifts from the heart are wonderful representations of that first Christmas. Sometimes the hardest role at this time of year is that of gracious receiver. Getting what…

One of my very favorite Christmas carols is O Little Town of Bethlehem. Written by Episcopalian minister Phillip Brooks in 1868, it was prompted by a journey he had taken to Bethlehem a few years earlier. I admit, I’m jealous of anyone who has had an opportunity to visit that sacred place, and even more…