We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.Romans 12:5 Rebekah and I may be officially "retired", but I still have enough writing gigs to keep my attention focused and my freelance career active. One, and probably the most important in terms of keeping my visibility current, is the column …
Continue reading The amazing privilege of writing to encourage!
Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.Psalm 25 - me and dad, Sunday afternoon One of the things we do when we visit my dad is sing hymns. Both my parents love them, and it is amazing …
To those who through the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ have received a faith as precious as ours:Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.2 Peter 1:1-2 - early morning coffee and devotion For the past few days I have been thinking about the relationship between …
Continue reading Understanding Grace as a Prerequisite of Peace
The Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!Galatians 5:22-23 Many, many years ago - threescore and ten to be precise - 23-year-old David Maul and 20-year-old Grace Kemp joined hands at the front of Rayleigh …
Continue reading Happy 70th Wedding Anniversary, Mum and Dad!
- Raleigh from the golf course Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts. And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, …
Don’t be anxious about anything; rather, bring up all of your requests to God in your prayers and petitions, along with giving thanks. Then the peace of God that exceeds all understanding will keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus.Philippians 4:6-7 I'd like to begin this morning by talking about how I find the …
Continue reading When “what we want” does not match “what we need”
- and she's off! Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look! I’m making all things new.” He also said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”Revelation 21:5 - First Presbyterian Church, Wilson Today marks the beginning of another new chapter. It's nine months into Rebekah's retirement, and once again I …
Continue reading Something New for Rebekah (it was going to happen sooner or later!)
- Communion, our last Sunday at WFPC When we drink the cup of blessing, aren’t we taking into ourselves the blood, the very life, of Christ? And isn’t it the same with the loaf of bread we break and eat? Don’t we take into ourselves the body, the very life, of Christ? Because there is …
Continue reading beyond time and distance and even death, communion brings us together
" But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”Joshua 24:15 Thanks to Jim Ferry and Kipp Spanbauer …
Continue reading a manifesto for men’s ministry (we all need a band of brothers)
- David and Beks with Geoffrey at the Science Museum (photo by Naomi Campbell) All Jesus did that day was tell stories—a long storytelling afternoon. His storytelling fulfilled the prophecy:I will open my mouth and tell stories;I will bring out into the open things hidden since the world’s first day.Matthew 13:34-35 This morning I want to …
Continue reading If we know their stories we can erase time (1928-2106 and beyond…)
Derek Maul: Words, Photographs, and Food for the Journey 