Following The Son

Memorial Day weekend has passed, college students are home, schools are letting out, and vacations will soon be under way. It's summer! Once summer hits many folks head to the shore. Whether it's Jones or Orchard Beach, the Hamptons, the Jersey Shore, Ocean City, or a trip to the islands we love to head to the ocean when the weather gets warm. 2,000 years ago, following Jesus' resurrection, He took a trip to the shore. It was on the beach one morning that Jesus would challenge His disciples to continue to follow Him, as he restored Peter with the charge of, “ feed my sheep." (John 21:17) In fact, it was during a camping trip that the children of Israel experienced the presence of God in Exodus, it was a boat ride that would take Jonah back to fulfill God's call, a trip to the mountain would result in God's Word being given through Moses, and some unplanned time on the islands would result in the Gospel being preached to the people of Malta and John...

“Dad! Something is in the fireplace! I think it’s a squirrel!” I was in my office and answered my phone to hear my son express these words to me.  “I’ll be right there.” (That’s what Dads do. They come rescue their families from ravenous predators). I arrived and walked in already wondering how I would catch a squirrel. I remembered Clark Griswold having to catch a squirrel in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. He was going to catch it in a blanket and hit it with a hammer. I figured I’d leave the hammer part out, and go with more of a catch and release method.  I shined the flashlight in to discover a bird making all the racket.  “Bring me a blanket.” My son returned with the blanket/bird catcher. I gently opened the fireplace doors and reached in and trapped the bird. I wrapped him up, carried him outside, and released him. He flew off with incredible speed, but then the most unusual thing happened. From up in the sky he turned around an...

For many of us Memorial Day weekend means we get a day off. The true meaning of the day is to remember those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Men and Women have given their lives so that we would have the right to gather and worship freely. On a wall at the VA War Memorial a flag hangs that was made in a Japanese POW camp during WWII. A good friend of my grandfather, Denny Landrum, is one of the prisoners who gathered scraps of fabric over time and secretly stitched the flag together inside the walls of their prison. I visited the memorial a few years ago and took the picture you see above. Not everyone made it out of the prison camp. That's something we must never forget. Memorial Day also serves as a fitting time to remember the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus left everything, and more than just giving His life, He also became our sin so that we might freely worship. In worship the communion table helps us to remember this. Communio...

A man in the Phoenix area went on a date last year with a woman he met online. One date. He then concluded she wasn’t the one he was looking for, but her thoughts toward him weren’t the same.  So she texted him. 65,000 times. That’s not an exaggeration. That’s the number the police discovered once they had concluded their investigation. That’s taking, “blowing up” someone’s phone to a whole other level. When asked in a TV interview if she thought that was excessive she replied, “Love is excessive.” I’m not going to disagree with her last statement, but I would definitely recommend other ways of showing it.  I’m so glad when I need to talk to God I don’t need to pray like that. Jesus described talking to Father like this, “ When you pray, don't babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again.” Matthew 6:7 Aren’t you glad you don’t have to ask God things 65,00...

Michael Rotondo is 30 years old. This week a judge ordered him to leave his parents home after they sued him to evict him. Seems the little fellow still doesn’t have a job, and pays no rent. When I visited my son’s place recently I discovered his children are exactly the same. Neither of them works, and both do little other than make messes around the house. Even though they pay no rent they can be incredibly demanding. The difference is they’re cute. Josiah is 2 years and 3 months. Isabella recently hit the 6 month mark. When you’re a baby you don’t have to contribute much, because you have the cuteness factor. No one gets upset with a 9 month old for spending too much time laying around. The story changes as you get older. A teenager who lays around, and doesn’t help can anger a parent. You know why? They’re not cute anymore. A 30 year old laying around playing games? The cute factor is long gone. It’s not that you can’t look good when you’re 30. It’s just that it inv...

In Acts 4 first century believers became known for their incredible generosity. In fact, we read that no one had need because the believers had all things in common. That doesn’t mean they were communists. The account of Ananias and Saphira selling their property let’s us know people still had personal possessions. Yet, there is a clear picture of believers giving sacrificially to meet one another’s needs. I've heard it said that we're never more like Jesus than when we are giving.  When I first left Bible College to go into ministry we were so broke. Just before I left the campus the school cook called me. He said he had a frozen turkey left over from the semester and wanted to know if I wanted it. You better believe I did. We packed that turkey up with our few possessions, and drove off for New Jersey. After unpacking Sarai put the turkey in the oven, and we ate turkey every night for more than a week. Just as it was running out a knock came on our door one eveni...

The faithfulness of God is truly amazing. Our God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever never leaves us and never forsakes us. (Hebrews 13:8/Deuteronomy 31:6).  He keep his promises (Deuteronomy 7:9), loves us always (Jeremiah 31:3), and his grace abounds (Romans 5:17). He's a friend who sticks closer than a brother (John 15:15, Proverbs 18:24), calls us his own (I John 3:1), and holds us in the palm of his hands (John 10:28). In fact, he engraves our new names on his hand (Isaiah 49:16). Think about that. I have an uncle who had his wife's name tattooed on his arm. Things didn't turn out so well though, and later he had the word "void" tattooed over her name. God loves you so much he had your name tattooed on his hand, and you can be assured that void will never be written across it. He's never letting go of you. Many years ago I sat my then 3 year old son down and talked to him about how we were moving. I told him how we ...