On My Mind

University freshman Ben Byrum was lonely. Ben had been to a nearby church a few times but didn’t feel connected or wanted. He decided to go one more time. He would walk in and sit down. If no one spoke to him before the service started, he would walk out and not return. A countdown […]

Scene I — AD 33 (John 18:17, 25, 26) “For the third time,” said Peter, “I do not know this man, Jesus! How many times do I have to tell you?” Scene II — Two Months Later (Acts 4:17–20) “This court has reached a decision. We order you not to speak of this man, Jesus, […]

Gus Niblack was already elderly when I met him; one of the best men I’ve known. When I’d ask how he was, he’d stiffen his spine, throw his head back and say, “The Lord has been partial to me!” I don’t doubt it. God has often singled out specific people for favor. In Old Testament […]

Hezekiah was a good man. He brought the nation of Judah back to God. He refurbished the boarded up temple and opened it to worship. He reestablished the service of the priests and Levites. He reinstated the celebration of the Passover. He pulled the plug on idolatry. “[S]ince the days of Solomon son of David […]

Luke 15:11–31 Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky was twenty-eight when he was arrested for his vocal opposition of Tsarist Russia. Sentenced to death by firing squad, Dostoyevsky was on the scaffold, soldiers with muskets at shoulder, when the execution was stayed. Tsar Nicolas I had commuted his sentence to ten years of exile, four of them […]

William Cowper had a miserable childhood. His mother, his sole source of comfort, died when he was six, and he was hustled off to a boarding school where he was mercilessly bullied. Cowper felt the guilt of sin more than most. By the time he reached his mid-twenties, he was so conscience-stricken that he twice […]

Matthew 5:13-16 You—yes, you—are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Jesus did not say become the salt of the earth; he said you are the salt of the earth. He did not say become the light of the world; he said you are the light of the world. Salt of […]

My song leader and I were perched on the front pew, prepared to lead the congregation in song and sermon after communion, which was being served from the platform seven steps up. Beginning his descent with trays of filled cups, our server tripped and launched into a headfirst dive, zeroing in on two petrified parsons […]

You are living well when . . . . . . You let go of the past, enjoy the present, and face the future with faith. . . . You focus on your responsibilities instead of your rights. . . . You map your course thoughtfully, knowing that reputation is easier retained than recovered. . […]

It was a beautifully manicured patch of green in Llano Cemetery, where the county buried its unknown dead. Who was “Infant Lara” I wondered, and why did she die alone? And why did he whose bones were beneath the stone that said “Unknown” die alone? I had been called to say words over another unknown. […]