Greek Yogurt Is Terrible

Johnny stood, mouth open in disgust. “It gets stuck between your teeth, is too tough to chew, and tastes like day-old Dr. Pepper. Greek yogurt is yucky!” He wrinkled his nose even thinking about it. Jen paused her spoon an inch from her open mouth. “Have you ever...

Why Won’t They Listen?

We all want to be heard. Sometimes we speak with a ballot, other times by standing up in front of a group of people. Even giving someone the silent treatment is a way to say something. But why won’t some people listen? It could be that our reputation does not match...

Bumper Sticker

I once read a bumper sticker that said, “God said it. I believe it. That settles it.” I thought it was a great bumper sticker, and then I thought about it a little more. The middle part, “I believe it,” just didn’t matter. If God says it, that settles it. Our...

Don’t Shoot the Messenger!

Why do we have that saying? Some news is unwelcome. The Jews didn’t like the message Jesus brought. They didn’t have guns, but they did have stones to silence the messenger. In John 8:39-59, Jesus continues to teach the Jews truth, but an unpopular truth. Rather than...

Ozymandias

“Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!” That’s the only phrase I remember from that poem. We read it in high school and were taught that it had a double meaning. On the one hand, Ozymandias wrote it to terrify other kings into submission. On the other hand, it...

Just Because You Could

Just because you could doesn’t mean you should. I’m not sure who originally said it, but Jeff Goldblum comes pretty close in Jurassic Park. The scientists were so focused on making dinosaurs that they didn’t stop to consider if they should. (Spoiler: it didn’t work...

God Has a Better Plan

Two thousand years ago, Elizabeth wanted children. In her culture, children were her priority. She didn’t have any, therefore others looked down on her. Her society wrote her off as too old to be a successful Jewish woman. She was too old to have children. She was...

“Those Who Can Do. Those Who Can’t Teach”

My uncle said it. I am pretty sure he had never read George Bernard Shaw. Most of us who know the saying, believe it is a proverb— not something lifted out of a novel. The Bible, however, teaches us something different in Ezra 7:10, “For Ezra had set his heart to...

Something was lost in translation

Language doesn’t always make sense. If you were to ask a new-to-English-speaker, “What’s up?” the logical answer is, “the sky.” That answer does not actually answer the question that was intended. America’s favorite Bible verse is kind of like that. We see it on...

Encouraging Words

We started at oh-dark-thirty. The jungle-like heat gave promise of another 90/90 day – 90% humidity and 90º F. The air was too thin to drink and too thick to breathe, much less run in at such an ungodly hour. Four miles in, staff started showing up like a cloud of...

New Testament

God Has a Better Plan

God Has a Better Plan

Two thousand years ago, Elizabeth wanted children. In her culture, children were her priority. She didn’t have any, therefore others looked down on her. Her society wrote her off as too old to be a successful Jewish woman. She was too old to have children. She was...

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Greek Yogurt Is Terrible

Greek Yogurt Is Terrible

Johnny stood, mouth open in disgust. “It gets stuck between your teeth, is too tough to chew, and tastes like day-old Dr. Pepper. Greek yogurt is yucky!” He wrinkled his nose even thinking about it. Jen paused her spoon an inch from her open mouth. “Have you ever...

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Come and See!

Come and See!

Nurses just know. They’ve been there, done that. They say, “Just slap a bandaid on it and stop complainin’!” But that same gruff nurse who blows off our ouches and owies as an annoyance will soften like butter in the warm, Texas sun when confronted with a patient who...

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Old Testament

Change Is Tough

Change Is Tough

The Air Force provides a lot of training, very little of it on a volunteer basis. One of the trainings I took was in “Change Management.” It may have had a different, more military sounding name, something like “Non-linear Progression of Leadership Requirements” but I...

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The A-Team

The A-Team

When the Air Force stationed my dad overseas, the only real disadvantage of living “on the economy” was a lack of US TV programs. If you lived close enough to base, you could watch the Armed Forces Network, but we lived too far away. Somehow, one of the American...

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