Musings

“Jesus told this parable: Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men — robbers, evildoers, adulterers — or even like this...

By Sean Dietrich She was trash. At least that’s how she was treated. She was found wandering a rural Mississippi highway. Beneath the stars. It was a wonder the girl hadn’t been hit. This was a busy highway. The kind with transfer trucks. The dog was walking in the center of the...

By Pastor Doug Stauffer In the annals of world history, no nation since ancient Israel has borne a mission as profound as the United States of America. From the crucible of revolution to establish a land of liberty, America was founded on principles echoing a divine intent. It was to...

By Sean Dietrich A television is playing in a Birmingham bar. The talking head is shouting politics. Most folks in this joint are below thirty, and aren’t even watching TV. They’re transfixed with the opiate glows of their smartphones. The bartender looks thirteen. He stares at the television screen and says...

By Pastor David Holland On the first day of the week, very early in the morning, the women took the spices they had prepared and went to the tomb. They found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the...

By Pastor David Holland Imagine a God who moves the moon that guides the ocean waves to break on our shores. Imagine a God who flicked a match igniting the Sun into a blazing ball of fire, heating a solar system, producing a planet as an incubator for humanity. Imagine...

By Pastor David Holland The world broils with conflict. Can you imagine living in Israel with rockets lobbed into your neighborhood at random times? Or, in Gaza, where the country is being reduced to rock and rubble? Or in Ukraine, where soldiers rot entrenched in freezing foxholes. They fight a...

We think of the prodigal son from Christ’s famous story in Luke 15 as someone who selfishly took his share of his father’s inheritance before the man was even dead. Then he took that wealth and wasted it on drunken parties and prostitutes. How could we compare Jesus to...

By Pastor Doug Stauffer Did you know that the Bible says that God intended elected representatives to be “God’s ministers” (Romans 13:6)? It even explicitly states HOW they are to provide for the welfare of others: Each politician is to be “a minister of God to thee for good” (Romans...

By Sean Dietrich The boy holds his fish as high as he can. His father hugs him and kisses his hair. They make a fine picture together. I’m watching a father and son fish in a state park. They stand shoulder-to-shoulder. After a few minutes, the boy’s rod starts to bend. He screams,...