The difference

Some random moments of life...

• I order food at the taco bell counter.
• I walk past the administrator's desk on the way into work.
• I see the mail man pull up to the box.
• The Amazon driver brings something to the door.
• The server comes up to my table at IHOP.
• I see someone walk in the door at church.

You get the idea.

Normal moments like these can become holy moments simply because of how we choose to treat that human that we are seeing.  We can stay stuck in our world, our issues, and our worries, or we can see them, smile at them and say hello.

You can, I can make a difference in every and any moment in this life.  It begins with a choice to "see" the other person.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Only Love

Heard somewhere recently... "only love gives meaning to the world."  

I think that there is a lot of truth to this.  And so it begs a question.... how much time during any given day or any given week, how much time am I, are you engaged in the practice of multiplying love?

How do we get it out there?  How do we deliver it?  Who do we deliver it to?

I begins with believing that love is important.  It finds legs when we identify a person to share that love with.  It doesn't have to be complicated... just be nice.  Show kindness.  Ask their name.

Only love gives meaning to the moments of our lives.  Treat every person as if they matter.  Because they do.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

circumstances

Terry M is a wise friend of mine. From time to time he sends me things that make me think. Recently he sent this note:

"So often we pray for our circumstances to change, but as we change, our circumstances change."


Jeff adds... so if we pray that God will make us sweeter and more gracious, we may come to see our circumstances a little differently.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Happy Birthday Woods Chapel UMC!!!

Today is the 50th anniversary celebration of the Woods Chapel United Methodist Church. It was my deep deep pleasure to be the pastor there for 22 years, from 1994-2016.   From the age of 37-59.  I long time!!!

I met so many wonderful people along the way and worked with some amazing staff people. Looking back, I am thankful for so many things. Here is a small list…

1. We created a church that was good for men. Not just women and children, but families came to our church. One of the best compliments I ever received was when a wife would come to me and say, “my husband has become a better man because of this church.”

2. I will be ever thankful to what we created in terms of worship space. The sanctuary, built in 1999 with it’s beautiful windows, and the worship center, added in 2009. Both have provided so many opportunities for hearts to be warmed.

3. I am so proud of the church grounds. So much work went into them by so many people. The walking trails, the stations of the cross, the many many trees. The pavilion, the labrynth, the columbarium and the many gardens all make the church grounds a truly holy place.

4. Finally, I am the most happy about the fact that we became a missional church. It took time but we were finally able to move away from the old church model where worship and Christian education were the most important and discover the joy of an outward focus. I will always remember fondly what we did for 3 years after Hurricane Katrina. I will remember our building of over 100 homes in Nicaragua. I will remember all of the many missions that sprang from the hearts of the members who were feeling God’s call to share the love.

Happy days! Happy Anniversary Woods Chapel! I love you all!!!

South Sanctuary Window - Old Testament

Columbarium Area with bridge in background

Entrance to the Stations of the cross and walking trails

Chime Chapel

Bridge over the small creek on the walking trail

Walking trail

Pear trees in April

Connecting People to Jesus Christ

Lovely peaceful place...

Pastor's view on Sunday Morning

We planted many many trees

Worship Center - opened 2009

Prayer wall - fantastic!!!

Coffee Bar

New foyer... completed in 2009

Sanctuary built 1999

Jonnie Wells lining out the troops at a landscape work day.

Message on the way off the property...

What a great place.  So glad to have been a part of the journey.

Leaders que others

Leaders que others.  They tip off other people about what behavior is appropriate.

If you are a leader and you think that screaming is good, then you can be assured that your followers will scream as well.

If you are a leader and you are into yoga and meditation and you express the value of such practice, then those who listen to you will likely follow suit.

Others watch what we do.

If it is ok for me to complain about things, then my children will probably learn that complaining is normal.

So the moral of this story is this... we are all leaders in one way or another.  Someone is watching each of us.  What will we model for them?  What will be increased in this world because of our behavior?

Friends, we are here only to love one another.  Check all behavior by that standard.  Model nothing less than love and kindness.

It's a beautiful day in God's world be sure to see the good.

Rapture - ugh!

I am writing this on Tuesday September 23rd.  I hopped on a 5:50 am flight to Kansas City.  I was watching the news at 3am.  

Evidently some preacher and some fundamentalist Christians are saying that the rapture is today... or tomorrow.  Well it is 7:45am, I am in the Atlanta airport and nothing has happened yet.

I do not believe in the rapture.  It is a doctrine that was created in the 1850's by John Nelson Darby.  If you don't believe me, look it up.

Yet, the myth persists.  Some people would rather live in the world of speculative theology than live in the world of love.  If I have something crazy to think about and to scare others with, then I don't have to think about how I treat others.

Please do not drink the rapture kool-aid.  Instead, drink the love potion.  Don't worry about speculative theology.  Give yourself to living a life of love.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Update... those who predicted the rapture last week have now set a new date for 2026.  

Surprise!!!

Proverbs 16:7

"When a man's ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him."

Prov 16:7 KJV

Do you have enemies?  Can you make peace with them?  Have you tried?  When we lead with kindness, we have many fewer enemies... Many fewer people who are against us.

When we apply ourselves to reconciliation, when we allow the other drivers to merge into traffic in front of us, we have fewer enemies.

Take a step back.  Rest.  Give up on winning.  It's ok.  It is ok to let others have the place of honor.  It is ok to allow others to shine.  It is ok to have other people move into your space.

When we stop fighting the war, we make our enemies and potential enemies to be at peace with us.

Stop.  Breathe.  Live.  Live in peace.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

questions

Life has it's questions.  Some people get nervous and want all of the answers.  Others go with the flow.

Recently someone asked a few questions about where the church was going.  I thought the answer was appropriate... "we are unable to remove the unknown from the journey upon which we are embarking."

Surely in your life there are questions.  Do you insist on trying to direct and control things?  Or can you trust in God and go with the flow.

It is impossible to remove the unknown from the journey that we all are on.

It's still a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Love the Lord and link to sermon from Sunday

I was listening to the news.  It was a pretty partisan program as most of them are these days.

They were lifting up a certain person as someone who really really "loves the Lord."  Keep in mind this was not on the Christian Broadcasting Network.  This was on regular TV.

Great.  They are trying to make the point that so and so "loves the Lord."  Then here is my question.... if this person loves the Lord, then where is the kindness?

They will know we are Christians by our love.  Where is the love?

Let's be sure to be those who show it.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Here is the link to Sunday's sermon

click here to watch

The Horse Whisperer

In the 1998 film the Horse Whisperer, Robert Redford helps wounded horses regain their purpose.

The horse whisperer touches the face of the wild horse. He looks the horse in the eye. He speaks to the horse. And, somehow, the horse gets it. The horse remembers who he is and what he is about. The horse reaches back beyond his current thinking to the purpose of his creation.

The horse quiets. The horse relaxes. The horse becomes a part of the solution. The horse acts in concert with God's plan for the horse. All because the horse whisperer got a hold of him.

Sometimes we need to get the attention of others and whisper.  Sometimes we need to help people remember who they are and why they are here.

Sometimes someone needs to whisper to me and remind me.

Let's help each other stay on the path, stay on the purpose and remember who we are.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

WW

I have a friend.  I feel compelled to write to him and about him.

Sir you are a good man.  I know it.  I can sense it.  You texted me last week.  Some question about the book of Genesis.

I have always thought so highly of you.  I am always glad to see you.  I am always pleased when we run into each other.

I know that there have been some broken bones lately.  I am so so sorry about that.  I think of you and my heart grieves with you.

You are ok.  It will be ok.  You matter to many.  You matter to me.  Please be encouraged.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Thoughts on prayer

I think that you can pray for whatever you want.  I encourage you to avoid selfish prayers, but pray as you wish.

Remember that prayer is not ultimately about me getting what I want.  Prayer is about aligning my heart and life with God.  

Some say, prayer changes things.  I say, true prayer changes me.

Pray as you wish, just always end your prayers with this statement, "and no matter what the answer is, no matter the outcome, I/We put our trust in you."

Pray as you wish but trust God no matter what happens.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Everything Happens

Sometimes mayhem just happens.

The other day someone said this to me: "everything happens for a reason."

I completely disagree.  The notion is that God is in control and what ever is happening to you, there is a divine reason behind it.

Someone once told me, and I like this... "God is in control, but he is not controlling."

If everything happens for a reason, then God is giving children cancer, orchestrating plane crashes and causing all sorts of mayhem.

I prefer to believe that things happen in this world.  We don't know if they are from God or if they just happen.  I don't see the point of blaming everything on him.

What I do believe is that there is something to learn from everything that comes our way.  Even in the worst of circumstances when things are happening that we cannot blame God for, there are lessons.

Lessons on humility, lessons on trust, lessons on opening our minds.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Are you delivering burdens or love?

In Matthew 23 Jesus gets after the Pharisees.

“The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach. 4 They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them..

When I was younger, I thought that the point of this passage was that you better be good and practice what you preach. But now I see it a different way.

Jesus is saying, stop preaching and teaching things that put rules, laws and burdens on people. Doing so only causes them to focus on the wrong things of life.  Life is not about who is good enough.  Life is not about who the good ones are.

God loves everyone.  Jesus freed people from guilt and shame.  If we would follow his ways, we would seek to become lovers of people, not controllers.

Let them be. Let them live. Let them find happiness and love.  And if we can give a life of love to others, maybe we can find it ourselves as well.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

I was once one

As a follow up on yesterday's post, I hate to admit it, but I will admit it... I once was once one of those people.  I was a part of a "Christian" group that thought they were right and everyone else was wrong.

I went upon my way for many years insisting that I knew, and you did not.  I put demands on myself and on others that no one could keep.

At the age of 22 I was put in charge of the shop at the asphalt company that I worked for.  Six men in their 40's worked in the shop keeping the equipment up.  Did I say that I was 22.

Because I had drank the Kool-Aid, I insisted that the radio in the shop be turned only to the local Christian station.  They guys of course wanted to listen to rock and roll.  Back and forth we went.  They took their complaint against my insistence to the President of the company.  Since he drank the Kool-Aid as well, he backed me.

One of the employees quit his job.  He quit his job because of my self-righteous attitude and my insistence that they listen to the radio station of my choice.

One of the other employees, who was a kind man, took me aside and explained to me what had happened:  a good man who had a family to feed, quit his job with nothing else lined up, because of me.  My attitude and outlook on life had brought serious pain to a man and his family.

I was devastated.  It was the first time in my life that I saw how my self-righteous attitude was actually hurting people.  Thank God it was the beginning of my life journey away from judgment.

I pray that your practice of your faith is not hurting others.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

drinking the Kool-aid and sermon from sunday

It was November 1978.  Over 900 people would drink cyanide laced Kool-Aid at the direction of their pastor, Jim Jones.

And so the phrase "drinking the Kool-Aid" was born.   It has come to refer to any person who swallows whole, doctrines that are not healthy.

And there are plenty of them out there.

Any teachings that make a person rigid and inflexible are not healthy.  Any teachings that focus more on perceived truth than love are hurtful.  Teachings that fill people's lives with fear and guilt are not of God.

There are way too many people out there that are filled with fear, guilt and judgment.  Way to many people who would rather insist that they are right than follow the way of love.

Don't be one.

What happened at Jonestown in 1978 was irreversible for the people who drank the Kool-Aid.  The good news for we humans who are alive now, even if we have in the past drank the drink of high demand religions, it is not too late.

We can change.  We can look to see the damage that our thoughts and words are doing to ourselves and to others and change.  We can choose a new path.  We can choose the way of love.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Here is the link to Sunday's Sermon

click here to listen to Sundays sermon

Thoughts on Tipping

I messed up the timing on this post but I thought it was important so if you missed it, here it is again...

Why do we tip?  They don't tip in Europe.

I guess that initially, the idea in America was that we tip for good service.  So for some, that means that if I don't like something about the service that I received, I can not tip or I can give a small tip.

Some people don't tip at all.  What is that about???

I was in a situation two months ago when I was eating with a friend.  We discussed the tip and we disagreed.  He felt that the service was poor and so we should not tip.  I agreed that the service was poor, but I still left a tip.

I got to thinking about that situation later when I got home... Maybe tipping is not just about the service that we receive...

Do I tip the airport shuttle driver because he drove in an excellent manner?  Do I give more at church if the sermon is better?  Did the hotel housekeeper really do an excellent job???

What if tipping is about something else.  What if tipping is recognizing that I have an opportunity to bless someone else.  What if tipping is a small way that I can show kindness.  $2 or $3 or $5 or 20% I promise you will mean a whole lot more to the person we are tipping than it does to us.

Or is keeping $3 more important to me than showing kindness to someone who obviously has so much less than I do?

What if we got ourselves out of the way?  What if tipping is not a response to what we received and instead we thought of it as a way to be good to people.

Just a thought.

It's a beautiful day in God's world be sure to see the good.

thoughts on tipping

Why do we tip?  They don't tip in Europe.

I guess that initially, the idea in America was that we tip for good service.  So for some, that means that if I don't like something about the service that I received, I can not tip or I can give a small tip.

Some people don't tip at all.  What is that about???

I was in a situation two months ago when I was eating with a friend.  We discussed the tip and we disagreed.  He felt that the service was poor and so we should not tip.  I agreed that the service was poor, but I still left a tip.

I got to thinking about that situation later when I got home... Maybe tipping is not just about the service that we receive...

Do I tip the airport shuttle driver because he drove in an excellent manner?  Do I give more at church if the sermon is better?  Did the hotel housekeeper really do an excellent job???

What if tipping is about something else.  What if tipping is recognizing that I have an opportunity to bless someone else.  What if tipping is a small way that I can show kindness.  $2 or $3 or $5 or 20% I promise you will mean a whole lot more to the person we are tipping than it does to us.

Or is keeping $3 more important to me than showing kindness to someone who obviously has so much less than I do?

What if we got ourselves out of the way?  What if tipping is not a response to what we received and instead we thought of it as a way to be good to people.

Just a thought.

It's a beautiful day in God's world be sure to see the good.

Lead with Love, Pt. 3

Every good sermon has 3 points.  Here is the end of the 3 part series on "lead with love."   [although I hope that the blog always point us to lead with love]  The series was interrupted yesterday by International Talk like a Pirate day.  Which I would say this to, love is important, but so is talking like a pirate on September 19.

Lead with love means that I am not here to take from you.  I am here to see you, to care about you and to invest in you.  My entire posture in life needs to shift away from self and towards me learning to love.

Saying "lead with love" is one thing.  Learning to do it, learning to make yourself 2nd, is another indeed.

I am not here to take from you.  I am not here to use you for my benefit.  I am here to show love.  It is a total life paradigm change.

May we all be willing to do the hard work to move away from a self-oriented existence to one that leads with love towards others.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Talk like a Pirate Day!!!

RRR matey! It's here again. National talk like a Pirate day.

What does a pirate say on his 80th birthday???  I'm Eighty!  [aye matey]

What do you say to a pirate captain with one eye?  Aye Captain.

What do you say to a pirate captain with two eyes?  Aye Aye Captain.

What kind of movies do pirates watch? Rated RRR

Why are pirates cool??? They just RRR

What is a pirate's favorite letter???

RRR you say, no it's The C

A pirate walks into a bar. The bartender say, Hey I haven't seen you in months. You look terrible. What happened to your leg? The pirate says, RRR a cannon ball took my leg off at the knee so now I have this wooden leg.

The bartender says, and what about your hand? How did you get that hook? RRR the pirate says, I was in a sword fight, and right before I run the bloke thru, he chops off my hand. So now I have this hook.

The bartender say, and you eye? How did you get the patch? The pirate says, RRR don't che know, a seagull pooped in my eye.

The bartender quite confused asks, you lost your eye because a seagull pooped in your eye? Nooo the pirate says, but don't che know it was the first day of my new hook!!!

I love that joke!

by the way, where do pirates buy their hooks? At the second hand store.

RRR its a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Lead with Love, Pt 2.

The second thing that I want to say about leading with love in your life is this... be willing to admit that you were wrong.

Apologize.  Those who cannot learn to apologize simply leave a trail of hurt.  What if part of our approach to life in general included this idea... "I may be wrong."  Where ever we start our discussions, no matter how strongly I feel about a thing, I may be wrong.

When we insist that we are right, we put ourselves above others.  When we begin with, "here are my ideas, but I may be wrong,"  we give others room to dialog with us.

Lead with love.

I may be wrong.  I open myself to you and your ideas.  I love you.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Lead w Love pt 1

Bishop Tom Berlin preached a sermon at Ft. Pierce First UMC.  The title was "lead with love."  You can guess what it was about.

When I think about leading with love, I think of many things.  First of all I think of the idea of actually seeing other people.  See the person taking your order at Taco Bell as a person.  See the other drivers not as enemy combatants but as people.  See the person that you disagree with as a person that God loves.

We cannot lead with love if we don't SEE other people.  Lead with love.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

Tried your best

Coldplay sang, "when you try your best but you don't succeed."  I think that we have all had the experience of trying to do a thing or make something happen and it just doesn't work out as you planned.

In those moments I would say, keep trying to do the good.  Don't stop believing.  Doing the good is worth pursuing even when we fail a time or two, or 3.

You have never really failed until you quit.  Don't quit.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

make it last

After Charlie Kirk's murder I was watching the news.  The news anchor had a couple of US congressmen on.  They were from different sides of the aisle, but they are good friends.  They are among the few who are committed to working together for the betterment of the country.

The news anchor compared the feelings that many have now with how people felt after 9-11. 

General feelings of How could this happen?  And a general quiet, calm and coming together...

The anchor mentioned that after 9-11, the peaceful good feelings lasted for about a month.  She asked the two congressmen what could be done to keep the cooperation and kindness going.

I have an answer to that.  Here I go:  

Somehow in America a culture of hate and division has been created.  How about we stop reporting when a politician says something hateful.  How about you don't get news coverage if you bash people.  How about instead of modeling division, the news media holds up those who are kind.

Maybe something would change.

I know that no one in the news will ever read this, but I will tell  you my friends that we can create culture in our homes, in our work places and anywhere that we go.  Those who choose negative, destructive behavior should not be promoted.  We need to model kindness and uphold healthy behavior.  

You can, I can create and sustain positive culture one person, one day, one moment at a time.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

On the death of Charlie Kirk

I was going to write something about the murder of this man, but my friend Wendy Minshal wrote some great words.  She is one of the most kind people that I know.  She is the pastor of the Peculiar UMC in Peculiar MO.

Here is part of what she posted on Facebook:

I can’t sleep, my mind Is spinning, and my heart aches.
I want the hate to stop. I want there to be peace on earth, in our country, in our communities, churches, families, homes. I want peace for the human heart.
I don’t want someone’s (ANYONE’s!) death celebrated. I don’t want school shootings (or ANY violent death/attack) ignored.
It doesn’t matter who’s to blame for the division, or the way hate has manifested in the human heart… It matters that we stop it.
It MATTERS what we say… how we act… the empathy we feel AND the empathy we withhold- It ALL matters.

Sometimes it is hard to see the good. But this is still our father's world, and there is still much good to see.

still mad

Something happened the other day that I am still mad about.  I woke up the day after and I was still mad.  That is unusual.  I get mad, but I don't stay mad.  And it is rare that I don't sleep off a mad.

But this person won the award.  What they said to me was so hurtful and ridiculous!!!

This person is not a blog reader.  We have helped them more over the years than any other person in any church that I have been involved with.

Some people are just detached from reality.

The moral of this story is this:  Keep being good to people, regardless of how they respond to you.  Keep working on forgiving.  The mad will eventually go away.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

a bigger picture

My friend Terry wrote in and said this, "Can you see a bigger picture? That question alone draws me closer to God."

I would add... can you see a picture besides the one that shows up conveniently in your head? Are you open to ideas that are outside of yourself?

When we choose to look past our preconceived notions, it always draws us closer to reality and to God.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

The Zoo

Last Friday I went to the zoo with my daughter Allison and her children, my grandchildren:  Bella age 5 and Cruz age 2 1/2.

How long has it been since I was at the zoo?  Probably since my children were young.... 25 years anyway.   Well, the Melbourne Florida zoo is awesome.

Lots of shade, lots of animals that you can see, a train ride and lots of children's activities.

We were told that this is a very nice giraffe.
Willing to stick his neck out for anyone.

 Just Lion around.

What do you get when you cross an elephant with a 
Rhino???  Elephino.

Baby Zebra

Babe, Paul Bunyan's Ox.

On display now through Thanksgiving!!!

Bella watches the Bear eat.

Two lovely bald eagles.  Both left flightless
after accidents.  Very nice to see.

lots of hungry carp.

Bobcat.  Don't let your domestic cats outside in Florida.

Flamingos think they are smart.  
They are always trying to get a leg up on you.

Alli w Cruz and Bella.  Flamingos for background singers.

We had a blast!!!

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

favorite songs

I believe that it is my buddy John M who used to or still does have music parties with friends.  He would invite 3 buddies over, each one bringing a number of songs to share.  Then the group would sit and listen to each other's songs and drink ice tea.

I always thought that this was a fantastic idea.  Sometimes now when friends come to visit, we sit around the table, tell stories and ask Alexa to play our favorite songs.

If I went to such a party at your house, I could bring many many songs.  But if I had to choose 4, here are four that come to my mind today.

1.  Meatloaf - 2 out of 3 ain't bad

2.  ELO - All over the world

3.  Coldplay - Viva la vida

4.  Brooks and Dunn - Neon Moon

I would love to hear what some of your 4 favorites are.  And please don't say, "anything Chicago" give me some specific songs.

I love music.  It is amazing.  It is a gift from God.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

from my brother John... and sermon link

Fear is "what if"
Faith is "even if"

I love that.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

click here to listen to or watch Sunday's sermon.

sermon 9-7-2025