Pathway Journey

June 29, 2026June 28, 2026

Fill Up the Vessels

Multiple large antique ceramic jars arranged on a stone floor inside a rustic cellar with stone walls and wooden shelves

There is a great story of provision found in the Old Testament (2 Kings 4:1-7). A woman’s husband had died. He was in the group of prophets led by the Prophet Elisha. The woman had no time to grieve over the death of her husband because he had a debt that was due. She had no money. The creditor was coming to take her two sons as slaves for the payment of the debt. The ancients lived in a very cruel and unforgiving world.

Her situation was very severe. Her husband had died. Her sons were going to be taken as slaves. She was left with no support and no family. A widow during that time with no son was destined for a life of abject poverty.

She went to Elisha for help. “So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil” (2 Kings 4:2 NKJV).

June 19, 2026June 20, 2026

Daddy Bought a Nissan

My daddy was born in 1914 in the ridges of Northeast Alabama. He was deserted by his father when he was a school-age boy and raised by his single mother in the midst of the Great Depression. He was raised dirt-poor.

June 10, 2026June 10, 2026

Don’t Allow Your Past to Destroy Your Future

Rusty metal chain breaking into pieces with sparks and glowing light

Many people allow their hurts, abuse, regret, sin, or disappointments to steal their joy and future. These words are not intended to downplay the difficulties you may have encountered. But we must realize there is absolutely nothing we can do to undo the past.

Too often we allow a never-ending replay loop to visit the problems of the past. At the end of the replay loop, there is no delete button. It is sad that so many people allow the past to mar their future.

All of us have choices of which we regret. “I wish I hadn’t done that!” or “I wish I would have made a better choice there!” There is nothing we can do to change the decision or the action of the past. That door is shut and cannot be opened.

Then there are so many who have suffered abuse for no fault of their own. They experience shame and guilt over something totally out of their control. It is like the enemy leaves an open sore that never seems to heal. These people need our compassion and the healing that only comes from Jesus.

May 25, 2026May 25, 2026

Lasting Sacrifice Lingers on this Memorial Day

Memorial Day is distinguished from Veteran’s Day. We honor all veterans, living and dead. Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for the ultimate sacrifice of one’s life. From what I have read, there have been over 1.1 million Americans who have died during wartime. Some from combat and others from disease.

My 4th-great-grandfather, Shadrack Whitt died at Valley Forge from disease (mostly likely smallpox). He was buried in a mass grave in May of 1778. He left behind a widow with two small boys, one was William Whitt, my 3rd-great-grandfather. Who knows the great sacrifice my long-ago grandmother and her sons endured after his death?

There was a great sacrifice of those who died in war. We honor them. There is also a continual sacrifice of the families that remain. The warriors fought and died. Their families weep and continue to grieve.

I married into the Stanley family in 1977. Robert Houston and Annie Sue Stanley blessed me with their daughter Jennie as my forever wife. They warmly embraced me as their son. This family was a Gold Star Family. By marriage covenant and love, I joined their ranks.

May 10, 2026May 9, 2026

Mother, the Heart of the Family

Family of four sitting on couch reading a book and playing with blocks

Someone said that the father is the head of the family and the mother is the heart of the family. In the beginning of Genesis, God made the man first and then made the woman from the man. God took a rib from Adam and made the woman named Eve. The rib is the skeletal protection of the heart and lungs which are some of the most vital organs of the human body.

Genesis 2:22-23 NKJV
(22) Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
(23) And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.”

Children naturally have a different relationship with their mother than their father. It is not supposed to be the same. God made the man and woman (father and mother) different because they needed to be a difference. Each have their own role to play. It doesn’t make one better than the other, it just means that one is better than the other at certain things and vice-versa.

May 1, 2026April 30, 2026

Pattern of Living

Man and child holding hands walking on a dirt path surrounded by autumn foliage

Sometimes, we hear people say, “Do as I say but don’t do as I do.” This quote is morphed from a warning of Jesus to His followers about the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees, “Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do” (Matt. 23:3 NKJV).

We all have patterns of living. The habitual lifestyle of good or bad actions creates a pattern by which we are known. Others observe us subconsciously and purposefully. Those around us know us by our patterns. We are generally known by our lifestyle. It is not that people are judging us; they are only taking note of their observations.

April 17, 2026April 17, 2026

Tension: Strengthening by Two Forces

I have been thinking about the concept of tension for a few weeks. In the physical world, you need two opposing forces to have tension. Think of limp rope that is tied securely on one end to an object. It will remain limp until the other end is attached to another object and the slack pulled from the rope. In society and everyday life, people dislike tension in their lives. We gravitate to one side while despising the other end.

We grow stronger by having some tension in our lives. There is no need to look for trouble/tension because it has a way of finding us. We need to see the opportunity of becoming stronger when trouble comes.

April 2, 2026April 2, 2026

Jesus on the Cross

This week is Holy Week when we remember and declare Jesus Christ’s trial, crucifixion and resurrection. As we approach Good Friday and His crucifixion, I wanted to share the first chapter in my book, Journey of the Messiah — The Awakening. It describes not only the horror of the cross imagined from His perspective but also the ramification of His redemption to a lost world. Note: The book is written in the first person of Jesus, as if He is telling the story. It is from the author’s perspective and imagination.

Chapter 1: To the Cross, from the Cross

For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. (2 Corinthians 5:21 NKJV).

From the beginning, I knew My life as the Son of Man would come to this torturous end. It was the redemptive plan of God for man, before man was to be. This knowledge did not make My pain any less but added grief to My agony. The weight of the sinful guilt for man is a knife to My soul as the nails are to My flesh. I hang between heaven and earth, bridging the gap for all time and for all who come by faith to drink My blood and eat My flesh.

March 24, 2026March 23, 2026

The Tension of Balance

Imagine someone walking on a balance beam with a rope tied to each arm. On either side is someone holding the loose end of the rope. The two rope handlers’ job is not a tug-a-war but one of tension. The tension of the two opposing forces match each other to keep the person on the balance beam.

I have tried to apply balance to my life and encourage it in others. I have found that those who like to view themselves as radicals do not like the concept of balance. Balance sounds like compromise to the radical. I try to be very choosy on which mountains I am willing to die on; molehills are not mountains.

In our current world, everyone seems to be divided into two camps on many issues. Our country is divided into political, cultural, religious, and societal issues with very few clear balanced proposals. It seems that a line has been drawn in the sand and swords are drawn.

March 12, 2026March 11, 2026

Better and Faster Than Fiber Optic

Living out in the country has many benefits. I am a country boy at heart and in the flesh. I love not having my backyard joined to another. A big disadvantage since the dawn of high-speed internet is living out in the sticks. Our internet has been painfully slow. Hope is on the way, in about six weeks or so, gigabytes will arrive. We have fiber optic internet coming soon. WooHoo!

Some of the line workers have been in our area. Salesmen have been knocking on our doors and we have been saying, “Where can we sign!”

One of the line splicers was working in my yard today. Nice guy! Being the old man with a thousand questions, I was hindering his work like ole men tend to do. He showed me the single strain of the fiber optic. It is amazing the information and signals that can travel that little glass-like, hair-thin wire.