Eternity – Pathway Journey

August 28, 2026August 27, 2026

Spiritual Change: What does “born again” mean?

Young seedling growing beside a lake at sunset

Nicodemus, a respected leader of the Jewish Sanhedrin came to Jesus under the cover of darkness to get some answers. Jesus quickly directed the conversation to the subject of ‘change.’ He told him, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3 NKJV). The learned, religious scholar’s mind was blown, basically asking, “How can this be?

Many people have a hard time grasping this spiritual transformation. The born-again experience is not a change of mind or a different way of living—it is a spiritual rebirth. The result of this rebirth will change the way we think and the way we live. We must put the horse in front of the cart. Spiritual rebirth must come first.

The foundational truth to this subject begins with the way we were created. God, the triune God (Father, Son, and Spirit) created us in His image. We also have three distinct parts. Our innermost being is our spirit, not to be confused with the Holy Spirit. This human inner spirit is the part that is reborn in a born-again person. It is something only God can do when we first believe and trust Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord.

August 13, 2026August 12, 2026

Walking in Circles

A person hiking along a forked trail in a green forest near a lake

It is true that people lost in the woods or in a desert will walk in a circular pattern, particularly counterclockwise. There have been many research studies that have proved this phenomenon.

To walk in a straight trajectory, land navigators will fix their sight on an unmovable object such as a tree or some other landmark. Even those who use a compass will align their compass reading on a landmark in the distance to set their course of direction. Once they arrive at the first landmark, they will sight another landmark with their compass bearing and continue their journey repeating the process to arrive at their destination.

In life, many people walk in circles. They are aimless in their journey and like a ball in a pinball machine, they just bounce from one point to the next. They have no bearing of direction. They have not chosen a landmark or a standard. Then after many failures of lostness they will proclaim they are just unlucky when they are actually lost.

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.

January 20, 2026January 21, 2026

Lessons from Abraham: SACRIFICE OF THE SON

Remember that God gave Abraham a promised son in his old age. Abraham was one hundred years old when Isaac was born. Abraham’s wife Sarah was ninety years old and passed child-bearing age even by ancient standards.

God had told Abraham that the covenant and promises given to him would flow to future generations through Isaac. All this sounds great until God commands Abraham to offer Issac as a burnt offering.

In our walk with God, at times things will not make any sense. Here is a contradiction, a son of promise is to be offered as a burnt offering. How could Isaac be a link to blessed future generations and a slaughtered son at the same time?

October 28, 2025October 27, 2025

Good Intentions

I remember in the late 1990’s having good intentions about door-to-door visitation. I, along with some fellow ministry workers, knocked on every door of a nearby city’s government housing projects. We had good intentions but nothing tangible resulted from it. Maybe one person visited our church but no new converts. I know we encouraged a few people, but we never saw a harvest of our efforts.

I learned that building relationships is more effective than cold-calling.

Churches and mission organizations are full of good intentions. We have to be honest and ask ourselves the question. Are our good intentions bearing fruit or do they just make us feel better about ourselves? We often learn by trial and error.

September 26, 2025September 26, 2025

Christian Martyrdom

Most of us have read accounts of religious martyrdom in historical books and the Bible. Few of us have witnessed it with our own eyes. Recently, we saw Charlie Kirk killed at one of his events. Some would argue that this was a political hit, not a religious one. Whether you loved or hated him, he was an adamant Christian who never minced his words.

The original Greek New Testament word for martyr is the word ‘martus’ pronounced [mar’-toos]. Its basic meaning is witness. A martyr is a person killed for his witness.

It is estimated that over 70 million Christians have been martyred since Jesus Christ himself was martyred on the cross. Most of those have been in the 1900s under fascist and communist rulers. Depending on the historian, some estimates say that since 2000 there has been an average of 100,000 per year. Martyrdom is not just in biblical times but also in relative modern times.

July 10, 2025July 9, 2025

What Road Are You On??

Are you lost on the wrong road? You are in a dead-spot and the GPS doesn’t work. Are you afraid to stop and ask directions? Maybe you are lost and don’t know it. Please keep reading.

Read, heed, and listen to the words of the Savior of Men. “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. / Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it” (Matthew 7:13-14 NKJV).

Narrow Way
The narrow gate has few who enter. It is not as obvious to men of flesh. One must walk contrary to the natural sway of man to choose this route. It is the difficult way or the way of discipline. It does not appeal to the flesh of man. The lust of the eye has no interest in the road. The lust of the flesh does not either. The pride of life is also uninterested.

June 27, 2025June 26, 2025

Understanding God’s Plan in a Troubling World

The randomness of life keeps many people on edge, indifferent, completely checked out of life, or deeply troubled. Life can be difficult, and those difficulties can send us looking for the answers to why. Problems cause us to deal with immediate needs and then the lasting aftermath of making sense of it all.

Some resign themselves to fatalism. This is a belief that whatever happens is predetermined. They think, so what’s the use to even try? This would be like someone getting a hurricane warning and taking no action either in preparation or evacuation.

Other folks are overcome by fear. This fear is coupled with hopelessness. They fall into the pit of despondency. This spoils any part of their lives that have moments of joy.

May 27, 2025May 26, 2025

How to Live; How to Die

There are thousands of self-help books promising how to be successful or how to be effective. The Bible, by far, is the most powerful book and instructive book ever written. It tells us how to live. It also shows us how to die.

I have made the Word of God a part of my daily life for many decades. It is one of the most important things I have ever done. The Word of God was delivered into our hands by His servants who penned them thousands of years ago. It is an ancient book that speaks strongly to us today. There are none like it nor shall there ever be.

Learn with me from a few verses from the Apostle Paul to his spiritual son Timothy.

April 16, 2025April 16, 2025

The Division of the Resurrection

In my early childhood days, my mother usually bought me an Easter outfit. It wasn’t a suit. It was a pair of pants and usually a matching pastel colored shirt. She warned me to keep it nice because I would be wearing the same outfit on Decoration Day at our community cemetery. To those of you not from the Deep South, decoration day is a certain Sunday designated by the community to decorate the graves of departed family members. It often included a dinner on the ground, an all-day singing, and a community reunion rolled into one event.