Identity – Pathway Journey

August 7, 2025September 1, 2025

Finding Hope in Darkness: Embracing the Light

A small speck of light in the midst of darkness brings hope. Those lost and smothered in absolute darkness with no source of light, hope for a flicker of light. They stumble around a boulder and then a streak of light winks at them through a crack. Hope soars in their hearts and dismay flees.

The world is a dark place with a lot of noise. People stumble along as if darkness is the norm. They walk in cadence to the racket which has no tune. Today, it is this. Tomorrow, it is that. Confusion reigns and everyone acts if it all makes sense while they laugh with the crowd.

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.

May 9, 2025May 8, 2025

Understanding God: Insights from a Lifelong Journey

I will soon cross over into my seventh decade of life. There are a few things I know now. I did not know them when my hair was brown and my energy was like the battery bunny. The main morsel of knowledge I now realize is how much I do not know. The body of knowledge seems to be as vast as the ocean and I am in a row boat.

I have read the entire Bible each year for close to thirty years. I understand many truths of the Bible but I still scratch my head about some things. It is the Word of God. How can a mere mortal like me understand the vastness and the depth of it? The short answer, I cannot. Yet, I keep studying and praying for more understanding of the Word of Life.

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.

February 6, 2025February 6, 2025

Obscurity of Earth and the Known of Heaven

In the world of social media and in the nature of man, there is a desire by many to be recognized and perhaps even be famous. Many want to become the next TikTok or YouTube sensation. Perhaps we should be more concerned about being known in Heaven.

We should not seek fame but seek to be more like Jesus. It is more important to be obedient to His purpose than to desire His help with our plans. If we are faithful to His purpose then we will be among those known in Heaven.

Most of us will live in obscurity on earth. The vast majority of us will be completely forgotten two generations after our death. Most graves are eventually unvisited. Remember, those old forgotten family photos that hang on Cracker Barrel Restaurant walls next to an old rusty relic were once real families.

November 14, 2024November 13, 2024

Fake Fruit on Dead Trees

“Fake fruit on a dead tree”, is a phrase my pastor, Bro. Bradley Petrey, recently used in a sermon. It describes the look some folks try to portray in Christian circles. I told him, “I do not like the condition it describes but I loved the phraseology.”

Jesus used something similar when He said, “Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. / A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit” (Matt. 7:17-18 NKJV).

The fruit depends on the tree. Said another way, the tree determines the fruit.

July 31, 2024July 31, 2024

Surprised by the Hatred Against Christ?

The controversial 2024 Olympic opening ceremony has created quite a stir. It seemed quite obvious to me that it was a shameful parody of the Last Supper. Some say not. Sorry, but we have become accustomed to people telling us that we did not see what we saw. And that we did not hear what we heard.

I was not shocked. Nor did I expect some well-crafted apology. By the way, real apologies do not start with “IF.” One thing I do know for sure! There is a demonic current in our world that hates Christ and His followers. Why would we be surprised? Jesus said, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. / If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you” (John 15:18-19 NKJV). I find myself in good company.

April 4, 2024April 3, 2024

Our Purpose in the Vastness of God

Consciously or unconsciously people struggle with their purpose in life. Though few may admit it, all people, unless they are consumed in narcissism, know deep down that they are less than they could be. As the scripture states, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23 NKJV).

God in the beginning made man in His image. We have the stamp of God on our lives. We have a purpose from God that originated before time began. That may be a far reach for some, but the scripture bears it out.

March 7, 2024March 6, 2024

What Has Changed? Times or People

Recently when I was preaching, I said something that really resonated with my audience. The statement I made was this: “Often people will say that times have changed. But that is not true. Times have not changed; it is people that have changed.”

The rural community I lived in as a boy was not perfect. We had a few rough folks living among us. The little farmhouse we lived in had a screen door and wood door with the top third being three panes of glass. It had a lock, but I never saw the key to it. We never locked the front door. We would sleep inside with an unlocked door. In the summertime every window would be raised and only a flimsy screen separated us from the boogey man outside.