Pastor Tom's Community

  People say "God is watching" as if it were a reality from which to recoil in utter dread, as if it were a threat. I do not recoil. I take it as a promise. I am ever aware that God is watching my every success, failure, strength, and flaw. It causes pauses of reverential…

unsplash-logoRamdan Authentic   And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost… - Luke 15:6 And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the…

"One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple." – Psalm 27:4 The Greeks had a curious concept of beauty. It had…

unsplash-logoAlex Sorto  No one is going to come along with you until you start moving. No one is going to see it, get it, or understand it until you live it and demonstrate it. Do not wait for a vote of your peers or critics to start living a life of faith, compassion, or obedience…

  If I ever write a book of profound thoughts, it will be a collection of deep thinking collected in unlikely places like the thought that passed through my hollow, shallow brain one day in the locker room at the gym. Mark it down as "words to live by." "If you are wearing high top…

unsplash-logoNina Strehl We cannot love our neighbors as ourselves if we refuse to take the effort to see the world through our neighbors' eyes or try to imagine life in his or her skin. We cannot love our neighbor without learning to sing the songs of lament and the entire book of Lamentations. We cannot…

unsplash-logoCasey Robertson   The world has always been indifferent and often hostile to the values of those who center their core convictions in the prophetic and merciful Word of God. That will continue and so will our mandate to speak truth to power, stand with the oppressed, be misunderstood, be in a minority, and be…

Consider the juxtaposition between "tired old ideas" and "fresh new thinking." It is often true that "tired and old" refers to what was once fresh and new and is rather ancient, rooted, and thus, "radical" from radix, but has became trite and life-less through repetition, loss of "rootedness," institutionalization, and "spirit-leak." It also becomes dulled…

"After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory. And he called out with a mighty voice, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!She has become a dwelling place for demons,a haun't for every unclean spirit,a haunt for every unclean bird,a haunt for…