Pastor Tom's Community

  "God grabbed me. God’s Spirit took me up and set me down in the middle of an open plain strewn with bones. He led me around and among them—a lot of bones! There were bones all over the plain—dry bones, bleached by the sun." "He said to me, 'Son of man, can these bones…

I often think in themes for a morning or a day or for even a week. Themes develop and fade as quickly as they emerged … fade into those mind files where they may or may not be efficiently labeled for retrieval, but are always present and sure to emerge again when needed. I don't…

Ten Strategies for Making the Most of Every Day We start each day with hope. At least I do and most positive people I know do the same. There is an occasional "dreaded" day, but it is the exception and is usually combated by positive self-talk and prayer. The rule is that we begin our…

There is more to do than can be done. There is a smorgasbord of fun. The race is longer than can be run. Face it; we are under the gun. So … do what you can while you can. "As long as it is day, I must do the work of Him Who sent Me.…

Maybe you have felt this way before. When the city erupts in violence, when the culture cries out for vengeance, when nations are quick to take up arms, when men love war more than peace, and when those who speak for peace are marginalized as soft, impractical, or disloyal, we cry out to God: "Too…

"But as for me …" It is my response to truth for which I am either culpable or commendable. I am not in charge of anyone else's opinions or choices. I can care, but I cannot control. I can converse, but I cannot coerce. I can seek to convince the mind, but I cannot convict…

We fall; we rise. We are adjudicated and found guilty and then … The Judge steps down from the bench to plead our case. It is as if we cannot lose; every loss becomes a win. "Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the…

We cannot do everything, fix every problem, solve every issue, or finance every great cause. We do what we can with what we have … … and we have something very powerful, a word of healing and encouragement that can be applied to every crippling malady of the human condition. Let us not become discouraged…

There is no political ideology or argument that can justify compassion. There is no dialectical point and counterpoint that will result in a prevailing decision to act with love, compassion, and good-news justice in the world. It is an ethical component of faith systems which I am not competent to represent. It is essential to…

The psalms teach us to pray deeply and honestly without pretense or presumption. They just let it out and then let God sort it all out. What if we did not judge or measure our prayers before we prayed them? What if we just let all of our negative junk out and laid it on…