Pastor Tom's Community

Reflections

  • These Are the Days

      Paul Simon knows how to weave lyrics into paradoxical complexity with flair and calculated affect. "These are the days of miracle and wonderThis is the long distance callThe way the camera follows us in slo-moThe way we look to… Continue reading

  • Heading for the Hills

    Thanks to my friends Shelda and Hal Green and a very supportive church and wife, I am leaving today for a week-long personal retreat in the High Sierra where I will read, write, study, pray, and reflect. I have some… Continue reading

  • Solutions

    Some of you read the sermon I posted last week on Romans 8 as it related to a financial crisis and mission recommitment in our church. Today, I am updating that theme in hopes that what we are working through… Continue reading

  • Life in the Spirit = Adventure

    I have been preaching on the book of Romans for a while now. The first 7 chapters are filled with indictment. redemption, and ongoing struggle of people in the God movement with sin in their own live. I relate on… Continue reading

  • Now, On With It

    Having resolved to finish my books, I have come to the time blocked out for that activity. Now I have choices. These are similar to some that you will be making with regard to your projects and goals today, so… Continue reading

  • Decisions

    I have made a decision. It is actually the culmination of a constellation of decisions, but I have made it nevertheless. After a week and a half of writing nothing but sermons and short notes, I have come to the… Continue reading

  • Humility and Confidence

    A man's steps are directed by the LORD.        How then can anyone understand his own way? – Proverbs 20:24 (New International Version) The very steps we take come from God;    otherwise how would we know where… Continue reading

  • Long Dash

    I often talk about the dash between the date of birth and the date of a person’s death on gravestones when I do committal services. We have little of no choice over the dates, but we have multiple choices within… Continue reading

  • What About Now?

    For instance, there is an emerging sense of the power of a moment to whittle away at a long term task, the energy of a few minutes focused on a job that may even facilitate completion. I can do something… Continue reading

  • The Hands of Time

    William F. Lloyd was born in 1835 and most we would agree that his times have passed. Yet, he understood the ultimate secret of time management when he penned the words below that would be set to music by George… Continue reading