The Pastor's Perspective

      There was once a  rich man who had a son who left home to live a life of crime and immorality, bringing disgrace and shame upon his family and father . Despite the pain, the father loved his son deeply and mourned his absence for years . One day, the son received a notice that his father had passed away and his final wish was for the son to attend the reading of his will . The son decided to honor his father's request and went to the lawyer's office .      As the lawyer began to read the will, it started with a list of the son's moral and ethical failures, systematically detailing the actions that had hurt his father deeply in his life . Agitated and unable to sit through the painful litany of his sins being read out, the son stood up and left the room before the lawyer could finish reading the will.      Sadly, he left too soon. The will concluded with the father's expression of love and a declaration that he had forgiven his son ...

            As w e navigate this world it does not take long before you realize that the world is teeming with hurting people . Look around, and you’ll find individuals silently battling unseen struggles.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) highlighted this stark reality in a 2010 report, noting that deaths by suicide surpassed those from car accidents . The numbers have only risen, especially in the wake of global challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic . As sad as these statistics is, I believe it highlights a  sobering truth: many are enduring profound difficulties in their lives .      Sometimes, we fail to recognize the depth of pain hidden behind a smile .  When we face arduous times, it's common to feel utterly alone, as if no one else has ever experienced such a unique struggle . This is due in part to the mask that we all wear. Very few people are willing to open up to express the struggles and the...

      Have you ever had a  moment when something pushes your buttons, and you feel your blood begin to boil . Perhaps you’ve said something in a fit of rage you immediately regretted, or acted in a way you wished you could take back . Personally I think we have all had moments like that to one degree or another. Truth is a nger is a powerful, very real human emotion that we all encounter from time to time.      It might surprise you to learn that anger is an emotion attributed to both God and Jesus throughout scripture.   The Bible speaks of God's wrath and we read of moments where Jesus Himself expressed His anger .       However, there's a crucial distinction between righteous anger and what we  might call "unbridled anger" . As Aristotle wisely put it, "Anyone can become angry. That is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose and in the right way—that is ...

     Idol worship  When you hear the word "idol," what comes to your mind? I think for most people when we hear the word idol we think of ancient statues in faraway lands, or rituals from a bygone era.  Certainly there are places in the world today that have statues that people worship. Even in America there are people who's religion involves offering sacrifices or offerings to some sort of sculpted image.     However for many of us especially in the Western societies when we hear the word Idol we  often think, "That's not me. I don't bow down to carved images."  The average person in the United States does not have shrine where they offers prayers towards a wooden object. So many times when we hear the word Idol we are quickly dismissive and think this has nothing to with me.      But what if I told you that idolatry is far more subtle, and far more pervasive, than we often imagine? What if I told you that some idols are not a...

My Great Grandpa Roy Stonewall Johnson with his perpetual motion machine      My great-grandfather, Roy Stonewall Johnson, a man of many talents— served in both the Army and the Navy, and a serious tinkerer. He had a dream, a wild one at that: to build a perpetual motion machine. You know, the kind that runs forever without needing any extra juice. A machine that could power your car without gas, light your home without bills. Sounds like a sci-fi dream, right?      Humans have been chasing this dream since the Middle Ages. So my great-grandfather was not alone in his desire to make such a machine. Imagine, a device that defies the need for external energy! The possibilities are mind-boggling. But, as my great-grandfather likely discovered, there's a tiny, or rather, a huge problem: the laws of thermodynamics.      Those pesky laws, the first and second, tell us that in a closed system, energy inevitably dissipates. Kinetic energy, the energy...

          Imagine a world turned upside down. A leader, Jesus Christ, revered and followed, is brutally executed in the most brutal of ways. Hope seems extinguished. Fear grips those who were closest, his disciples, their dreams shattered. This isn't a fictional drama; it's a historical moment that forever altered the course of humanity.      Think about it: what if everything you believed, everything you placed your trust in, rested on a single, pivotal event? That's the core of the Christian faith, a belief system that has resonated through centuries. It's the idea that Jesus Christ, declared dead, defied the very laws of nature and returned to life—his resurrection.       Now, picture those closest to him, his disciples. They were terrified. They were convinced their own lives were in danger. They were broken and in great despair. They certainly weren't expecting a resurrection, even though Jesus had told them it would...

          Imagine you're standing in a courtroom. You've been accused of a crime, a serious one. The evidence is stacked against you, and you know you're guilty. The judge is about to pronounce your sentence – a life of imprisonment, a debt you can never repay. Suddenly, the courtroom doors burst open, and someone steps forward. It's not your lawyer; it's someone you've never met. He walks to the judge and says, "I'll take his place. I'll pay the penalty."      That's a glimpse, a shadow if you will, of what God did for you and me. It's at the very heart of John 3:16, a verse so familiar, profound, yet so many people fail to fully understand it.    "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."     In a lot of ways this one verse is like a contract or an official agreement. A contract where we see the Cost, Conditions, and the Claim 1....

       Sometimes, life can feel like a courtroom drama where we are constantly trying to prove our worth and identity.       This reminds me of the story of a man in India who was accused of stealing a lamb. Both the accuser and the accused claimed ownership, and with witnesses on both sides, it seemed impossible to discern the truth. However, the judge knew the nature of shepherds and their sheep. He devised a clever plan: each man would call the lamb to see to whom it would respond. The true owner’s unique call, a simple "cluck," immediately brought the lamb to him, proving his rightful claim. This story parallels the illustration Jesus used in John 10:1-5, where He says: “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his o...