When I was a young child, my blond hair was nearly white. My blue eyes shown bluer when I wore blue shirts. My teeth were a bit crooked. And one ear didn’t have creases like most ears do.

I met a gentleman a week ago who told me that his son is the pastor of a “growing church.” We like to hear churches described that way, but what does it mean? It is typically meant to communicate that the number of people attending that church is growing. No reflection on the aforementioned “growing church,” but increasing attendance is not necessarily the evidence of a growing church.

There is a story of how several years ago a teacher assigned to visit children in a large city hospital received a routine call requesting that she visit a particular child. She took the boy’s name and room number and was told, “We’re studying nouns and adverbs in his class now. I’d be grateful if you could help him with his homework, so he doesn’t fall behind the others.”

A woman walked into the bedroom at home and said to her husband, “Honey, it’s time to get out of bed and get ready for church.”

In 1985, I went on a short-term mission trip to Haiti with a small team from our church. We were going to help Hosean International Ministries (HIM) build an orphanage in the town of Pignon, 40 miles south of Cap Haitien. There was a lot riding on this trip.

One of the hats I wear is that of a chaplain for the local police department. Among other responsibilities, one I have is to accompany officers when there is a need to deliver the bad news of the death of a loved one.

I just completed a summer sermon series in the Psalms, a common practice among churches. I was motivated by the need to preach more from the Old Testament and a desire to keep up my skills with the Hebrew language.

You/Me. Us/Them. We/They. After I finished reading the newspapers this morning, I found myself reflecting that very much in our society seems to be based on a contest.

In 1981 Daniel L. Schutte wrote a hymn that now graces many hymnals and songbooks in churches. It is entitled “I, The Lord of Sea and Sky.”

My wife and I had houseguests not long ago, decades-old friends from southeast Florida that we had not seen in years. Our friends had never been to this part of Florida, so a significant part of our “catching up” conversation was dedicated to describing what life is like here on the Florida panhandle.