Eight Days of Rain

Well, not quite.
It did rain a lot last night and this morning. Some of the outside projects had to be postponed until tomorrow.
Thanks for praying for sunny weather.
Cold weather is fine. Warm weather is fine. Rain is fine, if that is what the Lord deems best – but we’d love to be [...]

Adventures of a Demolition Team

Wow.
Almost 1100 volunteers will be on the Gulf Coast as a part of Eight Days of Hope this week. We come from 42 states – today, I met folks from New Hampshire, Virginia, Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New York, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Indiana.  
After breakfast at 6:00 [...]

Traveling Mercies and Adventures

About 50 of us left the parking lot of Hope Church in Tupelo, MS, this morning, headed by bus to Bay St Louis, Waveland and other small towns on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Our objective – rebuild homes, in the name of Jesus and for his glory. 
Two hours from the Coast, our charter bus breaks [...]

The Story of a Father and a Son

Once, there was a father who had a son. The son was the delight of his life. They were as close as a father and son could be. They did everything together. They shared everything. They talked about everything. You could say, they were inseparable.
One day father and son faced a decision: sacrifice the [...]

Christianized but not transformed

I received this today…

“This morning en route to buy sweet potatoes I’d just turned right when an SUV going about 50 in a 30 shows up on my tail. So I slow down. He speeds up and pauses next to me to flip me off. As he passes going 50, the Cross dangles from his [...]

Merry Christmas

 
“Infinite and yet an infant.
Eternal and yet born of a woman.
Almighty, and yet nursing at a woman’s breast.
Supporting a universe, and yet needing to be carried
in a mother’s arms.
Heir of all things, and yet the carpenter’s despised son.”
–Charles Haddon Spurgeon
 
 
“That man should be made in God’s image is a wonder,
but that God should be [...]

High Places

The following was written by Os Hillman, a Christian businessman who also manages an online daily devotional. It writes with insight about what it means to be a Christian in the workplace. Today’s column gives insight into a common, and misunderstood, Old Testament image.  

One of the most successful movies of our time [...]

Prayer, courage, healing and a blog

Dear Pastor Sam,  Today I checked out your website for the first time in a month or more.  It was such a tremendous blessing, that I know without doubt that it was  God’s direction that led me there. 
A quick review of what’s been going on with the Bartons:  In July I  noticed an ulcer [...]

An Old-New Favorite

Merry Christmas – T minus two days and counting

This is our year to have our children and their spouses and our grandchildren for Christmas. We can’t wait for…
an overflowing house,
Christmas eve services,
early-Christmas-morning rising by the little ones,
tamales, rice and beans (a Shaw family tradition),
afternoon football,  
a family-friendly movie,
games,
family talent show,
arguments over politics (among other things – [...]

“I know where I’m going”

The aging Billy Graham was honored at a January 2000 luncheon in Charlotte. In response to the extended praise spoken about him, Graham told a story:
“I’m reminded today of Albert Einstein, the great physicist who this month has been honored by Time magazine as the Man of the Century. Einstein was once traveling from Princeton [...]

Just for fun

Geneology of Matthew

No spiritual gains without pains

I shall never shrink from declaring my belief that there are no “spiritual gains without pains.” I should as soon expect a farmer to prosper in business who contented himself with sowing his field and forgetting about them until harvest time, as expect a believer to attain much… who was not diligent about his Bible [...]

The Choice