I’ve been a soccer fan for most of my life. I played AYSO in my youth.  I played in high school anchoring the defense for four years in the sweeper position and then played three years at a small Bible college in South Carolina.  I also coached for a youth city league in Grand Rapids,…

250 years is a long time.  All who were born in that year have been personally forgotten.  Some are remembered via writings or historical accounts.  But nobody from that time is KNOWN by any kind of firsthand or even second-hand knowledge.  It is all history!  On a personal level, 250 years is a long time.…

I have a pulpit.  It is astonishing to me that God has called me and used me as a preacher of His Holy Word.  This has been an incredible privilege and one that I feared for many years.  I had an intense fear of public speaking and I wouldn’t have believed you if you had…

The story goes that a goat herder in Ethiopia found that his goats had more energy when they ate the berries of a certain plant, so then the shepherds steeped the berries and found that they were more alert and energetic, and now we can enjoy our large half-calf, sugar-free, caramel latte, with 2%, topped…

I recently was listening to a question and answer podcast by a pastor that I’ve highly respected over the years.  And the question posed to him was something along the lines of, “How much should a pastor get into correcting the cultural muck of our times, in the pulpit?”  While the pastor answering has a…

God has given some good things to you.  I just know that He has.  He has been so kind and merciful to me.  And I can certainly dive deep into the atonement, His gift of His Son to save me, His adoption of me into His family. The big things deserve big thanks.  But what…

Why does a Luna moth exist?  My daughter saw one sitting outside the drive-thru window at the coffee shop where she works in town.  They are huge and beautiful and very short-lived.  They have no digestive system and eat nothing during their 7-10 days of adult life.  They are large, beautiful, and green mating machines.…

Ben, Don, and Trent.  These are three guys that share the distinct privilege of being full-time vocational pastors at ReCAST Church.  Both Ben and Trent came to ReCAST from working in very different fields.  Ben was a teacher at a local Christian school.  Trent was full-time military. Both began attending ReCAST before they ever considered…

Do you know what will kill you?  Microplastics.  Pipe smoke. PFA’s.  Chem trails.  Terrorists. Pesticides.  A tainted food supply. And . . . (add your favorite fear here) I have said before in sermons that we are all dying, and one day a certificate will state in retrospect what it was that finished the job.…

My middle child, Luke, turns 23 today!  That sentence seems like someone else should be writing it, since it seems like just yesterday MY Luke was 13.  Linda and I have been blessed with three children who are no longer children but adults. While I haven’t been the parent of adult children for super long,…

We can talk about all kinds of issues facing our culture. The news outlets will spew forth a steady stream of political problems, military conflicts, fallen leaders, murderous rampages, weather-related disasters, and dumb things our leadership says! But my heart is heavy this morning with one thing that has been in front of me through…

I wouldn’t wish my experience between the hours of 10 p.m. Saturday evening to 4 a.m. Sunday morning last week on anyone.  But without the events that transpired between 10 p.m. and 4am I wouldn’t have had the privilege of seeing what happened between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. Sunday. I was so incredibly sick.…