A couple years ago I wrote some Thanksgiving thoughts. I’ve reposted them here to help start your Thanksgiving Week.
One thing I have observed in thirty years of ministry to people, some of whom have lived through the Great Depression or forded other deep, fast waters in life is this: Hard times can be good times if we stick together.
Another Thanksgiving is here. It’s a sweet, simple, unadorned holiday. The purpose is to gather with those you love and give thanks to our Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer, and Lover of our …

It’s early and I have a full day starting with an early hospital call, meetings, people who need a visit from their pastor, two messages and a Sunday School lesson to prepare for, counseling and a dinner meeting all ahead of me today. I wanted to get an issue of the Stonebridge Newsletter out to you before my creativity was crushed with business.
Toward Prayer Meeting time last night the wind blew hard. Even the stubborn, now-yellow leaves in the Red Maple in the backyard were yielding their grip and …

Classic re-post from 2009
Heidi wanted the family to sing at her wedding. I modified this song for her and we sang it as she and Austin stood together at the altar just before they exchanged their vows.
Download: Heidi and Austin
In September of 1979 Lois and I drove away to begin our lives together. That was thirty years, eight children and two grandsons ago. Driving this same road earlier this month I was thinking about Austin and Heidi. In a few weeks they would drive away together. I wrote …

Not pictured is Heidi’s husband, Austin Hancock. This was taken before they were married. They are now expecting a daughter in February. More pictures to come.
Lois and I have eight children and a growing number of grandchildren. I used to read books on prayer. Now that we have eight children I don’t need to read books on prayer as much. We have so much to pray about.
Here is a helpful blog post and book recommendation (the Kindle edition is less than a dollar!)

Title: Do You Long to Be Used of God?
Series: Communion Message
Text: 2 Tim. 2:21
Place: Evangel Baptist Church–Taylor, Michigan
Speaker: Pastor Kenneth L. Pierpont

Podcast: Play in new window
| Download

Classic re-post from 2001
My Grandpa Shipley was a man of few words, but they were usually well chosen ones.
When you left the family would form a circle and hold hands and Grandpa would pray– in a few well-chosen words. Then the last thing before you went down the steps and through the breezeway he would often repeat his little life motto; “Remember whose you are.”
His motto had a double meaning. He always wanted you to remember that you belong to the Lord and that you belong to him, too. …

Classic re-post from 2002
“You need to get more exercise,” they said. But when you weigh as much as I did that’s not as easy as it sounds. And on a perfectly innocent-looking day a few years ago it landed me in trouble.
I had talked my then thirteen year old son Kyle into a bike ride with me. We were biking the Kokosing Gap Trail in Mt. Vernon, Ohio. It was a beautiful path along a river built on an old railroad right of way. Most of …

Daniel (third son and sixth child) took off a couple weeks to join us for vacation and travel with me to speak at Camp Barakel. This morning he loaded his car to head back to Grace Bible College in Grand Rapids for his second year in college. He is preparing for the ministry. He will play soccer again this year and he is planning to serve a ministry internship at a church his grandfather founded almost 50 years ago.
It is impossible for me to express the joy he brings …

On June 25th (2011) Lois and Hope and I met Heidi and Austin in New Buffalo, Michgian for the afternoon. It was a beautiful day. We walked the beach and up to a dune. Standing there, overlooking Lake Michigan, Heidi smiled at Austin and then said to us; “Mom and Dad, I think this is a good time to tell you… we are going to have a baby!” We celebrated by having dinner at the Stray Dog.
Last week I got permission to talk about it publicly. I’ve always dreamed about …

Because we are so familiar with the Bible, it is sometimes tempting not to read it again. Never yield to that temptation. The Bible is a living book and it is always fresh. It is new with promises and warnings and instructions every day—custom-made for only-God-knows-what we will face. When you open your Bible with an expectant heart sometimes a phrase will just leap into your life.
That happened to me one morning when I was reading one of the most familiar passages of the New Testament. John 14:3… “…I …