Tuesday I had two choices. I had been invited to a pastor’s meeting where a number of my friends would be in attendance. Most of them would be younger pastors. There is a hopeful movement among young pastors toward a more robust theology. It’s great fun to be around these guys. The preaching and the fellowship and the singing can make your soul soar up to God. I put it on my calendar.
Later I heard that there would be another pastor’s meeting on the same day in early May. …

The Lord allowed me a couple quiet days away and alone with Him. They are coming to an end. Tomorrow I drive out and back downstate and Downriver back to family and church with a renewed love and devotion to the Lord and with a renewed conviction my deep need for Christ.
As I pillow my head tonight the great hymn And Can it Be rings in my heart…
My chains fell off!
My heart was free!
I rose went forth and followed Thee!

If you spend a weekend at Camp Barakel in the winter there are a few things you can count on. You will leave with a sweet taste in your mouth. Sticky buns are a tradition on Sunday morning. You will feed on the Word of God. You will sing Christ-honoring music. You will smell the tang of a wood fire, and you will meet people who sincerely love Our Savior, the Lord Jesus.
I think Jeremy Linsley is the man behind the Camp Barakel Twitter account. It’s worth following. A …

A Classic Re-post from 2005
I slept outside in a tent with the boys this weekend. The weather was ideal to sleep outdoors. The air was cool but not at all cold. The sky was clear. We enjoyed a fire each night including s’mores and a good-natured jumbo marshmallow war. We slept as well as you can on the hard ground, but well enough to sleep in until awakened as I suppose our Creator intended, by the first light of morning through branches of oak and …

Classic re-posted from 2009
Matt Steinbeck is a great Christian guy. He is an experienced outdoorsman with a big, red, Dodge truck. Last summer he planned a trip to Isle Royal on the north edge Lake Superior. Kyle, our oldest son was invited to tag along. There were only five men in the party. They lashed a couple canoes to the Dodge and drove to Copper Harbor on the very tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula. From there they took a four-and-a-half-hour, fifty-four-mile ferry ride northwest to the Island. They paddled into …

A Classic Re-posted from 2003
Homemade whole wheat bread is real bread, store bought white bread is not. Real bread is my preference but it was not my experience growing up. I was raised on white bread that we bought five loaves for a dollar at the day-old bread store. We always had plenty of it because we kept dozens of loaves in the freezer. I’m sure I have eaten thousands of Velveeta cheese and Miricle-Whip sandwiches on white bread in my life-time.
Store-bought white bread made great dough-balls for food fights …

David Kline is an Amish Farmer. He is from Fredricksburg, Ohio. It seems to me that he writes a book about every ten years. I went to sleep last night reading his latest book, Letters from Larksong.
About twenty years ago I found Great Possessions. It was one of my favorite books ever. Ten years ago it was Scratching the Woodchuck. If you want to read David Kline, I would suggest you start with Great Possessions. You will thank me for this recommendation. Great Possessions is a collection of essays …

About to go to bed at the end of a difficult day I did not want my spirit clouded by darkeness so I wrote out this prayer:
“God of Heaven; Make me mighty in spirit so I can inspire others to be mighty in spirit. I would like the gift of a robust spiritual appetite so I will grow into a man with a big, healthy soul. Never allow me to descend to flounder in the foul swamp of pettiness. Help me see beyond the sinfulness of …

Ten inches of snow fell last night from about 3 o’clock Sunday afternoon to about midnight. I had some shoveling to do. There were ten inches in the Granville Cottage driveway.
I dragged my heals getting going reading news on my iPad and then warmed-up the car and went to the gym like a sleigh-ride. When I got home I started clearing the snow. Something about lawn-mowing and snow shoveling clear my mind and stimulate creative thinking like a Venti black brewed Sarbucks coffee with four shots of espresso.
While I was …

Re-post from last Thanksgiving…

Our first-born was here for Thanksgiving Eve. I gave him the pulpit. He brought a brief Thanksgiving message. It was a meaningful message–worth a listen. You can hear it right here:

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