Our old friend John Wesley gives us four tests for truth: Scripture, Tradition, Reason and Experience. These four are helpful tools in making decisions and looking at the big questions in our lives. With this fourth one Mr. Wesley invites us to review our previous opportunities to address the current issue, or something like it,…

The third part of choosing wisely is Reason, according to John Wesley. Following Scripture and Tradition, he advises that we carefully and prayerfully think things through. Reason. Think. Or, as my dad used to say, “Use the good sense God gave you.”  

This week we’re thinking together about serious stuff like making big decisions. The second thing John Wesley would have us consider, after Scripture, is Tradition. (I know; a bunch of you just started singing that song from Fiddler on The Roof….) By using the word Tradition, let me suggest that Mr. Wesley intends for us…

Decisions. Questions. Sorting stuff out. Our old friend John Wesley recommends four ways to make decisions, to address the serious questions we face, and to help us sort stuff out. We’ll be thinking together about those four ways this week.  It takes all four together.  And I’ll add a fifth that I believe Mr. Wesley…

Maybe this Memorial Day is a difficult one for you. It happens.  Death, loss and sorrow are very real.  They can overwhelm us. No stranger to tragedy himself, St. Paul says that because of Christ we can have hope even in the midst of our grief. (1st Thessalonians 4:13ff.) Even when it feels like we’re drowning in death,…

I took Patty on a date this morning. It included the post office, the library, the bank, and then breakfast outside at the grocery store deli. (Why, yes, I really DO know how to show a girl a great time, you’re right!) Almost every friend we talked with along the way had plans that included…

I don’t normally use this space to ask you to pray for someone. Today is an exception. Jeanlyn and Becky are our church’s Nursery Workers, and I’ll thank you in advance for your prayers…here’s why — Jeanlyn Sechrest Stockman writes, I want to thank all the Prayer Warriors out there who have been praying for little…

How far can your car go on an empty tank? I like that my car’s dashboard has a little picture of a gas pump that lights up as a warning. Then there are numbers that tell me how many more miles I can drive before “Empty” goes from a concept to a problem. How far can…

How old were you when you held your breath to prove a point? I remember doing that with my parents.  Once. With a dramatic and huge inhale, I was gonna show them.  They glanced at each other and I saw some look pass between them but I didn’t understand what it was.  All I knew was that holidng my breath wasn’t…

Even when tornadoes bring havoc and death, words still mean something. Yesterday in this space I asked if we should call this after-Easter-time by the name Pentecost Season or Ordinary Time; our United Methodist way of doing things allows for either one. Thank you for contacting me in the variety of ways you did with your answers and commentary.  (And thank…