Phew!  Friday! Many of us could use a smile at something amusing. If I were trying to be something I’m not, I’d call this A Friday Funny. My dad was from a small town in Central Illinois, and loved to tell about a famous headline from his old neighborhood. I’m sure you know the story: a man…

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.   — Philippians 4:13. President John F. Kennedy met with the Navy football team before an Army-Navy game. He gave a brief speech that ended with this question: Are you ready to be better than you are? Good question for you and me today.  Don’t…

JOE HERE — Tony is married to Lori Payne Falcone who was in my first youth group.  It’s been fun watching them and their careers and their kids.  This is too good not to share.  It’ s part of a series on why art matters.  Okay, I’m outa the way now, and I’ll see you back…

Glen said it’s okay to share this. We were in his hospital room. I was there as one of his pastors. In response to my general question about how things were going, he grinned at me. “Super fine, unless I lie.” We both laughed, and the conversation went deeper quickly. When I grow up, I…

Tony Campolo’s terrific site, Red Letter Christians, posted this a week ago today.  It’s well worth taking the time to read, ponder, and apply as needed—  Stop Celebrating Martin Luther King   Today, America engages in its annual ritual of misremembering Martin Luther King, Jr. Although Rev. Dr. King often indicted what he called the “triple evils…

From Peyton Manning’s 2001 book, cleverly titled Manning (and yup, he could be a United Methodist with titles like that) —   Like my dad, I make it a point when I speak to groups to talk about priorities, and when it’s schoolkids, I rank those priorities as: faith, family, and education, then football. For…

This is from The World of Special Olympics. It’s about the bravery of a courageous Special Olympics athlete, the late Daniel Thompson.   Years ago, Daniel wrote to me about an incident he experienced in West Virginia. He and a friend who was blind went to a small diner to get a hot dog. The manager…

Let MLK, Jr shape our interactions today and see what happens — Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. And in case that wasn’t clear, he next said — Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.  Ready?

Yesterday we looked at these words of The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. — We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. Everyday, in some form or another, life shoots a Pop Quiz our way. Here’s one…

Bingo. Not much else to say except “Amen” and then get busy doing what MLK, Jr. says here — We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.