Scripture Reading: 1 John 5:13-21

I remember high school, and in high school there was, and still is, somewhat of a dress code. Now I don’t mean there are uniforms and people checking to make sure uniforms are compliant with the rules. What I mean is there is an unspoken standard students are supposed to maintain if they want to look “cool.”

This usually means whatever brand names are popular, they should be on display whenever possible. It also means you need to maintain a certain level of dress in order to remain “cool.” So whatever the style is for the day, it also should also be on display.

When I was in school, it was acid wash jeans. Today it’s leggings or torn jeans. This could also include the hats you wear, your footwear, your jackets… who am I kidding, you don’t wear jackets in high school? That’s not cool!

There’s a lot of pressure to be part of the “in crowd” in high school. And so much of it is based on how you dress. read more…

Scripture Reading: 1 John 5:6-12

It wasn’t part of the plan… not at all… but I’m coaching basketball again this year. It happened so subtly too. I went to help with the tryouts, no problem. I told the head coach I’d be able to help out once in a while. That was the plan initially. Whatever team Anthony made, I would help out once in a while.

Well, Anthony made the AAA team for Dr. T.L. Sullivan, and the coach tells me she doesn’t like running practices, she isn’t able to put together drills and stuff. No problem, I can do practices.

Last week she says, “If you’re able to make games, I can put you down as head coach so you’ll be able to talk to the refs.”

Well… she’s a clever woman, I’m now the head coach. Thankfully she’s really good at running things behind the scenes. She talks to the principal, she talks to other coaches and the league coordinator, all I have to do is worry about the players and show up and coach, so that takes away a lot of the headaches right there.

She also knows, coaching comes after anything I need to do here, and she is happy with this arrangement. read more…

Scripture Reading: 1 John 5:1-5

Remember when you had kids in the home? Or maybe you remember growing up yourself and your parents would always nag you about things.

“Go wash your hands.”
“Come in for dinner.”
“Clean your room.”
“Go have a bath.” (“But I just had one last week!”)

Generally, for most of us I would imagine, our parents expected simple obedience. Be polite. Be clean and tidy. Don’t get in any trouble. Do a few simple chores around the house. None of that tends to be a whole lot of work to accomplish.

But, when you are a kid, boy do you think sometimes these are the biggest demands in the world. Kids just want to go out and have some fun, get dirty, and not have to think about it too hard.

Isn’t the innocence of youth a beautiful thing? Kids just want to move on from one fun thing to the next, and stopping for chores or even cleaning themselves just gets in the way of moving onto the next fun thing.

But as parents, we just want our kids to grow up well. We want them to know how to share, how to be polite, how to be good citizens, and to not stink up the house after playing outdoors all day. Is that too much to ask? I suppose parents have one answer, and 10 year olds may have another. read more…

Scripture: 1 John 4:7-21

Love, exciting and new
Come Aboard. We’re expecting you.
And Love, life’s sweetest reward.
Let it flow, it floats back to you.
Love Boat soon will be making another run (https://www.lyricsondemand.com/tvthemes/theloveboatlyrics.html)

Remember some of these old shows? Shows like The Love Boat and Fantasy Island where people would come to explore new relationships or to fall in love all over again?

The concept has not gone away. People still look for love in all sorts of places. Couples like to get away together, without the kids, to remember their love for each other. And there is nothing wrong with that at all. Bev and I try to take advantage of such opportunities whenever we can.

Love is a very powerful emotion. Just think of all the things it makes us do. It makes us commit ourselves to one other person for our entire lives in this thing we call marriage! It makes us feel other emotions like jealousy. It makes us do crazy things like move to another country. It can also make us feel like our world is shattered if the relationship breaks down. Love is incredibly powerful. And it can also make us change in ways we would have never expected. read more…