life. faithful.

We're a week into 2026, and I'm glad to see you here :) At the beginning of the week, I received a newsletter from Story Warren that took a different approach to the start of a new year. Instead of focusing on change and resolutions, she gave a reminder of things that are still true heading into 2026. Following her lead, I would like to give you a list of 6 things for 2026. My prayer is that it will bring you some peace, reassurance, and encouragement as we start another year. 1.  God isn't surprised by any of the stuff that catches us off guard. There's nothing that will pop up in your life this year that will make Him say, "Well crud--I didn't expect that. Now what?" Isaiah 46:10 tells us, "I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say, 'My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please.'" So whatever happens, God knows. He's there in the midst of it, even the worst of the worst. 2. ...

 There's a man who claims the role of pastor who has recently announced that polygamy is biblical, and in fact he himself has taken a second wife and is expecting his 8th child with her. His argument isn't one I really want to get into, though there's definitely plenty to say. Instead, I want to look at what I think is the bigger picture here: what does it mean for something to be "biblical"?  It seems like we hear that argument thrown around a lot lately. This most recent example is polygamy, but this isn't a new method for trying to justify things. It goes back centuries...I would argue that as long as the Jewish Law has existed, people have twisted and manipulated it to say what they want. The fact that God placed regulations around slavery was used to justify slavery as "biblical." The fact that men in the Old Testament had multiple wives is being used to say polygamy is "biblical." It's the same story, different tune. But the fact ...

There's a verse in 1 Peter that I hadn't really noticed before. It's funny how that keeps happening to me...books and chapters I've read many times, on pages with underlining or notes, but all of a sudden I read a verse that I've somehow missed. This time it was while we were studying at church Sunday morning: "For the time for judgment has come, and it is beginning with the household of God. If it is starting with us, what will happen to those who have rejected God’s good news?" (1 Peter 4:17) I've been listening to Pastor Allen Jackson a lot lately. I highly recommend that you do the same, but I'll warn you first--he's probably going to step on your toes. One thing he has been pointing out a lot lately? We as professed Christians can't blame the decay in our nation on "them". Our nation is in free-fall because we--those who claim to be followers of Jesus--have failed. We have let a nation founded on biblical truth and biblical...

 For a long time, I was of the persuasion--as were so many others who consider themselves politically conservative--that the differences between the political right and the political left were ultimately minor. After all, we all want what's best for the country and best for each other, right? Sure, there were differences in how we wanted to go about reaching the end goal: those on the left were for higher taxes and welfare programs while those on the right were for lowering taxes and teaching people to support themselves, but the end goal of both was for the individual to become successful. Both sides wanted to see a furtherance of the beliefs of our founding fathers: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. In recent years, though, I've come to realize that the right and the left don't have the same end go...

Lies surround us. That in itself isn't a surprising thing--Satan has used lies since the Garden. Not so long ago, I wrote, " Lies don't have to be silenced. The truth is much stronger than the lies, and even if truth is whispered while lies are shouted from the rooftops the truth will always win out in the end." I'm not surprised by the lies that are being spewed out by so-called journalists who seem to have just become talking heads who read what is handed to them instead of researching and studying and delving into matters deemed newsworthy. I'm not surprised that lies are being fed to our children through the media they consume--movies, books, television shows, and social platforms that feed them a constant diet of "self-affirmation" and "live your truth." What I am surprised by is how many of us are just standing idly by, letting the lies take over. I've been guilty of it myself, way too many times than I want to admit. I've...

For the past few years, our little church has been reading through the Bible in chronological order. We took the outline put together by the Blue Letter Bible that schedules the whole reading for a year. I think it took us almost 3 years to make it through the first time... and this time through is taking even longer! I have to tell you, though--it is a wonderful study, and you're invited to join us. We meet in the tiny white building across from the salebarn in Green Forest. Breakfast and coffee at about 10:15, then the study right after. Come sit around the table with us. Eat, talk, laugh, cry, and truly study God's Word. Right now, we are starting Paul's letter to the Ephesians. I was reading through the first three chapters this morning in preparation for our study this weekend. When Pop introduced the letter Sunday, he asked us to read and take note of how many times Paul wrote about things being "in Christ." Just in the first few verses, you can see why he p...

 If you've been living under a rock lately (or have gotten wise and are avoiding the news), it's possible that you haven't heard the song that's stirring up a lot of people: Oliver Anthony's "Rich Men North of Richmond." *slight language warning for the song It has quickly resonated with people all over the world and across the political spectrum, racking up 17 million view and counting. It has drawn the attention of media outlets, some decrying it as a "QAnon" or "right-wing" anthem that people only like because it " punches down " and others promoting it as " a passionate cry from average people against exploitative elites ." On youtube, the video has comments from the Czech Republic, Germany, Southern Africa, Poland, the UK, Korea... I'm sure there are more, but I just scrolled through the very latest comments. In the US , there are comments that span the nation--north to south, east to west. Our nation (and o...

 "Too many of us in the Church are like Samson, asleep in the lap of Delilah." ~Adrian Rogers I'm sure you've heard about Samson and Delilah, though it may have been a while. It's typically a Bible story we learn as kids, though it's seldom something we hear about as adults. To refresh you memory, Samson was called by God to be a Nazirite. He was to be set apart for God's service, to take a vow that his life would be dedicated to that service, and (among other things) not to cut his hair as a visible sign of the vow he had taken. Then he met a girl... and after a bit of beating around the bush he told her that his hair was the source of his strength, and she shaved it all off. As followers of Christ, we are called to be set apart for God's service. We're not supposed to be like the rest of the world: we should look different, act different, be different . When we gave our lives to Christ, we made a vow to serve Him with our whole life and our whole...

So often, we look around the world and what's happening today and get overwhelmed. It's easy to see the bad things happening and feel powerless. Especially right now, when it seems like anyone speaking the truth is silenced. There's something every day that makes me shake my head and ask, "How can this be happening? How can people be so blind?" We are told that as Christians we shouldn't make waves. As Voddie Baucham has said, we act like the 11th commandment is "Thou Shalt Be Nice" and we focus on it while ignoring the 10. We are encouraged to stay quiet in an effort to keep the peace. According to many, we should just keep quiet when we don't agree. We should make every effort not to rock the boat. I'll admit, that life is much easier. It's a lot easier to decide to sit quietly in the background. It's a lot easier to decide to go with the flow. It's a lot easier to fly under the radar. The thing is, we aren't called to a lif...