In response to our request for love stories, Gayle Willson sent the following account of how God has taught her how much He loves her, and how she can be an expression of His love to others. Enjoy!... I am surrounded by love---I am helping to plan two weddings that will take place within 2 months of each other! In our house LOVE is spelled, budget, and plans, and H-o-b-b-y L-o-b-b-y! I watch as our children love on each other by showing affection, call each other numerous times a day, and giving each other little surprises. WE have watched romance bloom over the past 2 years, as friendships sprang up, and then became dating relationships and then—not to our surprise—but a young man is nervously sitting on our couch anticipating what Blair will say when he announces his intentions, and then asks, “May I have Lisa’s hand in marriage?†and several months later—“May I have Lauren’s hand in marriage?â€... (read more)

This past week, I had a thought roll through my head that hasn't been there in at least a year: "Today would be the perfect day to go to the park and fly a kite! I wonder where I could get one?" Lubbock's weather, Thursday through Saturday of last week, was absolutely beautiful. The tinge of spring was most definitely in the air, there was certainly no blowing dust (quite an anomaly this time of the year), and the sun was making everything a gilded tint of utopian beauty. 70's and on into the near 80's yesterday afternoon. And then? This morning, we wake up to near-blizzard conditions! So it is on the South Plains, the place where God patted Earth with His mighty hand and completely flattened it for some 250 miles! At least, that's what I like to tell people... But seriously, a snowstorm following some of the most beautiful days we've seen in quite some time?... (read more)

A lot of us tend to live in this lingering cloud of presumption. We have been taught from very early ages that Jesus loves us "just the way we are." But, isn't there a problem with this, whenever we're constantly bowing to the World and worshiping other gods? Does God love it whenever we put our jobs, money, sports, material possessions or (gasp) even kids and family in front of Him? I beg to say that, although these are all great blessings and show God as being our ultimate Provider, He does not like the fact that the majority of us tend to put these things in front of our worship of and walk with Him. Jesus doesn't love us just the way we are when we're committing idolatry. In fact, He's beating down the walls of the World that we are content to be penned in by. Like a bunch of cattle penned in a trodden, dry, corral... (read more)

In Deuteronomy 6v.5, there is such great richness when it comes to the idea of love. In Hebrew, Deuteronomy 6v.4-6 is known as "The Shema" and is one of the most oft-recited prayers in the Jewish religion. We are told to love the Lord our God with all of our hearts, all of our souls and all of our might. These three different aspects of human life show the three different ways in which we are to love God, and that our love to God is an all-enveloping one. Far too many of us who proclaim we're Believers attempt to love God in a certain compartment, then do our own thing in others. I remember having this realization when I learned about old "Daddy Rockefeller," an oil magnate who also taught Sunday school classes. This was a little strange to me, to hear about his cut-throat business tactics as he built up a huge petroleum empire, while separating it... (read more)

He was one of the most powerful men in the world. But he lived in total fear. He stayed deep in the inner recesses of a huge castle. He barricaded himself in a small, bombproof room, with walls made of concrete three feet thick. He allowed himself only one tiny window protected by thick, yellow glass. With only a few amenities each night, and a military cot for his bed, his self-imposed prison was his fortress within a fortress. He would sleep fitfully, then leap to his feet to check at the yellow glass, to make certain that the dark moving objects on the other side of the glass, his personal guards, were on duty protecting him. His name? Josef Stalin. Needless to say, Uncle Joe, whose adopted name (Stalin) means – get this – “man of steel,†developed a spirit of fear. Needless also to say, he didn’t get it from God. Though he once was a seminary... (read more)

It's a story I heard a long time ago, but I can't verify that it actually happened. But a preacher told it, so it MUST be true. The Smithsonian Institute conducted an experiment to see if a cork, suspended by fishing wire, could move a steel beam, suspended by a giant cable. The small cork was rigged to something that made it hit the steel beam over and over again. Time after time the cork hit the beam, and nothing happened. After many hours, however, the beam began to move. First, ever-so-slightly. Then more and more, until the beam was swinging wildly. The lesson? The persistence – the consistency – of the cork moved a seemingly immovable object. This is about my New Year's resolution. Singular. More on that in a minute. But first, a few other things to weave together. I just read about Suzan-Lori Parks, the Pulitzer-winning playwright who set the audacious goal of writing 365 plays... (read more)

Christmas has come and gone, but the message of reconciliation and forgiveness that began on that first Christmas lives on. I received the following testimony right before Christmas, and I thought I’d share it with you. It’s powerful… For the past few months I have been involved with Teen Parents of Lubbock. Actually I have become part of the Steering Committee which will eventually turn into full time staff. I'd like to share one story that just recently happened even though the story has been playing out for years. Two Saturdays ago all the teen parents who could, and about five volunteers got together at our church to make cookies and brownies for four different firehouses in our community. We spent a long time baking... and more baking. It was so much fun. Now, to make a long story short, I have been working with this one family, I know God put me in their lives. Their names are as... (read more)

I’ve done reunions badly, if at all. Never went to a high school reunion. And while I do have my share of sentimentality, somewhere in my brain is a switch that flips with life changes. “Move on,” it says, and typically I do. This year was different. Somehow in one of those once-in-a-lifetime periods of alignment, I had two reunions in exactly the same location within a week of each other. Thanksgiving weekend. My first extended family connection, I’m embarrassed to say, since the death of my aunt more than 10 years ago. I’m even more embarrassed to say, it was Joel’s first (he wrote beautifully about it just before going). This is my dad’s family, built around the heritage of my grandparents and their 300-acre-at-the-time farm. My dad lives there now; a place he calls Lonesome Pine Farm. I’ve nicknamed it Bamalot. Nearly everyone came to Gulf Shores - seventy people in all. We told the stories. We sang... (read more)

Last month in KidsPoint we had a really important lesson. While we try to address salvation in some way every week, this week it was our primary focus. The lesson was entitled, “Journey to Salvation”. In both services, it was our main focus. In second hour, we watched our Saddleback video lesson first and then I came up on stage to talk about it further. I really felt as if the Lord spoke through me. Everyone was completely silent as they listened to what I was saying, which is basically unheard of in KidsPoint. I had asked several people before church to be praying because I felt as if it was going to be a really important morning, that something really big was going to happen. At the end, I told the kids that I was going to play a song and I wanted them to use this as a prayer time to ask God how He wanted them to... (read more)

Covenant Lakeside Hospital is under construction. Hey, it’s a hospital - nothing unusual about that. But down the hall and around the corner from what is normally the main entrance, there is an interesting sign. In big, bold, red letters on a yellow background, the Pastoral Care office trumpets, "TEMPORARY PRAYER ROOM." People pass this on stripped-down concrete floors, and the word "temporary" is routinely used with "under construction." So nobody questions what the sign means. This is the place to go until the normal prayer room is available again. But my twisted brain being what it is, when I saw it last week, it stuck me as kind of funny. Instead of reading it "Temporary prayer-room," I read "Temporary-prayer room." As in the place to go to offer up temporary prayer. Of course, as is often the case, what's funny today becomes convicting tomorrow. Temporary prayer? What a crazy idea. Yet we do it all the time. Temporary prayer... (read more)

Have you ever been in a place in your life where you felt like you would never again find time to sit for even ten minutes of down time? That’s where I’ve been at the last two months. Life has been more than hectic at our house…or should I say “new” house. The first month was spent packing and the next month was spent unpacking. And this time there were only two of us. There aren’t any more children in the nest to order around (sigh). “Here…take this box to your room and unpack it.” Yep, it’s been a long row to hoe and not one that I ever want to repeat. I’m done. No more moving for me. I’m settled in for the rest of the journey at this location and don’t want to ever “see this movie again,” as my husband would say. Ya know, it might be easier if we could get rest at night, but we... (read more)

“I was saved at age 6, and Spirit-filled at age 9,” she said plaintively. “Now I don’t even know there is a God. How do I get my faith back?” I blurted out an answer that distressed more than blessed. But I still think it’s true. “You start by showing up.” Human nature – at least my human nature – has a tendency to self-destruct in the areas where peace or healing or restoration or growth is concerned. How? By isolating. Withdrawing. Withholding or running away from the situation. The myth is that: • Church is for people who have God all figured out. • Marriage is for people who remain magically in love and intimate. • Financial planning is for people who have all the money they need to do what they want. • Friendships are for people who never get disappointed by other people. Here’s how it plays out: Life hands you difficulties or trials, and you... (read more)

I need to get my head examined. (All right… Who said “amen!”?) More on that in a minute. First, a few random stories, all converging at the same point. Last week I was in Dallas and had a strange and expensive experience. My ear stopped up, and I didn’t know why. I did everything I knew to do, with no clue what was happening in there. But I felt the pressure, couldn’t hear, except in muffled sounds, the whole bit. I had visions of tumors and all kinds of things, so I paid a visit to a local doc-in-a-box to have my head – uh, ear – examined. My head might have been a better investment. Turns out this potentially life-threatening ailment was, you guessed it, ear wax. The solution was for a nurse to squirt high-pressured warm water into it. Now that’s an experience. It took about 5 minutes for her to do that, and two minutes for the... (read more)

Think fast. What comes to mind when you hear the word, “benefits?” Are you having images of a cross? A blue one, that is? “Benefits” is a word that swirls around employment. It conjures up images of negotiation, entitlement, or need. Look in a different direction. “Bless the Lord, O my soul,” the psalmist says, “and forget none of his benefits”(Psalm 103:2). “His benefits.” The temptation here is to rush past this verse as something of a low-calorie appetizer, where the main course is that awesome list of benefits that follows. But the emphasis there, and here, is on whose benefits they are. They are the Lord's. The psalmist is showing that remarkable quality of seeing the blessing and “blessing” the source. He's saying “Thank you.” Bible statistics - read the 10 lepers here - suggest that's about a one-in-ten possibility (Luke 17:17). I want to be one in the 10. Again, he's calling out his soul here. Why? Because... (read more)

Ray Stevens, of “Ahab the Arab” fame, once wrote a gospel song called “Have a Little Talk With Myself.” A little private conversation A little self examination A little attitude correction A little soul-searching inspection Start heading in the right direction Take a little walk – have a little talk with myself. Can you relate? It’s biblical. Check out the times the Bible uses the phrase “O my soul.” That a case of somebody having a little talk with themselves, and for good reason. Three times in Psalm 103, and twice in the next one, the psalmist encourages his soul to bless the Lord. In other places, there’s a chat with the soul over periods of unrest or depression. Judges 5:21 has the poetic rally, "O my soul, march on with strength!" I want to put that on a mirror or a monitor or a dashboard somewhere. Why the dialogue? First, because so much of our power - for good... (read more)