Put Some Air In It

My toolbox – In my toolbox I have this nice little tire plugging kit. It is one of the most important tools I have. In the kit is a tool that pulls the nail out of the tire. It has a tool to clean the edges. And it has a tool to insert the new […]

My toolbox – In my toolbox I have this nice little tire plugging kit. It is one of the most important tools I have. In the kit is a tool that pulls the nail out of the tire. It has a tool to clean the edges. And it has a tool to insert the new tire plug. I have had this kit for years and have rarely had opportunity to use it. This past week I had two opportunities to perfect my skills at plugging tires.
Scott’s truck – Sitting under the awning at Church at the most inopportune time possible sits Scott’s truck with a tire as flat as a pancake. He wishes that he would have stopped and put some air in it. But just putting air in it would not have fixed the problem. There was this little piece of metal with a sharp point on the end that we call a nail sticking in the tire. This little inordinate object not more than a half inch long and weighing just a few ounces has brought a four thousand pound vehicle to a halt.
Jana’s van – Sitting in the garage with a leaning corner, I knew something was wrong with the van. I knew that just putting some air in it would not work. I pulled the tire and found this same little pointed culprit delaying our family from a night out to eat.
The nail – Just a few ounces in weight, measuring less than an inch in length, costing less than a penny to make, brought down a vehicle. This little pointed object brought down a vehicle weighing thousands of pounds, measuring sixteen feet in length, and costing thousands of dollars.
The tongue – A little sharp pointed object that can bring down the largest of Church bodies. An object that is almost impossible to tame and control. An object that can bring so much harm in a very little time.

I Peter 3:10

For, “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep their tongue from evil and their lips from deceitful speech.

They must turn from evil and do good; they must seek peace and pursue it.

Community Connections

A couple of weeks ago, I shared two opportunities that we had to connect with people in our surrounding communities. We had booths representing the church at “Hay Hoover” and Pelham’s “Fall Fun Day.” By taking advantage of these opportunities, we were able to connect...

Permission to Wonder

In the 6th grade classroom there is a large metal envelope hanging on a bulletin board, and the students know that during bible class, anytime they have a Bible / religious question pop in their mind (whether related to the topic of class, or not), they can go and...

Kidmin 101

This past Sunday night, I shared five core values that our Children’s Ministry is founded on. These values are what helps keep each event, activity, and class in line with our overall mission. The core values are: 1. Know: Our children will learn to know God and the...

Faith On a Shelf

I have this hat that my dad brought back to me from a business trip to Atlanta when I was 9 or 10 years old. You can see that I’ve worn it a lot. In fact, I wore it to just about everywhere I went during the summer when I was a kid. Church camps, grandparents’ house,...

“Jesus Loves Me”

After being led in this song by two of our young men Sunday night, I was reminded of a quotation from Karl Barth. On April 23, 1962, Karl Barth (the renown 20th Century Swiss-German, neo-orthodox theologian) spoke at Rockefeller Chapel on the campus of the University...

That’s Not a Candle

Several years ago, there was story shared about a woman from Connecticut whose power had gone out during a storm. She left her house to go to a local hardware store to purchase some flashlights, but the store was closed. She returned home and found what she thought...

The Post-Christian Problem

I attended the New Day Conference in Murfreesboro, Tennessee at the end of last week with a small group from Riverchase. It was a good conference and I left encouraged about the opportunities we have to fulfill the call of Christ to make disciples. On Friday evening,...

Josiah’s Reform

In the thirty-one years of his rule, King Josiah proved to be a faithful man of God and a great king of Judah. He served God from the beginning as a young king and grew into a greater understanding of God’s will and a determination to follow that will. He made a...

You Are What You Eat

You Are What You Eat You’ve heard the phrase, “You are what you eat.” Simply defined, it means that you should eat healthy if you want to be healthy. This phrase can trace its roots back to the early 1800’s. It came from the 1826 work The Physiology of Taste, in which...

It Is Well

Above the piano in our house is a large wood sign with the phrase, “it is well with my soul” on it. Kimberly and I purchased it during a season of our life together where we were not completely sure what the future had in store for our little family. Since then, the...