by Barry Creamer | Mar 15, 2023 | Devotionals
“How long till we’re home?” “About 45 minutes.” A friend had asked the question from the van’s back seat just before what would turn out to be a dirty fuel filter began eroding the vehicle’s performance, most notably reducing its velocity from...
by Barry Creamer | Mar 8, 2023 | Devotionals
In the attached photo from Friday evening, cirrus lightly veils the moon. Skies meteorologists predicted would be clear delivered thin clouds. As James describes it, our life is a mist (ἀτμὶς = atmis) that appears for a little time and then vanishes. In moments of...
by Daisy Reynolds | Mar 8, 2023
Barry finishes this series pointing out what should be the main focus of ministry: people. Not simply the minister, the conflict, the moralism, or the popularity, but the people. That was Christ’s focus and it should be ours. Scriptures: Eph 4:11-12 Micah 6:8...
by Barry Creamer | Mar 1, 2023 | Devotionals
Age 9, I slept bedroom door closed, lights off, and ground-floor window wide open. Then I saw “The Legend of Boggy Creek.” The movie itself—a B-grade documentary of cherry-picked evidence and sensationalized reenactments—was terrifying enough. (If you’ve seen it, or...
by Daisy Reynolds | Mar 1, 2023
Barry continues his trip down memory lane to share some things he has learned the hard way through his many (many!) years in ministry and teaching scripture. Some of the surprising juxtapositions include balance over simplicity, patience over victory, and tension over...
by Daisy Reynolds | Feb 22, 2023
Barry takes a trip down memory lane prompted by his recent 60th birthday to highlight an important issue. In sharing his experience of race relations growing up in Texas he hopes that people younger than him will learn what he did not—until he was much older than he...
by Barry Creamer | Feb 22, 2023 | Devotionals
Peter declares the skeptic’s assumption: “All things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.” We live persistently in the skeptic’s rationale—not the skepticism, mind you; just the rationale. For us, confidence in the present provides comfort: air...
by Barry Creamer | Feb 15, 2023 | Devotionals
From my bedroom, my 13 year old ears heard my 17 year old sister and her friends (I think from church) hooting in the living room to a Sunday night episode of British comedy on public television. Already supposed to be asleep, I crept down the hall unnoticed to watch...
by Daisy Reynolds | Feb 15, 2023
Because every person is made in the image of God, we should admit that others are valuable regardless of what they can offer us. Some of the most significant contributions to society may bring the least economic gain. And sometimes the greatest test of how much we...
by Daisy Reynolds | Feb 8, 2023
We normally think of God as a dwelling place for us, a place of safety and a fortress, and He is. But Barry reminds us, from Psalm 43, that even though God was hesitant to live in a beautiful temple, he is eager to dwell in the somewhat rickety tabernacle of our...
