We spend our whole lives as time travelers. Today’s physicists are rethinking the importance of time as a more fundamental element of the universe. Time has traditionally been viewed as a human reference point to help us anticipate the seasons, number our days, and socially know when to be where. Also, it was thought that time throughout the universe was relative to earth. Now the discussion is considering time on equal standing with gravity and light. We, the people of earth, travel at a speed of approximately 66,627 mph around the sun. It takes one year to complete the circuit. The earth and the Sun travel around the center of the Milky Way at a speed of 448,000 mph, which in turn is travelling through the universe at 1.3 million miles per hour, give or take. All the while everything is perfectly balanced by gravitational forces, like the moon perfectly balanced, rotating around the earth with such precision that the tides of every ocean can be predicted for any date. We have been travelling into the future; it is here today.

Stories and movies are filled with the what if’s of people going back in time to fix the future or royally mess it up. When we read a book or watch a program, we go mentally and emotionally to the time of its setting. I enjoy riding along in the future with Star Trek stories. All of us time travel in our memories past and dreams of possible futures. We long to know the future with certainty. Jesus challenges us to discern today, Luke 12:54-56. We do this by seeking to understand how God is leading us to live, love, witness, and serve, pointing others to the cross and empty tomb, and onward toward salvation today, and the hope of His glory to come.

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Travel well. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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Jeremiah 1:11-19

“These are rough times in this country to express an opinion.” Humorist Will Rogers, Dec. 16, 1929

As a long-serving local church pastor, I face a tension keeping unity in the fellowship and speaking forth prophetic insights on Sunday. These are rough times. Religious people have been known to stone their prophets.  True prophets rarely pastor a church for long. It is much easier to be a prophet when your family’s livelihood is not involved.

Jeremiah’s call as a young man included a vision test: What do you see, Jeremiah? Before the office was elevated in 1 Samuel, prophets were called seers, somewhat like a fortune teller. True prophets tell forth the future consequences of sinful actions and ethical irresponsibility. Their insights are directed toward God’s own people (believers and hypocrites alike) and to those who are in positions of power and authority. It includes a call to both personal and societal repentance of sin, and a change of ways to match God’s will. With a possible play on words, God’s response was, I’m watching what you see, Jeremiah.

Jeremiah’s call also includes a call to personal action: Get yourself ready…Do not be terrified, or I will terrify you…I am with you and will rescue you. Jeremiah felt the tension. How does this word about prophetic insight apply to us today? How do we manage the emotional need to please everyone and not cause more rough times? How far are we willing to go in trusting God?  What do you see?

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Stand firm with God. And let’s experience the love and power of God together,

(Adapted from Bro. Darryl’s devotional based on Jeremiah 1:11-19 for the Center for Congregational Ethics, for August 23, 2025)

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I am sharing this story from 2012 with Deacon’s permission.

Deacon told his kindergarten teacher that he was going camping with his grandpa over the Labor Day weekend. She said, “You’re going camping with Papa D?” “How did you know his name was Papa D?”  “I was your brother’s teacher.” So, Deacon and I went camping. Actually, we stayed in the Minister’s Cabin at Tulakogee Baptist Assembly on Lake Ft. Gibson. I had booked the cabin for four days of personal retreat starting on Thursday night. He and his Mama D joined me on Sunday evening. The primary purpose of our trip, Deacon informed me, was to go fishing.

On Monday morning we headed off to the bait shop. I asked him about the kind of bait we should get—minnows, crickets or worms. “Get worms. Fish love worms.” We explored a couple of good fishing spots, settling on the fishing dock at the camp. Deacon explained to me that when we caught a fish, we were to “take out the eyeballs,” cut it up and take it to Mama D to cook it. He told me all about fishing with his own little rod and reel. Then I opened the box of worms.

Ewww! went the voice next to me as I baited his hook. We set the bobber, and he cast it in the water quite to his satisfaction. I started to bait my hook. “Papa D, I can’t see my bobber.” His pole was bent nearly in half, the bobber surfaced then disappeared again. He had caught the big one. Really, it was about three pounds.  Ewww!  Deacon, it turns out, is more impressed with the idea of fishing, than actually dealing with a big flathead catfish. He did not want to cut it up or even get close enough to have his picture taken with it. So, we set the fish free. A little while later he caught a smaller catfish. Soon he was finished for the day.  He had caught a big fish!  We will go fishing again.  

I know people who are impressed with the idea of being a disciple of Jesus, yet, when it comes to actually living the challenging, gritty life of a disciple, Ewww! They love the heaven part, tolerate church people sometimes, and ignore God’s words. Authentic disciples keep after it and help make disciples. You know, Go into all the world and make disciples…

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Go fishing. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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My car is a traveling office, storage bin and lunchroom. It had never been cleaned and detailed by anyone other than me. I have owned this car since 2019. We decided it needed a more professional cleaning. We arranged the place and date, and worked out the logistics of both of us getting to work close to on time. They finished my car just before the lunch hour, making it possible for us to pick the car up without Dorothy losing any office time. The car looked beautiful. I settled up with the company and happily drove off to get some lunch for myself. Only as I was heading down the road did I realize that the air conditioner was not working properly.

I was at that complicated area around South Memorial and the Creek Turnpike where the city designed the streets to switch from right to left before switching back to the way normal streets are supposed to go. I couldn’t just turn around and go back to the place without going a mile or so out of the way. I had to roll down the windows to accommodate for the lack of A/C.  Just as I pulled up to turn back into the car detail shop, I heard an odd noise and noticed dust going everywhere. It was a city crew blowing freshly mowed grass into my car. It turned out that the detailer had polished all the air vents tightly closed and pushed random buttons and settings with complete abandon. Later at home I vacuumed out the grass and tried to wipe away the dust.

Staying clean is not easy. We are always having to clean up things and ourselves. Coming clean is a way of life, isn’t it? Coming clean with our sins—before ourselves, before others and before God Almighty—is the spiritual necessity for each of us every single day. King David confessed his sin and prayed for a clean heart (Psalm 51).  Confession is how God cleans the soul. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

Keep healthy. Pray mightily. Enjoy your life today. Keep clean. And let’s experience the love and power of God together.

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