Reflections of a Retired Pastor

During the end of my pastorate in Cleveland, I was bi-vocational for a period of time, teaching fifth grade in a Christian school. On the first day of classes each year, I gave the obligatory speech about expectations for the year, including classroom rules. One of the things I attempted to instill in my students was to never lie to me, because once caught lying, from that point on, what they said would always be in doubt. For my part, the consequences of the truth would go much better than lying about it and then the truth coming out later (it almost always does). There was one student out of four years that didn’t get it. In fact I’m convinced he lied so much he didn’t even realize he was lying. This made for an interesting year. I tell this story to make a connection with where we are today. Not telling the truth seems to have become so easy that many people don’t even bat an eye. We don’t even call it lying. Here are some examples: little white lies, half-truths, not telling the wh...

I’ve been thinking a lot about heaven lately. Knowing that I have a terminal illness affects my thinking although I try not to dwell on it. I pray everyday that if it’s in God’s plan to heal me supernaturally He will, but I trust His will for my life. Trusting the Lord demands that we yield to His sovereign will. One of the best books I have read recently is Revealing the Mysteries of Heaven by Dr. David Jeremiah. In this book he addresses many questions people have about heaven and posits some provocative ideas about what heaven might be like, and backs this all up with a lot of Scripture. I highly recommend this book. It is obvious to me that the overwhelming hope of Christ-followers is to go to heaven (I’ve never met one who didn’t want to go, just not TODAY). You’ve probably heard the story of a Sunday School teacher who asked her class to raise their hand if they wanted to go to heaven. Everyone but little Jimmy raised their hand. “Jimmy, don’t you want to go to heaven?” she asked...