Jesus' disciples were on the sea, being tossed about by a violent storm, and Jesus rebukes them for being afraid, saying "O you of little faith."  The disciples find themselves unable to cast out a demon, and Jesus attributes their ineffectiveness to their "little" faith.  The disciples fail to understand Jesus' teachings and again he says "O you of little faith."  Even though these disciples were often criticized for their little faith, it's hard to see men like Peter, James, and John in that light.  Didn't they leave everything behind to follow Jesus?  Didn't…

My wife and I are not coffee drinkers, so we don’t get into Starbucks very often. But one visit a couple of years ago made a distinct impression on me. Our first granddaughter had just been born, and on our way to the hospital we stopped at Starbucks to grab some coffee for our son.

The thing that struck me was what we saw when we first got out of the car. Parked in front of the store were a bicycle and push cart that belonged to a pair of homeless people.…

Today is San Jacinto Day!  If you are a transplant to Texas, that may not mean much to you.  But to my fellow natives, it is the commemoration of a battle fought 188 years ago today, not far from where you are reading these words.  The San Jacinto Monument marks the spot of a conflict that lasted just 18 minutes but secured the independence of Texas from Mexico.

The Bible also speaks about freedom.  The Israelites were freed from Egyptian bondage, the exiles returned after 70 years of captivity in Babylon, and people in the First Century were set free from…

I suppose we can all think of times when an innocent young child has said something that struck us as being rather profound.  Let me tell you about one that I will always cherish.  A grandfather was playing a game with one of his grandchildren.  It would have been easy for the old man to completely dominate the game, but he carefully arranged for it to end in a tie.  “Well,” he said to the youngster, “looks like we just tied.”

“No, Pepa, we both won !” …

Recently my wife and I were re-watching the classic 1960 western The Magnificent Seven. If you’re not familiar with it, the movie is about seven tough guys who are hired by a poor farming village to fight off a marauding gang of bandits. The cast includes screen legends Yul Brynner, James Coburn, Steve McQueen, and Charles Bronson.

As we watched, I was struck by one scene in particular. Several of the village boys have taken a liking to one of the gunfighters, Bernardo O’Reilly (played by Bronson), and want to be like…

This week we celebrate our national Thanksgiving holiday. The holiday got its “official” start in 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation inviting Americans to set aside the last Thursday in November “as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens.” Thanksgiving’s traditional origin dates much earlier, to a harvest feast celebrated in 1621 by the recently-arrived Plymouth colonists and local natives. Some date it even earlier, to a service of praise and thanksgiving held in 1579 during English captain Martin Frobisher’s expedition to the New World…