“But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.” (Romans 6:17) I understand exactly what the Apostle Paul means when he says, “You used to be slaves to sin.” But I didn’t understand it until I was born again. Salvation gave me a whole different perspective about the life I used to live. The truth is I can’t believe some of the things I did, not to mention some of the […]

“Instead, they were longing for a better country–a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.” (Hebrews 11:16) My pastor used the above verse during a sermon last week. Don’t tell him, but I drifted off to my years as a teenager as soon as he started reading it. It reminded me of something my granny once told me. I loved to hear her tell a story. One day I noticed a wedding band on her […]

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:10) When my daughter says her bedtime prayers, she says the same thing every night. In fact, she repeats them so fast I can hardly keep up. I don’t think she realizes what she’s saying sometimes, but my family probably wonders the same thing about me when I say table grace. I rarely change a word of it. Do you realize what you’re saying […]

“‘You of little faith,’ he said, ‘why did you doubt?’” (Matthew 14:29) In the late 1970’s, I vacationed frequently at Nags Head. I remember one summer in particular. Several of us decided to go deep-sea fishing in the Gulf Stream, which is not far from North Carolina’s Outer Banks and offers some of the finest fishing that a charter boat captain can muster. We awoke early that morning because we had to be at the dock by 5:00 AM. It was windy and our charter boat captain told […]