You can preach all your life and still stumble upon a truth that you thought you should have known but, to tell the truth, have never hit upon. For me, it had to do with the Holy Spirit, fullness of the Holy Spirit, and love.

The Supreme Court opens every session with the prayerful cry, “God save the United States and this honorable court.” The cry, or prayer, is said by the court’s marshal or deputy marshal. The marshal is a paid position. The U. S. Senate pays a chaplain, in part, to open each session with a prayer. He is paid $140,300 a year. The U. S. House pays a chaplain, in part, to open each session with prayer. He is paid $160,600.

One day past Valentine’s Day. How did you fare? Did you get as many Valentine cards as the next person? Don’t you remember — as least for my generation — on Valentine’s Day, we all exchanged cards in school? At the end of the day we would count how many cards we received. It was kind of a barometer of how many people loved us.

Former Mayor and U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young, while providing television commentary as the coffin of Mrs. Coretta Scott King was being carried into the State’s rotunda last Saturday, said, “As a Christian, this part would be the most uncomfortable for her.”

As I watched television news Sunday afternoon, networks carried footage of the current President Bush and his wife leaving church, as well as the former President Bush and his wife. What occurred to me as I watched was that the former president was not wearing a coat and tie, but some crew neck knit shirt. At least that’s what it looked like to me a few hundred miles away.

Last week in my address to the Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Celebration, I made a few points that warrant a re-run (It has undergone minor revision),

This past Monday I was honored as the principal speaker at the Martin Luther King Jr. Birthday Celebration co-sponsored by the Fayette Chapter of the NAACP and the Fayette County School System.

It was an unthinkable tragedy: all the male children under two years of age slaughtered by sword bearing soldiers carrying out the decree of an awfully insecure ruler called Herod. Wailing and crying could be heard from one corner of the little town to the other. Mothers refused to be comforted. Blood from innocent babies who had never raised a fist to any tyrant flowed through Bethlehem’s streets. The little town known as the House of Bread now was a river of blood. That was 2000 years ago.

Louise Stanley, my 85-year-old friend, could not make it to church this past first Sunday of the New Year. Did she have transportation? Well, kinda’ sorta’ She has a modern Buick sitting under her garage, but has come to the conclusion that it’s not the wisest thing in the world to drive.

Thirty-one years ago today I got married. It was a Saturday 31 years ago. My 19-year-old bride knew she was marrying a minister, yet little did she or I realize the costs of such a calling. Both she and I learned the days around our wedding.

Christmas can be one of the toughest times of the year for not so few people. It can be very sad, depressing, and filled with all kinds of grief. Many people feel a deep sense of guilt because they don’t feel merry, bright, and full of good cheer. They ask themselves, “What’s wrong with me that I am not in the spirit of the season?”

Little did you know!

Gospel writers Mark, Luke, and John don’t even mention the Three Wise Men. The one who does mention them, Matthew, does not specify how many wise men there were. We came up with the number three. In fact, historical accounts reveal the Wise Men and the shepherds visited the Christ child at separate times. There were no warm, sentimental manger scenes as depicted in today’s art.

Many think and believe that we should thank the Germans for our practice of the Christmas tree. I, for me, have no problems saying, “Thank you.” In particular, they say we should thank Martin Luther, the great Protestant reformer who brought the church back to a rightful emphasis on “grace” rather than “performance” within the life of the faithful.

Churches are preparing for their response to Halloween by hosting fall festivals and all sorts of positive activities for children. Churches, in fact, do a lot at attempting to reach out to area children and say, “We have a place for you.”

The humble, often ugly seed is one of the most amazing gifts in the universe.

One of the most amazing seeds is that of the jackfruit. Jackfruit is the largest tree-borne fruit in the world, reaching 80 pounds in weight and up to 36 inches long and 20 inches in diameter. Now get this, there may be 100 to 500 seeds in a single jackfruit. I have seen 15-20 fruit hanging from a single tree. That says that a single tree can produce up to 10,000 seeds a year and each seed is capable of producing one tree. At this point it moves into higher math. But I think you get the point.