Mental Musings

Introduction Pastor Tony, was shocked to hear that his friend Charlie, who had been a college Bible professor for many years, suddenly quit his job and started working as a postal carrier. After talking about the change, Tony said, “Charlie, if you’re going to be a mailman, then be the best mailman you can be.” Charlie thought for a minute and then said, “Tony, I’m a lousy mailman. I’m the last to get back to the office every day and I can’t sleep at night.” Tony asked him to explain why that is. Charlie said, “There are so many lonely people on my route who never had anyone visit them until I became their mailman. And besides, have you ever tried to sleep after drinking 15 cups of coffee in one day?” Charlie might be sleep deprived, but he was alive with excitement because he had finally found his purpose. We just finished our Driven series where we learned all about our purpose as a church and our purpose as individuals. We learned that our purpose and our passion driv...

This is the final message in our Driven series at Elevate Church of Annapolis One night after putting his three-year-old son, Brian, to bed, Bob heard muffled sobs coming from his room. Rushing back in, he found that the child was crying hysterically. He told his dad that he had accidentally swallowed a penny and was sure that he would die now. The father, in an attempt to calm him, took a penny from his pocket and pretended to pull it out from his son’s ear. Brian’s eyes got real big and he stopped crying at once. He then grabbed the penny from his dad’s hand, swallowed it, and cheerfully demanded, "Do it again, Daddy!" I understand that Father’s Day is not an easy day for many of you. Some of you have just recently lost your dad and some of you never really knew your dad. But I want you to know that you have a Heavenly Father that loves you and loves spending time with you. The Bible gives us many names for God all based on His relationship with us. Some peopl...

Author Jon Katz writes about his experience on a farm in Massachusetts in his book, The Story of Rose: A Man and His Dog . I remember sleeping in bed upstairs in the farmhouse and being awoken suddenly by a cold dog nose against my arm. Rose had hopped up into bed and was whining. She only did that when something was wrong. I had learned the hard way not to question this but to get up and follow her.  I looked out the window at the snow, piled up in drifts and still coming down hard, and muttered to myself. I got dressed quickly—I believe I was very much afraid of what I would find out there—and followed Rose downstairs. I put on my boots and heavy parka. Rose led me in the deepening snow and blustery cold winds to the pasture gate. We walked through the gate … up the hill, and away from the barn, vanishing into the snowy mist … After a second, over the howling noise of the wind, I heard a ewe baaing a high-pitched call of alarm and stumbled toward the sound … A ewe was lying...

It has gotten to a point where you can’t even believe your own eyes anymore. I saw a photo of this giant catfish that was supposed to have been caught somewhere in Arkansas. It turns out the photo was fake. They had used Photoshop to make it look like the fish was as big as a Mini Copper or at least bigger than a man. But here are some real catches. These are not just fish stories, they have been verified and placed in the record books. An 81-pound striped bass caught in the Long Island sound in 2011. A 427-pound Yellowfin Tuna caught near Cabo San Lucas in 2012. A 1,649-pound Blue Marlin caught near Kona, Hawaii, in 1984. A 1,785-pound Tiger Shark caught near Australia in 2004.  The Bible has several fish stories that scientists have attempted to discredit. The story of when Jesus fed 5000 men with only 2 small fish that we can read about in Matthew 14. The story of when Jesus had finished preaching from Simon Peter’s boat and told him to cast their nets into the sea a...