I am married to Susan (Allender) and we have two grown daughters (Cristin and Miriam), two dogs, and two cats. I am the pastor of Graham Friends Church (http://grahamfriends.org, Graham, NC), the chaplain of the town’s Police Department, and a member of the Rotary Club (http://grahamrotaryclub.org).
January 31, 2012 – 5:58 am
Below are five talks that Dr. James Wagner gave on “The Art of Letting Go.” Letting Go of Our Children (42:07) Letting Go of Our Parents (33:26) Letting Go of Our Younger Selves (31:13) Letting Go of Our Illusions (32:14) The Final Letting Go (39:52) Here is a Sermon that Dr. Wagner preached at [...]
December 29, 2011 – 9:30 am
You will not need flash cards and you will not need to take tests. You will however, learn The Lord’s Prayer in the language of the New Testament, Koine Greek. You will also learn part of John 1 and Revelation 1. Along the way, you will learn the Greek alphabet, many Greek words, how to [...]
December 24, 2011 – 9:37 am
Here is this year’s Christmas photo and letter… xx
December 21, 2011 – 9:51 pm
When I was a boy, we always had Christmas morning at home with just my immediate family — mom, dad, my three sisters, and me. But on Christmas Eve…oh! on Christmas Eve, that is when Christmas really happened. At 5 o’clock or so, we would gather at Grandma and Grandpa Ryman’s house for dinner. The [...]
December 21, 2011 – 8:03 am
I went to the local Walgreens to pick up Christmas photos and a Texas Roadhouse gift card. They did not have Roadhouse gift cards but they did have my 100 photos, and I might add that they were very nicely printed. That Walgreens does a great job with prints. But I still needed the gift [...]
October 17, 2011 – 5:50 am
Reflections on the Expository Lectionary, October 17-23, 2011 Monday Morning Luke 7:1-10 Peter will encounter a Roman centurion named Cornelius in Sunday’s text. Jesus had also met a commander of 100 Roman soldiers in this morning’s reflection. The centurion whom Jesus met had a sick servant and sent some Jewish elders to Jesus, asking him [...]
October 16, 2011 – 4:09 am
Reflections on the Expository Lectionary, October 9-16, 2011 Monday Morning Acts 8:14-25 Our journey through Acts has been dealing with Saul of Tarsus. We last encountered Peter in these verses. Peter had dealt with Simon the magician and his desire to pay for the gift of the Holy Spirit. He had a basic misunderstanding of the gospel. [...]
October 16, 2011 – 4:08 am
Reflections on the Expository Lectionary, October 10-16, 2011 Sunday Morning An audio reflection on my translation of Acts 9:23-31: 9:23 And when many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him. 9:24 But their plot became known to Saul. And they also guarded the gates day and night so that they might kill him. 9:25 [...]
September 26, 2011 – 9:24 am
Reflections on the Expository Lectionary, September 26 – October 2, 2011 Monday Morning Psalm 145:1 One mistake that some Christians make is in their assumption that our task is to fill the pews or get people saved. Of course, the latter is important but it is a by-product of a greater aim. King David knew [...]
September 19, 2011 – 5:43 am
Reflections on the Expository Lectionary, September 19-25, 2011 Monday Morning Psalm 27:12-14 G. K. Chesterton once answered a London Times query that was put to a number of authors: “What’s wrong with the world?” Replies of a variety of lengths were offered but none so brief or profound as Chesterton’s. His answer was simply, “I am.” This [...]