Tending the Sick
Posted by Biser Ovcharov in Missions
I still remember clearly my very first patient visit as a chaplain-in-training. Standing in the hallway with a list of names in my hand, I tried to choose someone who felt “safe.” At the time, I didn’t fully realize what I was doing, but I gravitated toward a middle‑aged female patient, hoping that would somehow make the encounter easier. Even so, my nervous pacing outside her room told a…
Ruth
Posted by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
Someone may have said to you recently, “You’ve got to see this new Netflix series!” Or, “You don’t want to miss this movie that just came out.” Or perhaps, “This book’s an absolute must-read.”
Clothing Our Neighbors
Posted by Alyssa Carter in Missions
One thing in our church’s DNA is helping those in need. Recently we decided to intentionally use Mathew 25:35-36 for our missions guidance, but in reviewing all the ways Jesus tells us to serve Him in this verse, clothing the naked is one we have been doing well. This is because of the generosity of those here at South Main, especially the generosity to the Missions Offering.
Judges
Posted by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
For the purposes of this story, what I did wrong on the occasion in question is less important than how I was punished. I was grounded—and grounded over the weekend of a middle school dance, a party to which all my friends were invited. In response to what I considered the draconian sentence levied by my parents, I made a series of cogent pleas for mercy, all expressed with sincere regret. Next I…
Welcoming a Stranger
Posted by Bright Benfor in Missions
About five years ago, a young man moved to Houston from overseas with his wife and their three young children. Relocating for work, they hoped for a smooth transition, but soon realized they needed far more help than anticipated. With no family or friends in the city, they found themselves overwhelmed and uncertain about how to begin again in a new country.
Rahab
Posted by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
My great-grandfather was a pastor. One of his sons was a pastor. Two others were lawyers. It’s not hard to imagine that the fact that I took up work in both these fields might have something to do with the aptitudes my ancestors passed on to me. In a somewhat similar vein, my wife recently showed me a photo of her grandmother in which it was hard to miss some resemblance in the contours of her…
An Abundance of Water
Posted by Aaron Godoy in Missions
In John 4, Jesus stops to rest at a well on His way to Galilee when a Samaritan woman approaches to fetch water from the well. We can imagine she approaches cautiously, but with marked necessity. The scene makes the wary circumstances clear: it is the heat of the day, she is alone, and she likely recognizes Jesus as a Jew – a sufficient reason alone for avoidance at the time – long before…
Joshua
Posted by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
It may not have been the first case I ever tried to a jury verdict, but it was the first case I tried on my own out of town. My client was an elevator and escalator repair and maintenance company being sued in what was not only a tough venue but in front of a tough judge. Even though it wasn’t a huge case, as a young lawyer, I was nervous about the trial ahead.
The Shema
Posted by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
Stephen Tobolowsky is an “Oh yeah, that guy” kind of guy. A character actor—you probably recognize him even if you don’t quite know who he is. He’s most well-known for playing Ned Ryerson, the annoying insurance salesman from the film Groundhog Day.
Deuteronomy
Posted by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
Not long after my dad passed away, I found one of his old diaries while cleaning out my parents’ home. From 1972, the little book provided some insight on his busy life at that time, revealing his daily schedule, his worries about the near future, and a little comic relief, as well.
Hope
Posted by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
Colorful Easter eggs will soon dot our church’s lawn as our kids arrive for our Children’s Easter Celebration just 24 hours before we all gather for worship on Easter morning. In that spirit of hope, let’s consider another kind of Easter egg hidden in plain sight on our campus, one that relates to the Old Testament book of Numbers.
Numbers
Posted by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
The book of Numbers would probably be more widely read if it were titled differently. The English translation of its Hebrew name, Bemidbar, would be an evocative improvement: In the Wilderness.
Leviticus
Posted by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
I traveled to Florida recently to take in some Grapefruit League baseball where, there at Spring Training, I was reminded of something I’ve always considered true about the game. Baseball rewards you for the interest you take in it. The more you watch it, the more you consider its nuance, its history, the details of the game, the more in turn it offers back to you.
Sabbath
Posted by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
There’s a comedian I’ve heard with a bit in which his three year-old daughter is acting up. To distract her, he gives her a cookie. “Here honey,” he says, “you like these—have a Fig Newton.”
Burning Bush
Posted by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
The book of Exodus isn't too far along when God’s people, the descendants of Joseph, though previously flourishing in Egypt, come now to live under a new Pharaoh of whom we are told “Joseph meant nothing.”
Exodus
Posted by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
The Exodus is probably the most dramatic story in all of the Old Testament, which is probably what made it so appealing to Cecil B. DeMille, the founding father of American cinema. Attracted to epic stories with blockbuster appeal, DeMille’s The Ten Commandments (1956) not only remains the sixth highest grossing movie of all time, when adjusted for inflation, but also continues to be how many…
Judah and Tamar – It's Complicated
Posted by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
In an interview with The Paris Review, author Shelby Foote said the writer’s first job is to communicate what it’s like, for instance, to walk out in the rain. However, to do more, to tell a believable story, expressing what life is and what it’s all about, Foote said, “You got to complicate it up.” Foote’s friend, novelist William Faulkner, similarly said that a story will always struggle to…
Joseph
Posted by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
The last fourteen chapters of Genesis tell a rollicking “riches to rags to riches to rags to redemption” story. In what amounts to a compelling and finely-wrought novella, we follow a young man named Joseph for about 13 years, beginning when he is about 17 years old through a sequence of dramatic adventures. It’s a story of detours and destiny that instructs us on what to do when where we thought…
Jacob, the Prodigal
Posted by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
There’s a story that appears at precisely the halfway point of the book of Genesis that starts essentially like this: A certain man had two sons. The boys are twins. When they were born, one was ruddy in appearance, his name Esau, the Rough One. After that, the other one came, his hand grasping his brother’s heel, so they called him Jacob, Heel-Holder.
Cain and Abel
Posted by Greg Funderburk in Monday Over Coffee
One way to read the third and fourth chapters of Genesis, which describe The Fall and its aftermath, is to view them as an ancient explanation for the emergence of both human consciousness and our conscience—that is, our agency—and how we as human beings know the difference between right and wrong.
