Musings

by Kirk McCarley A long time ago I was trying to negotiate an especially low point in life. Work was demanding and often frustrating, finances were “hand to mouth” tight, and my wife and I had a couple of young children to clothe and feed.  I was into playing that dangerous...

By Victoria Ostrosky Valerie Peterson, a licensed mental health counselor in Destin, shares important and encouraging words that should touch all of us.  Valerie understands that how we think and what we think directly affects us in our daily lives.  “Where the mind leads, the rest of us follows.” We could...

You probably didn’t hear about it. But yesterday, God visited earth. Contrary to what you’ve heard, God is a big fan of people. He’s a huge fan. In fact, that’s why he came. His visit was an under-the-radar thing. It was non-publicized. God wasn’t in it for press. First, he came to...

By Sean Dietrich I am a dropout. I grew up pretty hard. I am an educational failure. I had few academic opportunities. As a result, I am a very slow reader, and an even wurse speler. This is because, after my father died, my family hit rock bottom. My mother...

By Kirk McCarley I first met Bob over 20 years ago in a Spinning Group Exercise Class.  Even then I admired the passion and vigor with which he attacked each gathering, coupling those characteristics with a light, self-deprecating sense of humor. After a few years, Bob allowed that he was thinking about...

By Pastor Dave Holland “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury every day. At his gate was laid a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came...

By Victoria Ostrosky Barnabas is mentioned about a half dozen times in the Book of Acts.  He was the guy who accompanied the Apostle Paul on missionary journeys, planting churches together.  Barnabas also included a young John Mark in the group.  At some point, John Mark deserted them and went...

By Pastor Dave Holland Imagine a God who moves the moon that guides the ocean waves to break on our shores. Imagine a God who flicked a match igniting the Sun into a blazing ball of fire, heating a solar system, producing a planet as an incubator for humanity. Imagine...

By Victoria Ostrosky I remember coming across a statement by a preacher who lived in the last century.  He was expressing his position on prayer for healing.  He believed it was detrimental to the sick person to pray for their healing because their suffering and pain were more important to...

By Pastor Dave Holland “Jesus told this parable: Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men — robbers, evildoers, adulterers —...