Simply Free is two weeks from today. It is a heart stirring event that has inspired and impacted hundreds of people over the last decade and has been a personal passion of my wife. God gave the vision for Simply Free to Doris ten years ago and every year since then, for about three months… Continue Reading
If you walk through the doors of Branches in Murfreesboro you walk into the lobby. Some people would call it the waiting room. Every one of our offices has some form of waiting space. In St. Augustine it is a neat area with skylights, in Greenbrier it is a beautiful little living room, in Mt.… Continue Reading
Here’s a hard saying of Jesus. Peter is walking along the seashore with Jesus, post resurrection. They have just had fish and chips for breakfast, al fresco. Peter is still a little embarrassed over the whole denial thing. And Jesus says, “Walk with me.” (By the way this is all recorded by John, the paparazzi,… Continue Reading
My two sons are perfect. Yes, that is a very proud, completely subjective father talking, but it is true. They are perfect. They are as different as night and day. Josh is thoughtful, detailed, confident. He sets his mind to a task, works out the possibilities, carefully measures his alternatives, and then puts his head… Continue Reading
The Boys spent the night with us last night, our grandsons, Jon-Mical and Jakson. We rented a RedBox movie, Middle School. The rule for us is no bad words in the movie and Jon-Mical assured us that it had none. At nine, he is our movie and TV ratings expert so we took his word… Continue Reading
In John 8, verse 32, Jesus said, “Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” If today’s blog sounds like a commercial…it’s supposed to. In March of 2007, Branches was just being born. Chonda had a dream. I had an encounter with God and Mark Laaser. We had just found… Continue Reading
It is one of the great challenges of life, how long do I hold on and when do I let go? A few years ago we were fishing and swimming and just chillin’ at the little lake on my sisters farm. The kids, including my two sons were swinging on an old rope swing and… Continue Reading
My youngest grandson Jakson is goofy cute. Jakson is 6. He is snaggle toothed with the teeth that are there too big for his little mouth. His hair is so blonde that you can see through it and it spikes up most of the time. He has a way of making faces that just cracks… Continue Reading
Doris and I spent a few days on my uncle’s river farm in Northern Kentucky a couple of weeks ago. During our early morning walks I started picking up turkey feathers and buckeyes. By the end of the week I had twenty or so large turkey feathers and a dozen buckeyes. Last night we went… Continue Reading
Okay, no more Mr. Nice Guy. Let’s start dealing with some of the tougher things that Jesus said. In Matthew 9, Jesus is confronted by the disciples of John the Baptist about the religious practices of His own followers. They ask, “Why don’t your disciples fast like we do and the Pharisees do?” (Matthew 9:14)… Continue Reading