50 in 250

In a year when our country turns 250, I get to turn 50. Not sure that’s such a great thing, but it’s the reality I’m faced with in 2026. Like every January, there are hopes and dreams for new beginnings, along with what-ifs or might’ve-beens, but through it all, God remains faithful to us so let us be faithful to Him. Should His Second Coming be delayed for another year, I’ll hope to complete a couple long distant races, memorize several passages of Scripture, spend more time in reading books and less time scrolling on screens, AND… I’ll get to preach through the Book of Romans!

I’m also hoping (maybe dreaming?!) to get back into blogging. My writing has fallen by the wayside in recent years. I think my dad’s passing kinda kicked my hiney a bit more than fully realized. Utility becomes the necessity, carried along by the GRACE and MERCY of our great God! By His ever-abiding presence within and the prayers of many saints all around, I’m able to trust and move forward and stand to preach every Sunday in our church. I know I’ll always miss Dad (especially for wisdom in pastoral ministry!), yet what a blessing is mine to hear his voice in my preaching expressions, his “whoops” calling out through some of my own illustrations! Not only does his memory live on inside my mind, but his mannerisms are embedded in my actions… and that’s been a great balm bringing healing to my soul.

The promises in Scripture have become much more vivid since Dad's passing, especially John 11:25-26, which reads, "Jesus said to [Martha], 'I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?'"

The dream is to blog this year, following along with the progress through the Book of Romans. When I began ministry at Grand Heights in the Spring of 2022, I wanted to track the establishment of the early Church, spending time in the Gospel of John, then James and 1 Peter (added to by a few other studies as well, such as the Psalms of Ascent, 1 & 2 Samuel, and an entire summer devoted to 2 Chronicles 6). I wanted to hear afresh their fervency for spreading the Gospel and to see how theirs can become ours nearly two thousand years later. One man who becomes the most prolific writer of the New Testament follows closely in their footsteps just a few years behind them, yet he will be their contemporary. Paul is credited with writing 13 letters of the New Testament, and Romans leads them all in both placement and composition. It’s a very important letter as it crystalizes much of Jesus’s teachings from the Gospels as well as harmonizes much of the teachings in the Book of Acts. Paul reasons with his readers using systematic logic by means of a thematic Q&A motif throughout.

I’m strategizing the Book will take nearly 40 messages to complete, beginning February 1. We’ll use the Sundays in January for a Paul-in-Acts introductory study into his conversion, his ministry and his dedication. He tells the Church in Rome that he is not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation, and this marks his experience as a missionary Apostle, sent to the Gentiles in order to plant churches throughout the Roman Empire, even endeavoring to appeal before Caesar for the hope of the world found in Christ Jesus alone.

Join me in ’26 as we wend our way through one of Paul’s greatest letters explaining the Faith (or like Dad would say: We’ll be roaming through Romans this year!).