The Journey

This past Friday, February 20, 2015 news came across the airwaves that a church in Reidsville was burning. It looked familiar, even though they did not mention the name of the church at that time. I mentioned to my wife that this church looked like Mt. Carmel, in the Oregon Hill section, between Ruffin and Wentworth. Sure enough the news finally told the sad news that it was Mt. Carmel United Methodist Church.

I know that church because I spent five years in the Ruffin Church – just down the road – four years while I was in seminary at Duke and one additional year so my son could graduate from Rockingham High School. We held joint services with that church during Lent, Easter and Thanksgiving, and sometimes even had joint revival services. I am sad for the people of that church. I know how they are feeling this morning.

You see, back on Good Friday in 1974 a large weather system went through the western part of our state. We were serving our first year on the Murphy Circuit. During the night a cat 5 tornado hit Murphy. Ranger UMC – one of the churches I served was an old white two story building – was hit by the tornado, knocked off the foundation and gas from a broken gas line caught the building on fire and burned it to the ground. It was a terrible site and an even worse feeling. The following Sunday the District Superintendent met with the people of the church and they overwhelmingly decided to rebuild. Ranger has a beautiful building today.

In the spring of 1976 the Pine Bluff UMC I was serving was hit by lightening from a violent thunder storm. The lightening struck one of the trees in the front of the church, followed the roots to the church and set it on fire. Unlike the Ranger church, we heard the fire call and stood in the front yard of the church watching our it burn with tears of sadness running down our cheeks. We were lucky that we had a fellowship hall to meet in until we could rebuild. Pine Bluff has a beautiful church building today. We rebuilt that church in less than a year completely debt free.

I can’t find the words that adequately express the emptiness, sadness, loss and despair one feels as you watch your church burn… you feel so helpless. It is like “Wait a minute, this isn’t supposed to happen… churches are God’s house… they are not supposed to burn.” What a wake up call to how fragile a church really is. Some churches burn down and fall apart long before the flames ever start. The backbiting and power battles leave many a church an empty shell before the clouds begin to gather.

I must add that the people of the Ranger Church and the Pine Bluff Church came together and worked hard, prayed hard, and pulled together to make their new buildings a place where God would dwell… where God would live… where God would be alive through them. Yes, they were good people before the tornado and the lightening. Afterwards they were even closer… they had been through the storm, survived the fire… picked up the rubble, joined hands and hearts and built something even better… a church where Jesus would live.

Keep the people of Mt. Carmel in your prayers and in your heart. One thing I hope you will join me in doing… send them a check to let them know you care and want to help them rebuild. Rev. Glenda Bennett is the pastor. I pray that we fill up her mail box with checks and their hearts with acts of kindness. (GBennett@wnccumc.net)

I have published three new books which are listed at the bottom of the header above. If you would like to take the time to click on each title and read a sample chapter, I would be very grateful. The Sayings of Noah is a sermon series I wrote for Lent which came from the sayings my grandson, Noah, made around the time he was four years old. It is a lite Lenten approach. The Daily Moments with Pastor Steve are daily devotionals. And the Grieving Heart is a collection of uplifting funeral homilies I have given over the years. I hope you will enjoy reading these and even more I hope they will help you help others.

Thanks, Steve.

Filed under: Faith | Leave a comment »

“And Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.’ Joseph answered Pharaoh, ‘It is not I; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.’ Excerpt from Genesis 41:14-36

Recently I got a little nostalgic as I wandered through I-Tunes looking for some of my oldies but goodies of the 60’s and 70’s. Man, that sure was some good music. One of my favorite groups of those days was the Mama’s and Papa’s. And Mama Cass Elliott had a voice that just wouldn’t quit. I spent some time listening to their songs but focused in on one of my favorites… Mama Cass singing; “Dream A Little Dream of Me.” It got me to thinking about dreams. Sometimes I do. Sometimes I don’t. Does it mean something if I do or don’t? Who knows? I do know that it is 2 am, I am retired, and I am up writing this devotion because I was awakened by a dream… or some God nudge, or something.

Lately I have been dreaming a lot…. every night. You see, I and contemplating writing a mystery/adventure fiction novel. I have never tread those waters. So one of the first things I must do is decide what kind of novel, who are the main characters, what is the storyline and where I want to go with it. Every night I have been dreaming about this story. I hope that soon I will dream the dream that captures me and fills me with the passion of the story.

The Rev. Will Green, who was both a pastor and psychologist, led a group through a series of dream workshops in which they shared their dreams. Each imagined having had the dream of one person who would share his or her dream. As each shared the dream’s meaning for the others, the original dreamer took notes and identified interpretations that resonated. The group became the “Joseph” of this biblical story. The idea of the group was that God speaks though our dreams in symbols or code so that our conscious mind will not suppress them and divinely inspired messages can get through. I don’t know if that is true or not.

However, I do believe that we should pay attention to those hunches, and not suppress them. Test significant dreams, visions, or hunches with others you trust, and then prayerfully act on them. Your dream, vision, or thought may be the difference between life and death, for you, for someone you love, for a generation, for the world. If it isn’t, after discernment and prayer, know when to let go.

I remember having some kind of divine nudges (even though at the time I didn’t understand it that way) to go visit someone, to preach a certain message, to talk with the youth about a special topic, or lead the congregation in a special time of prayer. Many times when I did not act on that nudge I regretted not acting on what I then believed to be a nudge from God. I could have helped someone if I had only listened and acted on that Divine nudge. So, I am learning to be sensitive to the nudges from God. I don’t always get it right but I am getting better at listening for God to speak or tap me on the shoulder.

What is the dream or hunch God gave you? God is still sending Divine hunches, many more than we acknowledge. Work on your listening skills. God just may be wanting to use you as an instrument of His grace. Listen and be ready to act.

Gracious God, Help me discern and share the dreams and thoughts you give me today that have divine purpose. Help me sharpen my listening skills so that I may hear you calling, feel the nudge and act in your behalf. In and through Jesus. Amen.

I have published three new books which are listed at the bottom of the header above. If you would like to take the time to click on each title and read a sample chapter, I would be very grateful. The Sayings of Noah is a sermon series I wrote for Lent which came from the sayings my grandson, Noah, made around the time he was four years old. It is a lite Lenten approach. The Daily Moments with Pastor Steve are daily devotionals. And the Grieving Heart is a collection of uplifting funeral homilies I have given over the years. I hope you will enjoy reading these and even more I hope they will help you help others.

Thanks, Steve.

Filed under: Faith | Leave a comment »

The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and great in faithful love. Psalms 145:8

God loves you. But what are you telling yourself about yourself? When you look in the mirror, are you staring back at your biggest cheerleader or your harshest critic? If you learn to give yourself the benefit of the doubt – if you can learn how to have constructive conversations with the person in the mirror – then your self-respect will tend to take care of itself.

But if you are constantly berating yourself – if you are constantly telling yourself that you cannot measure up – then you will find that self-respect is always in short supply.

The next time you find yourself being critical of the person you see in the mirror, think for a moment about God’s love for you, and then ask yourself if the criticism is really valid. If it is valid, make changes… if not, lighten up.

Saint Francis de Sales said it so well; “Have patience with all things, but mostly with yourself. Don’t lose courage considering your own imperfections, but instantly begin remedying them. Every day begin the task anew.”

Dear Lord, I know I am always on my own back about something I did wrong or did not do well or forgot to do at all. I look in that mirror and I am very critical of the person I see. That person is not the person I want to be nor the person you want me to be. Help me to forgive myself. Help me to mend myself as I hand my imperfect self over to you yet another day that you may change my heart and make me new. Touch me with your loving embrace that my heart may also be warmed by you. In and through Jesus. Amen

I have published three new books which are listed at the bottom of the header above. If you would like to take the time to click on each title and read a sample chapter, I would be very grateful. The Sayings of Noah is a sermon series I wrote for Lent which came from the sayings my grandson, Noah, made around the time he was four years old. It is a lite Lenten approach. The Daily Moments with Pastor Steve are daily devotionals. And the Grieving Heart is a collection of uplifting funeral homilies I have given over the years. I hope you will enjoy reading these and even more I hope they will help you help others. Thanks, Steve.

Filed under: Faith | Leave a comment »

“And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into 
a solitary place, and there prayed.” Mark 1:35

Last year, our daughter-in-law was getting ready to take a business trip to Orlando. She flew out of Greensboro to stay for five days – learning some new, good stuff for her work. Our grandson (13 year old Noah) was very concerned about her flying. His concern is about terrorists. Isn’t that a sad commentary on life in the world today where a 13 year old worries about terrorists attacking his mommy’s plane?

So, what would you do to comfort this young man if he were your grandson? Really, I would be interested to know.

The first thing we tried to do was convince Noah that planes are very safe today, in fact, they are more safe than driving. But Noah knows that his dad nor I like to fly. We don’t want to be involved in the consequences of the pilot’s bad day. So I am not so sure that we were very convincing on that part.

The next thing is to pray with Noah. But here is the catch… what we believe about prayer and what Noah believes about prayer may be completely different things. Most of us start out thinking that God is a candy machine that we put in our request (quarter) pull the knob (pray) and out comes the candy (the desired results). In other words Noah just may think that when we pray for God to look after his mom that God is going to insulate that plane from any harm whatsoever – nothing will happen to that plane no matter what – cause God has made it off limits from the circumstances of the physical world. Is that really what we believe happens when we pray – that God changes the physical nature of things in order to accommodate our wishes?

Shirley prayed for me every single day I was away from home in Vietnam. Did I get to come home safe because she prayed for me to come home safe? Quite honestly, I don’t know. But what about all those other guys (some with me) whose wives and mothers prayed the same prayer every day with as much faith as Shirley? And they didn’t come home alive. How do we explain that? Do we say God blessed me but not my buddies? I don’t think so.

Do we explain to him that what we really need to asked for is for God’s will to be done in this situation and in every situation… and to help us accept what happens? That is a tough thing for a sixty-eight year old to accept, much less a 13 year old. So where does that leave us?

It leaves us in the mystery of God’s will, God’s providence, and God’s grace. I must admit that there is more that is beyond me than what I know. I do know what I can do. I can take this little guy in my arms and tell him the truth that I believe from the depths of my soul – that God wants only that which is good for us. And that God will do all God can to make sure your mommy is safely back home. We will pray for her every night and you will talk with her every night till she gets home and you are back in her arms again.

Dear Lord, help me to be able to pray with children prayers that enable them to know that you do, indeed, watch over them through every difficult situation, through every time when they are afraid of the world and all the evil it may produce. Give them strength and courage in the face of it all knowing that you are holding them in your loving arms. In and through Jesus. Amen.

Thank you for taking the time to read the sample chapters of my books (listed in the bottom of the header above). I hope you will leave a good review on Amazon. But more than that I hope that these books will help you to help others in their time of need.

Filed under: Faith | Leave a comment »

“[David and Jonathan] made a sacred promise of friendship to each other.” (Good News Bible) Excerpt from 1 Samuel 23:14-18

When we look at the above picture we can’t help but think of simpler times and more pleasant days. I look at these guys and I am reminded they were friends through thick and thin. It was a friendship that passed the test of time.

It’s hard to have close friends. Some blame this on the pace and pressure of life today, with financial and career demands more time-consuming than ever. Others argue that social networking lets simpler virtual friendship make up for the real thing.

But as psychologists point out, the absence of close friendship leaves a void that the best marriages and closest partnerships can’t fill. Primary loyalties reach a breaking point when made to carry the full emotion of both parties. Relationships fall apart, and rates of loneliness, depression, and even suicide grow.

Earlier cultures traditionally considered friendship so important that newborns were assigned a best friend right at birth! Mary Wollstonecraft, one of the earliest advocates of women’s rights, spoke of both men and women in noting that while Eros is transient, “the most holy bond of society is friendship.” She echoes Aristotle’s argument that friendship is essential to the public good by enlarging understanding beyond private and domestic life.

The Bible itself speaks not only of the love, mercy, and judgment of God, but of the friendship of God. Abraham and Moses are called “friends of God.” God needs others. That’s why we were created. In the divine image, we in turn are made to need others – not only as with Adam and Eve but also Naomi and Ruth, Jonathan and David, and the friendship commended elsewhere in Scripture. Jesus calls us friends (John 15:12).  He says we reciprocate by being a good friend of others.

Dear Lord, in this time of facebook friending and unfriending may I be a true and real good friend of yours by being a true and real better friend of others. Help me to turn my virtual friendships into the real, everyday actions of a true friend. In and through Jesus.  Amen.

I want to thank all who continue to read the sample chapters of my books and purchase them, and leave a good review on Amazon. If you haven’t done so already just click on any of the book titles in the bottom of the above header and it will take you to the Amazon site where you can read more about the books. Thank you for sharing in this ministry. I hope and pray that these books will help you in some small measure to help those in your care.

Filed under: Faith | Leave a comment »

“Five times I have received the forty lashes minus one.  Three times I was beaten with rods.  Once I received a stoning.  Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked.  And, besides other things, I am under daily pressure because of my anxiety for all the churches.” (Excerpt from 2 Corinthians 11:16-33)

Much ink has been spilled over the decline of mainline churches (that’s us). A zillion reasons are given: the loss of Protestant Christianity’s primacy in American culture, a loss of trust in institutions, crises of leadership, children’s sports on Sundays, and on and on.  Many of which are true.

Here’s the real reason our church is in decline: we are NOT doing evangelism. It is just that simple. We do not have a heart for those folks who do not know Jesus. And until we do nothing will change.

When was the last time you told somebody… somebody who didn’t already know, about your commitment to God, or about the strength you’ve received from our church, or about the goodness you’ve found in the Christian life? How many people have you invited to join our church in the last year? When was the last time your Facebook status had to do with God? And OMG doesn’t count. (If your answer is sometime in the last month, please disregard this devotional.  If not, read on.)

We’re worried we’ll be inappropriate. We’re worried we’ll sound like our weird 4th cousin, or like the neatly-dressed young man that knocked on our door last week. We’re worried we’ll offend someone. Mostly, we’re just worried people will think we’re uncool. Or we are worried that we just don’t know how to do evangelism.

To all of which concerns, Paul, who lived through the stuff in the passage above, replies with a long, cool stare followed by three carefully enunciated words: “Suck!  It! Up!”

Nobody’s going to whip you for inviting them to church – especially if you offer to pay for lunch afterwards. If you’re worried about being inappropriate, you almost certainly won’t be. And for the love of God, why do you assume your friends will think you’re less cool for going to church, instead of assuming that they’ll think church is more cool because “you” go there?

Before you finish reading this blog watch the video on Melrose UMC.

Dear God, I love this church too much to let it die because I’m chicken. I love you and my friends too much to not introduce you to each other. So make me brave, and don’t let me lose my cool. Help me connect people to you in and through Jesus. Amen.

I want to thank all who continue to read the sample chapters of my books and purchase them, and leave a good review on Amazon. If you haven’t done so already just click on any of the book titles in the bottom of the above header and it will take you to the Amazon site where you can read more about the books. Thank you for sharing in this ministry. I hope and pray that these books will help you in some small measure to help those in your care.

Filed under: Faith | Leave a comment »

Then Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house.” Luke 19:9

Those of us who cherish Bible stories like the one about Zacchaeus, the small, insignificant tax collector who climbed a tree so he could see Jesus. As a result, Jesus went to Zacchaeus’ house, restored his self-respect, and announced to him that salvation had come to his house.

Legend has it that when Zacchaeus was an old man he still lived in Jericho. Every morning at sunrise he went out for a walk and came back with a calm, happy composure, regardless of his mood when he left. After his walk he was ready to begin his day’s work with kindness and joy.

His wife wondered where he went on those walks, but he never spoke about the matter. So being curious, she followed him one morning.

He went straight to the tree from which he had first seen Jesus. Taking a large urn to a nearby spring, he filled it with water, carried it to that tree, and poured it all around the roots. He pulled up all the weeds around the tree. Then he looked up among the branches where he had sat that life-changing day when he met Jesus. A new light of peace and contentment came into his eyes. He tuned away with a smile of gratitude and returned to do his daily work with a renewed peace in his heart.

Zacchaeus knew the importance of keeping the spirit of that unusual experience alive, and to do so he tried to keep that tree alive. So it is with us. We never forget the difference God has made and continues to make in our lives through the gift of Jesus Christ.

Folks, how are you keeping your faith alive these days? How are you keeping it fresh and up-to-date?

Dear Lord, today we sure do thank you for Jesus and the loving sacrifice he made that restored us to Your Family. May our lives, because of your forgiveness and renewal, be made so full that others may be blessed through us. In Jesus name. Amen.

I want to thank all who continue to read the sample chapters of my books and purchase them, and leave a good review on Amazon. If you haven’t done so already just click on any of the book titles in the bottom of the above header and it will take you to the Amazon site where you can read more about the books. Thank you for sharing in this ministry. I hope and pray that these books will help you in some small measure to help those in your care.

Filed under: Faith | Leave a comment »

Kayla Mueller

“When we heard this, we and the people there urged him not to go to Jerusalem. Then Paul answered, ‘What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be bound but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.'” Acts 21:12-13

As Scott Pelley said last night on the CBS Evening News: When writing home from a terrorist’s cell, where do you start? Kayla Mueller started tight in the corner of her single, precious page. Her first stroke predicted there would never be enough room to hold her thoughts. Two rows on each line, margin to margin which would have been “well thought out,” she writes but, “I could only but write the letter a paragraph at a time, just the thought of you all sends me into a fit of tears.”

They had all said goodbye when she left college in 2011 to work with the suffering in India. Why the hurry? Another young woman writing in captivity, Anne Frank, answered in her diary: “Nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”

From India, Mueller worked with refugees in Israel and Palestine. Back in Arizona she cared for AIDS patients and volunteered, at night, at a women’s shelter. In 2013 she arrived at the Syrian border, the world’s most dangerous place. Why take the risk? Another prisoner, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., writing from a cell in 1963 answered: “I am in Birmingham because injustice is here. I’m compelled to carry the gospel of freedom beyond my own home.”

Like Dr. King, Kayla Mueller had the vision to see freedom from a cell. See her letter.

“Even in prison I can be free,” wrote Mueller. “I am grateful. I have come to see there is good in every situation.”

She is the fourth American hostage to die. In journalists, ISIS tried to extinguish truth. With humanitarians, they tried to kill compassion. But light defines the darkness. In these deaths ISIS is revealed and in her words Kayla Mueller captured the long struggle for a better world, “please be patient, give your pain to God.”

Anne Frank’s writings became, “Diary of a Young Girl.” Dr. King called his letter from a Birmingham jail the longest he ever wrote. What would Kayla Mueller have done with more than one page?

As his life and ministry drew to conclusion Paul was determined (like Jesus before him) to go to Jerusalem—even though doing so meant danger and possible death.

Every now and then I meet someone who is intent on going where they feel they must, despite the risks involved. A doctor who goes to the Sudan regularly to perform surgery. A young woman who takes meals to shut-ins in a dangerous part of town. A chaplain who goes week by week into a high-security prison where no one feels safe. A pastor who walks into an angry crowd to listen and to speak. A young bartender from NC State goes to Dufar and risks his life to dig wells for those who have no clean water.

They go, despite warnings, despite danger. They go not just because they want to, but because somehow they must. God is in their journey.

Sometimes we imagine that God’s chief duty and central concern is our comfort and safety. We think that what God cares most about is our happiness and health. Maybe that is true, but then again, maybe not. Maybe what God cares most about isn’t our comfort and safety but about the height and the depth, the range and the reach of our lives.

It occurs to me that the heavenly host (we hear about in creation) may well have counseled God “don’t go there.” “Don’t go to the earth; or if you do go, don’t — for sure — go as one of them, vulnerable to suffering, exposed to evil.” But that is what God did in Jesus. He went there, he came here. And because he did, we can — you can — too.

You can go where it’s hard to go, even where there is some danger. Go and God shall be with you.

Eternal God, you call us to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (A prayer of Martin Luther.)

I want to thank all who continue to read the sample chapters of my books and purchase them, and leave a good review on Amazon. If you haven’t done so already just click on any of the book titles in the bottom of the above header and it will take you to the Amazon site where you can read more about the books. Thank you for sharing in this ministry. I hope and pray that these books will help you in some small measure to help those in your care.

Filed under: Faith | Leave a comment »

For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. …

Romans 12:4-6a

Do you believe in Superman? Every time I go to Junaluska I find there are a lot of clergy up there who really believe they are supermen. But there are also a lot of laity who really are supermen and superwomen. These super people usually fall under the category of UMM or UMW or even UMYF.

Well, I do believe in Superman. His name is Norman Varga and he lives in Hungary. No, Varga is not faster than a speeding bullet; he is not more powerful than a locomotive, and he most certainly can’t leap a tall building with a single bound. On the other hand, Norman Varga is a superman.

Varga, a former cage fighter, has founded and runs a foundation in Budapest. The purpose of his foundation is designed to help young people develop a healthy lifestyle and format and reach their goals in education, science and art.

That’s not the “superman” part. The superman part is this: to call attention to his foundation, Norman Varga ran 50 marathons in 50 days. That’s right. He ran some 1,240 miles in Slovakia, Austria, Germany, France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. Fifty marathons in 50 days. His last marathon was in London on July 27th, 2012. Click on the YouTube link I have provided to see the lat race. It is not in English but it is clear that he did make it.

Norman Varga

I couldn’t do it. Most of you couldn’t do it either. (Yes, I know. Most of you wouldn’t want to find out, if you could do it.)

This is just one more way we are reminded the Lord gives different gifts to people.

Indeed, He gives those gifts which are necessary for His people to accomplish the goals and purposes for which the church was established. In His wisdom our Heavenly Father knew the church needed people who could plan and those who could make those plans a reality. He needed evangelists to foreign lands and those who would support those evangelists. He needed teachers who could deal with pre-schoolers and those who could reach sophisticated college students. He needed folks who would write songs of praise and those who could sing those songs.

In many and various ways the Lord has told us to share the story of salvation that comes from Jesus’ life, suffering, death and resurrection. Now He has given the gifts to make that sharing a reality.

The only question remaining is this: are we using our God-given gift? Are we giving thanks for our salvation, which is Jesus’ sacrificial gift to us?

If not, stop by the church office and talk with your pastor to see if he/she can help identify and use those gifts. Even more, your pastor needs to know you’re ready to use your gifts,  for your church pines to put you to work.

Dear Lord, You have given all of us gifts by which we can give thanks and share the old, old story in a new, new way. Please help us use those gifts and never shirk them. In and through Jesus. Amen

I hope you have taken the time to read the sample chapters of my books listed in the bottom of the header above. If you do and enjoy what you read, please leave a good review on Amazon. Thanks for joining in this ministry and I pray these books will help as you seek to help others.  Steve

Filed under: Faith | Leave a comment »

The basketball world is saddened today to hear of the death of Coach Dean Smith. It is reported that he died at his home in Chapel Hill last night.

I am a 100% Duke man. I’ve pulled for Duke all my life. I graduated from Duke. I am a Dukie. And of course when it comes to coaches I feel our Coach K is the best.

I grew up in the days of the Big Four in the ACC: Duke, UNC, State and Wake. I remember some of the legendary names of coaches in the ACC: Bones McKinney, Vic Bubas, Dean Smith, and Everett Case.

I remember many of the times those Tarheels would beat us. I remember the “Four-Corners” thing that Dean did…. and I joined the rest of the basketball fans (other than Tarheels) in hating those four corners. I think one of the games that changed basketball – which brought in the shot clock – was a game which had a final score in the teens.

One of the things which tells me what kind of a man he was is the time he sat Michael Jordan down because Jordan would not do what Coach Smith wanted him to do. I believe it was a ACC tournament game. They lost that game because of Smith’s move, but it taught his team a lesson. He proved to me that day that character for Smith was more important than winning.

I appreciated his depth of character which was expressed by the words he used, especially in public. Yes, I am a Coach K fan but, at times, I don’t like his language. I must admit that a lot of today’s coach’s let their temper and their language be displayed for all to hear and see. It’s sad that more of our coach’s did not follow Coach Smith’s example. I have always thought that Dean Smith was a man of great character.

The scandal that is going on at UNC about 18 years of academic fraud is very bad for the entire school. I know this goes back into the Dean Smith years as a coach. However, I would be completely dumbfounded to even think that Coach Smith knew or condoned that lack of academic integrity in any way whatsoever. I believe he was a man of honor who would have never been involved in cheating in any way.

We will miss this man, we need more like him… Well done Coach Smith, well done. Thank you for touching our lives in such a special way.

Well folks, I have three books (e-books) on Amazon. They are listed in the bottom of the header above. Click on a title and download it to your iPad, lap top, or Kindle. I hope that it helps you as you seek to draw close to God in your journey of faith. Thanks, Steve.

Filed under: Faith | Leave a comment »