Pastor Dad

To you: single mom or dad struggling to make it through one more day. Ready for a day off or even just a break but the kids stay hungry (both physically and for more of your time). Bills have to be paid and kids have to be raised. You didn’t ask to do this alone but it happened and it sucks. To you; look up! To you: young married couple just starting out. You just finished the Christmas marathon with 17 families, got lots of gifts but what you guys really want is two days of nothing where you can stay in bed or on the couch but the pressure to live up to EVERYBODY else’s expectations seem to win every single day. To you; look up! To you: high school student hearing from every adult around you that you should have the rest of your life planned out when you’re just trying to figure out whether you’re going to pass chemistry next semester. To you; look up! To you: widow and widower feeling the loneliness even during the holidays when there seems to be a constant flow of peopl

Have you ever felt truly inspired? A moment, an event, a powerful speaker bringing a moving speech, scripture, nature, people, places, things… I’m talking about something that happens in your life that makes you want to be a better, or at least a different, person. I’ve read a lot of books and heard a lot of moving sermons/speeches in my life and some of them caused me to want to change. I got married and wanted to be the best husband that ever lived. I watched the birth of my daughter and my son and both times I felt motivated to be a great example for them. My grandson came along and everything changed as I want to be a positive part of his life. I believe everyone has these same feelings whether we act on them or not. We all feel moved and motivated to change at certain times by specific outside forces. What about when those events and things are absent? What about the times when God is silent, the universe isn’t singing your song, the pain seems to stack up like a swat team on

Below is the transcript of the words I spoke before the first annual Policeman's Ball. What an incredible night and the potential that this event has is amazing. Keep up the great work ladies... It is truly an honor to be here this evening. As a matter of fact, I feel honored anytime I have the opportunity to be a part of anything in law enforcement. This is a very special night. It’s special for so many reasons. It’s special because this is you. This wasn’t put on by the community. This wasn’t put on by a church. This was put on by the people that know you most… the people that love you most. This may be the first time that I know that something like this has happened. And to those, we say, “thank you”. There are advantages and disadvantages to having access to your professional lives. I can never, ever watch another law enforcement television show or movie without rolling my eyes and throwing my hands up on a regular basis. I tend to stare a little too long in public at

My faults are many. My failures are great. But with each fault and with each failure, I choose to rise. I choose to rise above mistakes and ridicule. I choose to rise above criticism. I choose to rise above adversity. I choose to rise above those that would exploit mistakes. I choose to stay when everything in me says run. I choose to stand in battle until the bell sounds or the whistle blows and when the smoke clears, keep standing. I choose to have the determination that if my God would allow His Son to die for my sins that I will not embarrass the calling or the blood by being a hypocrite. You see, I believe that this Jesus-thing is real and I will stand before my God some day. But because of the blood of Jesus, I will stand without regret. I will stand with humble confidence that the blood was not wasted on me. The day will not be wasted on me. Are there days where I don’t want to stand? Of course. Are there days where I just want a normal life? Yep! Are there days when I’ve tak

What have you decided today? What did you wear to work, school, play, shopping… you made a decision unless you’re a child (or husband). I have on my usual jeans and plaid shirt. Tennis shoes today, no boots. What did you eat for breakfast? I had watermelon and cashews. I wanted a dozen donuts but my usual jeans felt a little snug so I opted for the fruit and nuts. What road did you take? I took the fastest route along with what seemed like a thousand other souls. What did you listen to on the way to wherever you went? My choice today was 98.7FM. I actually was going to connect my phone to my radio and choose my favorite worship songs but was lazy instead. There you have it. 4 decisions that I made today that most of you have faced. 4 decisions that we understand to be a decision that we deliberately make or we get stuck. I choose what clothes to wear because Tammy says I have to wear clothes. People may get uncomfortable at church if I were to show up without clothes so I chose some

August 30, 2016 Good evening, it is truly an honor to stand before you this evening to speak on behalf of the Moats family. A family that I have learned over the last few days is stronger than I, or even they, could have imagined they would be. I have had the privilege to hear stories galore. Some funny, some inspirational, and some that I have been sworn to keep to myself. From his mom Lisa and stepdad Donald, I heard about his love of people and his professed faith in Jesus Christ. From his stepmom Kathleen, compassion. From Big Kenny, he said that "hammerhead" was stubborn but had incredible work ethic. From his wife Britteni, his love and devotion to his family. All these things you have heard and read also from friends and strangers over the last several days. But tonight I want to also talk about why we’re here, and that is his death. Kenny Moats died exactly the way he lived. All out! Stubborn. Determined. For others. The bible says that, “ There is no g

I am fortunate to be able to do something that I love regularly and that is to teach and train. Mostly I train chaplains and sometimes business leaders but each time I teach a class or train a group, I start out with the training objectives and definitions. So, to be proper, I want to make everyone aware of the definitions. These are taken from merriam-webster.com: -          Love: a   (1)   :   strong affection for another arising out of kinship or personal ties   maternal   love for a child   (2)   :   attraction based on sexual desire   :   affection and tenderness felt by lovers   After all these years, they are still very much in   love.   (3)   :   affection based on admiration,   benevolence , or common interests   love   for his old school mates b   :   an assurance of affection -          Hate: a   :   intense hostility and   aversion   usually deriving from fear, anger, or sense of injury b   :   extreme dislike or disgust   :     antipathy ,   loathing So, based o

Shortly after Donald Trump was elected, I posted a scripture about respecting those in authority and that they were appointed by God. Quickly there was a comment that this person hadn’t seen that scripture from me when Barak Obama was president. I then pointed out that this had been my stance through every presidency and had used this scripture often to convey my belief that even if you didn’t agree with President Obama that as a follower of Christ you were to respect that position. My conviction wasn’t based on who the President was but by what the Bible says. I am fine with disagreeing but when called a hypocrite I usually defend simply because it isn’t true. While I’m not perfect, I do not adjust my beliefs to side with politics the way our current “free press” and society at large seems to. When our daughter (Kelcey) was a sophomore in high school she came home to present Tammy and me with a problem she was having in her World History class. This was a loooong time ago so I ca

Dear Bryant,             You have the world by the tail! Every need you have is met and you haven’t earned a thing. No joke! You have food whenever you whimper. You have clothes enough to wear something different every day. And because your Mimi steals everyone’s change in the house and puts it in a jar that your uncle JB and I have named the Bryant Shoe Fund, you have a pair of kicks for almost every occasion. You have a room that you contributed nothing to. Your mommy and daddy work every day to serve you. It is a crazy thing that is happening. The world that you were born into is selfish. Selfish and rude and hateful. But then there's you.             Here is an intriguing thought though. Every human on the face of this great planet starts off the same way. If they grow up; somebody gave them something they didn’t deserve. But you kid. You give something that isn’t deserved every single day. You give people something that, for a brief moment, could be missed if not recogn

Dad This is dedicated to the greatest man that I have ever known. And I have known him longer than any other man. My dad! Today he will work his final shift at Coca Cola. This is not ordinary retirement from a job. This is retirement from a lifelong career. You see, dad started at Coke in 1971! Yep, you read that correctly; 1971. 46 years at one company. But this isn’t about his retirement. It’s about his life. My dad is the epitome of a man. When I do premarital counseling I recall who dad is when talking to the husband-to-be. Priest, provider, protector. This is my dad. Protector: I have always felt safe when dad was around. Always. As a matter of fact, the reason I fear almost nothing today is because I never learned it from dad. I don’t remember him worrying. I just remember him being him. Rock solid. Always the same! Provider: I’m not just talking about bringing home the bacon. Which, honestly, with more time I could explain that he actually did bring home t

I have hurt my children… on purpose! And I hope they hurt theirs the same way!  It’s true. Not only have I hurt them, worse than that, I have assisted complete strangers in causing them pain on multiple occasions. It wasn’t easy but it was necessary! During the few times it has happened, some of you will be surprised to know that, Tammy stood by and allowed it. She couldn’t participate but she was there. Sometimes she went out of the room crying because her babies were crying but she allowed it. Because she knew it was necessary! Let me tell you about one such occasion. When Jordan was little we had an old solid wood dining table and chairs. The chairs were straight backed, nothing fancy, but heavy. Jordan hadn’t been walking long but he had moved on to advanced climbing. And since we didn’t have a climbing wall with safety harnesses and all, he started climbing the back of one of those heavy chairs. As he neared the top, he began to giggle, realizing that this was his time and