Musings

By Sean Dietrich The first concert I ever saw was the Oak Ridge Boys. I was 2 years old. Mama took me. I pooped my diaper while they were singing “Elvira.” My mother changed me at the foot of the stage as I was singing at the top of my...

By Kerry Knight, Minister for the Emerald Beach Church of Christ I know. Making New Year’s resolutions is corny and often doesn’t yield lasting success. We become short-sighted and fail to follow through, especially if the resolution is challenging. But let me offer a rather startling revelation: God wants to bless...

By Sean Dietrich The New Year is only minutes away. The TV is on. My wife is snoring softly as I watch a perky, hip television host deliver a broadcast live from Times Square, speaking in a tone of voice not unlike a squirrel on amphetamines. So I change the channel...

By Kerry Knight, Emerald Beach Church of Christ A certain school, to avoid offending anyone, decided to drop any reference to religion. They instead started singing about the weather. They began to hold a winter festival in February. They developed a list of songs that included: “Winter Wonderland,” “Frosty the Snowman”...

By Sean Dietrich Christmas Eve night. The mountains of North Carolina were giant silhouettes in the darkness. Sheriff Andy Taylor sat on the bench outside the courthouse, watching the stars. It had been a hard year. Maybe the hardest of his career. The sheriff was downhearted, which didn’t happen often. But...

By Peter Fischetti The old man thought he had heard the surf, but it probably was just the wind. Rarely were the waves from the Gulf strong enough to make a sound you could hear on Back Beach Road. That’s where the old man lived, in a nursing home. His...

By Pastor Kerry Knight, Emerald Beach Church of Christ Silly question, right? No, it is a very important question that all must contemplate. The apostle Paul had to remind the church at Colosse: “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, So walk in Him” (Colossians 2:6). The Apostle reminds them...

By Sean Dietrich My doctor gave me some very bad news. I can’t even bring myself to talk about it. I’m so scared right now. I don’t know why God is doing all this to me. I am so angry with God right now. I hate God. Thanks, SLEEPLESS-IN-NEW-YORK DEAR SLEEPLESS: About 300 years...

By Sean Dietrich This is not my story. It was told to me. In fact, I’m hearing it for the first time, just like you are. The year was 1982. The old man climbed out of a rust-red Ford. He was ancient. He walked with a shuffle as he hobbled into...

By Ethan Jago I grew up in a culture where it was frowned upon to ask hard questions. As the son of a pastor, I knew all the right answers to the right questions, but every other response outside of that box was simply: just have faith. This mentality is...