By Ryan Kelly –

I myself love sport. I grew up playing sports, I have children who compete in sports now, and my family and I enjoy watching sports both live and over television. I believe that sport is a fantastic way to build teamwork, let loose energy in a constructive way, and to learn to complete in a healthy manner that can translate into all aspects of life. Sport is truly wonderful in my opinion.

The ancient Greek’s agreed with this philosophy, having established the Olympic games in 776 BC as a way to set aside political differences and allow athletes who represented different nations to complete in a friendly manner without the need for war or political unrest. The goal of the Olympics was peace and unity. The ancient Olympics ended in 393 AD and was re-established in 1894 under these same ideas of peace and unity.

Fast forward to today, one can visit the official Olympics website and find the goal of the games to be much the same. The goal reads as follows: “The goal of the Olympic Movement is to contribute to building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport practiced without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.”

Without being long winded, let’s dissect a few elements. First, “build a peaceful and better world”. Is it more peaceful to make fun of the world’s most historic and largest religion in the opening ceremonies in a wildly innappropriate and offensive manner? Next, “without discrimination of any kind” and “a spirit of…fair play.” Who exactly gets to define what discrimination is? Who decides what is fair play? Is it the athletes, the collective voices of the nations competing, the government of the host nation, or the Olympics committee?

I absolutely agree with the goals and ambition of the Olympics, and I applaud our many athletes for representing the US in these games as well as all athletes throughout the world. But from all that I have seen from the promotional side of the Olympic games, they have fallen far short of the goal of unity and peace. Rather, I would say they just lobbed metaphorical bombs of intolerance and hate all over the world under the banner of “tolerance and human rights.” In a word…wokeism.

Moving forward, I would like to see politics completely removed from the Olympics as it was originally intended. Athletes can share their beliefs lovingly with one another and create bonds across the world, and we as fans can watch and support our nations without being ostracized and offended. But if this is not the case and we’re going to start being political and controversial with each session of the games, then I look forward to lobbying for the next Olympics to celebrate Jesus Christ as the savior of the world who conquered death for all that believe and worship in Him. We’ll then see what is more effective…a bunch of men in drag making fun of the Last Supper, or a celebration of the Lord God who created the universe and who deeply loves all of His people. For the sake of moving hearts and saving souls, I’d put my emphasis on the latter.

By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help start your week.

Before this summer’s trip to New England, we made a very tentative list of some things we thought might be interesting to see or do along the way.  Some of those places were simply of some interest to us, some just because we’d be close, and some were historical places we might not see again.  One of those such places I wanted to see was Plymouth Harbor and the Plymouth Rock.

Now, if you pep yourself up, expecting to see something extraordinary, grand, unbelievable, and huge, then you might be disappointed.  I knew Plymouth Rock was just a rock that marked the spot where the pilgrims landed so many years ago on the Mayflower.  And just a rock it is.

Granted, that rock has been surrounded by a large ornate structure of columns and a roof.  Iron fencing surrounds the rock itself.  As Momma would say, “You may look, but you can’t touch.”

It’s just a rock.  But that rock represents so much more.  It represents a new world.  It stands for freedom OF religion, not FROM it.  It stands for struggles and hardships – both those left behind and those to come.  That rock represents life itself where so many people had wondered if they would ever really have one.

You and I have friends who question why we bother to attend church.  They say it’s just a building.  It’s just a place filled with messed up people.  It’s just some place else to have to go when their week is already so full of other things.  I’m here to tell you that it’s so much more than that.

The church is a place where hurting people have traveled in order to get away from the terrible world, if but for a little while.  The church is a structure meant not to keep us away, but to have a safe place to gather.  The church is a place where we have the freedom to worship as we please.  It’s where we bring our hardships and our struggles, leave them at the altar, and re-boost our courage and strength to wear the armor of God and face the struggles and hardships of the week ahead.  It’s place we all need to go.

You can avoid the church if that’s what you really want.  Or, you can go, but with the attitude that you’ll be disappointed.  And that may be exactly what will happen.  The church, as so many have said, is not meant to be a museum for the saints, but a hospital for the sinners.  We are all broken, just like that big famous Plymouth Rock, with the glue and repairs of the Master to hold us back together.  And like that rock at Plymouth Harbor, we children of God have been marked by His hand and surrounded by His loving care.

As you plan the activities and journeys of your week ahead.  I pray your road takes you to the church house – the one built upon the Rock.  You’ll be glad you experienced it for yourself.

Just a thought.

By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help start your week.

Those of you who read these for the photos may be slightly disappointed in this one.  But let me explain.  Although the picture makes it somewhat difficult to discern what city it is, I know because I took the photo.  It belongs to me, I have studied it, and I remember having been there.  It’s a fascinating place.  Trust me.

I snapped several pictures, actually, as youngest daughter and I rode in our Amtrak seats, having just left Penn Station following a full day of walking in New York City.  The train rattled along, and we took advantage of those first few minutes to take in the horizon, trying our best to pinpoint familiar landmarks.  I’ve numbered two of them for you in the picture.

Way to the back of the photo are Number 1, on the left, and Number 2, on the right.  The building I’ve labeled as Number 1 is the newest World Trade Center.  It was amazing to see.  The 9/11 Memorials are also a breath-taking experience.  If you walk the three miles in distance toward what I have labeled as Number 2, you will arrive at the Empire State Building, also an impressive place to see and visit.  Oddly enough, driving around the streets of the city brings the distance between the two places to nearly six and a half miles.

Those 2 very tall buildings look incredibly tiny in the photo.  You must zoom in, look closely, and study the picture in order to identify those landmarks.

I wonder how many times we tote our Bibles around, leave them laying on a nearby table, thumb through the pages for a daily devotional time, and even read or perhaps memorize a verse or two, and yet we never really zoom in and study what’s deep inside.

It is an impossible task to take in everything in New York City in one day, but we crammed in as much as we possibly could, even snapping these photos as the Big Apple disappeared from our sight.  

As you travel through the Scriptures this week, whether in your private study time or in corporate worship or group Bible study discussion, take the time to really look into the Word.  Very likely, there are some big things way down inside that you will miss if you simply scan over the verses.  Zoom in, study it, visit those places in God’s Word, and take in as much as you possibly can.

Study, look, the answers to your questions and concerns are in there.  Trust me.

Just a thought.

By Ryan Kelly –

On July 30, 1956, Congress passed a resolution declaring ‘IN GOD WE TRUST’ as the new the national motto of the United States. This replaced E pluribus unum, a Latin phrase meaning “out of many, one” as the national motto.

Today, I believe we take for granted the reasoning for this motto and the purpose behind it. Remember, in 1956 the US had recently won World War II and was on a moral high. Soldiers returned from a brutal war, and the nation had placed its faith in the Lord as much as ever during a very dark time. Much like the Israelites after a victory during the time of the Judges, the US was in a great place due to the Lord’s favor.

Congress declared this motto in part from Psalm 91:

“Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
    will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress,
    my God, in whom I trust.’”

It is amazing that our nation adopted such a powerful scripture as the motto for all Americans to live by. God’s hand was on our country, and you can clearly see the result of this faithfulness that we have seen. However, unfortunately through all of the growth and success, people have lost sight of the reason behind the success. Much like the Israelites during the time of Judges, we have ventured away from the core of our nation’s faith through every passing generation. We are now in a position where less than half of our nation professes to have faith in Jesus Christ, and almost certainly a smaller portion than this truly places Jesus as the Lord of their life.

Our nation MUST return to trusting in the Lord for our salvation. We must not lean on politicians, on the military, and certainly not on money. The God that we serve controls these things, uses these things, and can easily take these things away. Our faith must not be in human hands but on the things of the Lord. His protection and His might are all that we need to sustain us. When we truly turn the nation back to the Lord and place our collective faith in Him, only then we will return to the spiritual peace in which we all search.

By Brad Campbell

Hi all. Just a thought to help start your week.

When you hear mention of New York City, what comes to your mind? Do you think of nice dinners, Broadway shows, and unlimited entertainment? Do you think of noise, taxi cabs with horns honking, and lots and lots of people all in a hurry to get somewhere? Do you think of the bright lights and excitement?

I snapped this picture on a brief visit to the Big Apple this summer. I believe it shows a little of the excitement of that city. Youngest daughter traveled with me by train from our point of origin in Connecticut for a full day of all that we could manage to see of New York City. She was excited to be experiencing this part of our trip. As a matter of fact, the New York visit was at her compelling request. We rode into Penn Station and hit the ground running. We walked all over the place. We hopped on and off the subway trains several times. We managed to find and see most of what we had hoped to see.

What struck me the most, though, and had done me the same way on my only other previous visit to that city, was the incredible number of people. People everywhere – elbow to elbow, rushing, pushing, rapidly going somewhere, anywhere. It was a very busy place to be.

To contrast all of this, part of my Sunday this past weekend was spent at a camp house deep in the woods. Sitting on a hill, hidden from view of anything but the animals in their natural habitat, facing a quiet pond, it was a very peaceful place to be.

I’ve often said that there’s a part of me that would be happy in either of two places like those I’ve just mentioned. I believe I’d be happy in an apartment in a big city, where I’m within walking distance of anything and everything I could want. But there’s also a big part of me that would love to live way out in the woods somewhere, away from anything and everything, venturing back into town only when necessary.

As a Christian, I look forward to the eternity I will spend in Heaven with the Lord. It will be loud and noisy with praises and hymns and music. It will be filled with people who have been on amazing journeys to get there. There will be feasts much better than the Nathan’s hotdog and fries we ate on a busy NYC sidewalk. But Heaven for me also means the quiet and peaceful solitude of sitting on the porch with Jesus, basking in His glory, feeling the gentle breeze, and watching the winds blow the waters just below us while the birds and windchimes sing their melodies together.

I guess what I’m saying is this – Where are you most at ease, most comfortable, and the most at peace? Your answer may be somewhere like New York City, or it may be somewhere like the backwoods of anywhere else. As long as you spend your time with Jesus, any place is a great place to be.

Take Him with you on your adventures this week. It makes the trip all-the-more glorious!
Just a thought.Till later,Brad

By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help start your week.

Our recent New England trip afforded us many opportunities for adventure.  One particularly interesting place we visited was the Mark Twain Home and Museum in Hartford, Connecticut.  The sprawling house itself is a masterpiece to behold.  The weather was beautiful, so we took our time wandering the grounds before heading inside to see the exhibits and make some photos.

Having grown up in Mississippi, the stories of Mark Twain have always been fascinating to me.  I was excited to get to see a first edition copy of “Tom Sawyer” and the other things on display.  That particular house has been called by some, “the loveliest home that ever was.”

Even thought of in those terms, it was truly just a house, as was the home of Emily Dickinson that we visited in Amherst, Massachusetts, and the boyhood home of Theodor Geisel (long before he became Dr. Seuss) in Springfield, Massachusetts.  Fascinating they were to see.  But, in the end, they were just houses where some historically famous person had once dwelt.

When you visit your particular church house on any given worship day, are you visiting the Lord’s house, or are you just visiting a house where someone nice used to live?  By asking that, I mean this, does the Lord truly dwell among you and your fellow worshipers when you have gathered in His name to worship Him?  Do you go to church expecting to have an encounter with Him, or are you just expecting to visit a nice place, have a nice feeling, and get out at a nice time?

We took with us to each of those locations an expectation to experience something we’d never experienced before.  We went with high hopes and with photograph-taking-capabilities in hand, so as to not miss a single thing we encountered.  

I can’t help but wonder how many of us simply step into the church house expecting just a place, instead of stepping into the Lord’s house expecting to experience Him.

A house is a house is a house.  And one day the houses of Twin, Dickinson, Seuss, and others will all be gone.  What will remain are the memories and the experiences.  What is of this earth will one day be gone as well.  Gather all you can, experience all you dare, let your mind’s eye capture all it can take in, and then take those God-given experiences out into the world to share with someone who hasn’t seen it!

That’s our charge.  Our challenge.  His command for us.  Go, and tell.  For they may not see it otherwise.

Just a thought.

By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help start your week.

It was a rainy, dreary, very cool day.  We had not fully prepared ourselves.  I had one jacket, but it wasn’t really water proof, just repellant to a point.  And we only had one umbrella between the three of us.  I dropped wife and daughter off as close as I could and drove back up the hill to find (and pay for!) a parking space, before walking back down the hill in the cold drizzle.  Believe it or not, this was one of the things about which we were the most excited to do on our trip.

We had reached the coast of Maine.  There on a cliff at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean was an operational lighthouse.  And we were able to visit it.  Although not allowed to climb it, all those who were there were allowed to roam the grounds to our heart’s content and to take in some of the most beautiful God-created scenery and sounds.

Lighthouses such as this one, called the Head Light, were built for one purpose – to warn passing ships of the danger of the rocks and cliffs along the shore.  Indeed, there is a memorial there for one such ship that wrecked and sank many years ago.

A lighthouse is to stand tall, just like you see here, shine its warning lights into the darkness, and make folks aware of the life-threatening dangers of the surrounding dark waters.  This lighthouse had performed her duties well for many decades.

As a Christian, I am to be a lighthouse.  I am to be a Head Light, shining in the darkness.  I am to warn others of the life-threatening dangers of trying to navigate this old world in the darkness of sin.  I am to continue to shine even when some ignore the warnings and head straight for disaster.  I am to stand tall and keep His light shining through me.

By the time we left that lighthouse, we were cold and pretty much soaked, but it all seemed worth it.  What more could you expect from a lighthouse visit than to experience the unpleasantness that surrounds it?  It all seemed so fitting for our visit.  And we left there not complaining about the wet or cold, but thankful that we had the chance to visit.

This week, I invite you to visit THE Head Light.  Let the Lord shine His light into the dark places of your life and lead you on to safety.  You may still experience the roughness of the waves, but you can be saved from the darkness.  It’s an experience you can’t forget.

Just a thought.

By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help start your week.

Goals are important.  Without a goal, where would a kicker aim his potential field goal kick?  Without a goal, where would a player launch his basketball?  Without a goal in mind, at what point would a dieter stop, or a weightlifter quit?  You get the point.

A few years ago, our daughters fixed us this canvas marked with the words “50 states in 50 years.”  Our family loves to travel.  You may have figured that out by now!  And it doesn’t have to be very far or very expensive.  We just enjoy it.  So my wife and I, aided by the prodding of our girls, set a goal to visit all 50 of the United States together by the time we have been married 50 years.  We’ve been behind schedule until the last couple of years, and now we’ve caught up and slightly surpassed our anniversary number by our state number.

Our map now has 36 states painted in, and we have plans to make it to another couple before the year is out.  That’s a realistic goal, and it’s one we have committed to completing.

Maybe you’ve set a goal to read the Bible in a year’s time.  Maybe you’ve set an employment goal, a weight loss goal, or simply a goal to remain positive for as long as possible for one single day.  Work for your goals.  Set your mind to it.  Stay committed.

You might get a little behind.  But don’t stop.  You might even get a little ahead.  But don’t allow yourself to slack off either.  Keep the course.  Run the race.  After all, this life of ours here on this earth brings with it a goal.  Specifically as Christians, our goal should be to live more like Jesus every day.

Start small.  Get out of bed in the morning with the goal of thanking the Lord for another day.  And follow through with it!  Later, you might set larger goals.  Work toward the end.  

And keep in mind that it does take work and discipline.  We visited and explored all six of the New England states very recently, and our feet and knees are still talking to us about it.  Sometimes goals bring pain.  Ah, but in the end, it’s ALL worth it!  I promise!

Just a thought.

By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help start your week.

I am a sucker for a beautiful sunset.  One reason is the utter beauty of it all.  Another, honestly, is because of the time of day.  I very seldom have ever seen the sun rise!  However, I’ve witnessed countless sunsets, and every one is amazing in its own way.

I took this sunset photo from the Gulf, just at the end of the long pier at Navarre Beach, Florida.  The winds were cool.  The waters were full of God’s creatures swimming about.  There was plenty of activity and talking from the crowd of folks standing behind me.  But, here, in this photo, there was nothing but God.

See His hands stirring up the waters.  See His big sky, filled with the fluffiest of all of His clouds.  See the sands of the beach, with grains so numerous only He knows how much there is.  And see the rays of His sun shining through those fluffy clouds, across the manmade buildings, the sandy shores, and waves of the ocean, right up to me.

It was as if that sunset was aimed directly at me, right where I stood.

I am so incredibly thankful that the Son of God shines from Heaven above and comes directly to where I am.  Even with the clouds of life.  Even with the manmade interruptions and distractions.  Even across rough sandy walkways and long wooden piers.  He reaches me.

Maybe what you need today is a quiet moment to watch His sunset.  In doing so, you may see the Son reaching out to you.

In addition, many of us have aged friends, family members, or church members who are quickly reaching the sunset of this life.  How glorious it can be to see them watch for the Son to reach out to them.

Wherever these warm summer months may take you in the travels of life, be it across the world, across the nation, or simply across the street, be always aware of His beautiful sunsets and “Son sets.”  As brief as they are, there’s nothing like it.

Just a thought.