“Who are you?” I asked Marvin when he came into the meeting room of the jail where I chaplain. I asked the same question to Crystal five or six years ago, and she answered with a big smile on her face, “A child of God.” Not a bad answer for someone who had come to […]
“Are you a 1 or a 2?” I asked 22 inmates on a recent Sunday afternoon Gideons’ Bible study at our county jail. They looked at me with blank stares. “A 1 is who you are without God. It’s who you want to be. It’s being self-conscious. A 2 is who you are with God. […]
J. left jail last week and declared that he wanted me to be his mentor and accountability coach as he transitioned from a life of drugs to a life with Christ. “I’m going to need your help, Pat, so I don’t get back into the drug life I had and so I become the man […]
In my hotel room in the Meyrick Hotel in Galway, Ireland, on April 13, 2019. “I have separated you unto Myself … to do My work.” Of course! I can’t separate myself. Jesus chose the 12 apostles. They did not choose Him. They did not volunteer to follow Him. John 15:16: “You did not choose […]
I got back home this past Saturday from the better part of two weeks in Ireland. One of the features of this trip was visiting churches in the cities I stayed at. Before I tell you of this particular highlight of my trip, I must tell you that I am very, very Irish and have […]
Definition: A Plus One is a person who accompanies someone to a party or other event when the invitation allows the invited guest to bring another person. My wife and I were at a family wedding near San Francisco this past weekend, and I got to meet and talk to a number of people I […]
I’ve found that a good spiritual exercise is to see myself standing before Jesus in heaven and listening to what He has to say to me. This particular episode occurred on December 21, 2021. “I am standing before you, Jesus, in the City of Light, and You ask, ‘What did you do for Me in […]
Sitting on a white bench on the Khyber Road in the middle of Phoenix Park on the western edge of Dublin, Ireland, on a windy day. October 5, 2018 The wind blows from behind me, but I don’t know where it comes from. And it passes by me into the trees on the other side […]
For it is the least among you all who is the greatest. Luke 9:48 The following took place at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, an Anglican church in Dublin, Ireland, on May 11, 2016. This morning at 9:00 Matins, I sat two pews behind an old woman in a shawl who caught my attention. After the service, […]
“Do you like mysteries?” the young man asked the old man the next morning. “I am confounded by mysteries,” he said, “especially concerning the cross. I understand that redemption took place on the cross, but why a cross?” The young man looked straight into his eyes as if He could see right through him, which […]