​ Three cheers for Dunkin Donuts!   Woohoo!   Recently I was visiting family in another state while some of them were on vacation.   Wonderfully, I was asked to watch my grandkids, to which I was extatically willing to do.   My daughter-in-law, who is a joy, wanted to make everything as comfortable and pleasant for me as possible.   So, one morning, when a new franchise of Dunkin Donuts was opening, she got in line at 4:50am to see if she could take advantage of their Grand Opening special offer of “free coffee” for the next year.   To my benefit, she was awarded this prize.
 
Upon my arrival at their new home, I was given a grand tour, explanations of the school drop offs and pickups, and what to find in the surrounding neighborhood.   On the refrigerator I was shown a set of coupons for a free cup of coffee from the local Dunkin Donuts.   As a long-time coffee coinsurer, I was pleased that it was Dunkin!   So, onto Dunkin I go on that first morning of drop off at the local school.   Before I go any further, I want to explicitly state that my comments here are not meant to be negative or discriminatory in any way, but instead, realistic and complimentary.
 
As I entered the parking lot the line for drive-thru extended around the building and beyond.   I decided that since I was in no real hurry I would simply park and go inside.   It was a great choice!   As I entered the store, I could tell that the “newness” had not yet worn off, as everything was sparkling clean and the smell of fresh-baked donuts was fantastic.   As I approached the counter to place my order, it was clear that the staff was super busy.   So, I do what I usually do, I watched.
 
“Welcome to Dunkin, what can I get for you” remarked the young lady behind the counter?   “I’ll have a medium black coffee” I said.   I went on to show her the coupon my daughter-in-law had given me, and she asked if I wanted any cream, sugar or anything else with my order.   “No thank you, that will be it!”   Again, in no way being critical, the young woman appeared to be a bit “flustered” and not quite sure how to handle it.   She put my order in the computer, scanned my coupon and said “It will be ready in a few moments.”   “Wonderful.”
 
So again, I watched.   In the area of the coffee making machines was a middle-aged woman preparing the plethora of coffee orders coming from the counter and the drive-thru.  She too was a bit flustered.   But to her credit, she was “getting-it-done!”  
 
“I hate coming to this place” a man behind me said out loud.   Clearly, he was upset that his order was taking too long, as his patience was running short!   At this time the staff could sense his frustration, so to clear the air his order was processed immediately.   I can’t help but say, I doubt that he could have done better than what I was watching.   Kudos to the staff!  
 
It appeared that the counter person and person preparing the large intake of orders were trained but probably needed more time and experience to become completely competent.   But here’s where I get to the point to this whole story.   The attitude in the store, from all the other workers, of whom I assume was at least one manager, was nothing short of complimentary, encouraging and supportive!   Unfortunately, in so many cases that I have witnessed in the past, new employees that are still experiencing the “learning curve” are demeaned and made to feel incompetent or foolish.   Not the case at this Dunkin Donuts!   What a great place to be hired into!   I only wish I lived in this town!   Great job Dunkin, whoever runs this store needs a huge pat-on-the-back!
 
The Christian principle I see here is one of compassion.   It’s one that Jesus exemplified in His ministry.   The management at this facility showed understanding while holding the staff accountable yet compassionately nurturing with the employees while they learned and figured out how to apply their new knowledge and understanding to their lives.   Isn't that what we are supposed to do with our understanding of who Jesus is?
 
NOTE TO SELF: Next time donuts or coffee need to be ordered, go to Dunkin!

All I wanted was a loaf of sour dough bread, that’s all!   But no!   What you want, and what’s available are not always the same.  There were all kinds of sizes, varieties, flour, added ingredients and such that the entire isle in the store was filled to the brim.   I never realized that there was such variety, never really paid attention, I guess.   Hmmm, I’ll bet the Israelites would have gone nuts shopping for bread before the great exodus!
 
Oh yeah, and I needed a gallon of vanilla ice cream.   Whoa, I guess I should have brought a dietician along with me!   Regular vanilla (I think), fat free, low sugar, vanilla bean, French vanilla, all of them with luring verbiage that “they” were the best choice!   I picked the cheapest one.   Onto my final shopping assignment … Ginger Ale.   OK, this choice was not so bad.   There were only seven choices, unless I wanted to get into the “low-calorie” ones.   Again, I grabbed the cheapest!
 
In the world today we have so many options and choices!   Sure, there are parts of the world where this is not the case.   Places where poverty runs rampant.   But here in the West, for the most part we are living in abundance, and it feels hypocritical.
 
How can I have so much food around me that I have a hard time choosing?   How can I have so many choices of food that my selection is not based on necessity or health, but on what I “feel” like trying, or what I “like” and how it makes me “feel” when I eat it?   All of this wrapped in a package of poverty and human hunger around me?  
 
Let’s be real.   At one point in my life, I didn’t care.   I didn’t.   My lot in life was a good one, and the lot for others was let’s say, not so good.   But I've come to realize that what Jesus said in Matthew 25 is the real deal.  
 
“Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”

Whoa!   If that doesn't floor you …!
 
Every time I satisfied my own desires without any cause of concern for the less fortunate, I ignored those that God has placed around me in my life!   Every time I pampered my stomach while listening to the groans of hunger around me, I denied the Lord that gave His life for mine.   I am guilty.   I am selfish, and I am embarrassed to have acted the way I did in the many years God has blessed me with.  
 
So, what is my penance?   What is the atonement that I must make, that is if I should choose so?   Is there any way of repairing the damage that I have willfully created?   No, not really.   It’s done, gone, behind me, there is no way of correction that I can see.   Only God Himself can correct mistakes that have been made throughout time, but only if He chooses to.   At this point I have only two options.   First, I can simply ignore it and forget it.   Afterall, that’s their lot in life, mine just happens to be better!  
 
The other option is the most difficult.   Since I can’t change my past behaviors or their effects, I can only ask for forgiveness and change my outlook and behaviors in order to follow the calling of God.    As referenced above, whatever I do, or don’t do for those around me, I do or don’t do for Christ.   It seems that human free will leaves much to be desired when it comes to being a follower of Jesus.   Just sayin …
 
NOTE TO SELF: It’s never too late to repent, be forgiven and change … just sayin …

​“Doing What It Says” means taking God at face value.    It means that God is still on the throne, holy and perfect and does not need our help in guiding the world toward holiness; we just need to accept His definition of it.   In becoming devoted Disciples of Jesus Christ, we need to accept God’s guidelines for what is acceptable behavior and what is not.   Just because we “feel” a certain way or because we were “born” a certain way does not give us the right to call it “normal” or “acceptable.”   We were born in sin and consequently many of our feelings, desires, understandings etc. are sinful in nature.  
 
I’m sure that Moses didn’t agree with God on many things.   Was it fair that God sent all those plagues?   Was it right that God drown the Egyptian Army in the sea?   How about Abraham, asking him to sacrifice his son?   What about Adam and Eve, after all they had permission to eat everything else in the Garden!
 
Regardless of where you stand on the many issues surrounding our obedience to Scripture, you always end up asking certain questions:
 
Is God’s Word really God’s Word?
Is the Bible really inspired by Him?
Is it relevant for today?
Why do some things no longer apply as they use to?
Would it be right for God to leave us guessing?
 
NOTE TO SELF: Jesus said that the faithful would experience opposition, and ultimately raging conflict within our own hearts.   So, what will it be: God’s way or my way?

Mike was a young man with a new family.   His wife and he were building the American dream and literally had the small house, two kids, a dog all surrounded by a white picket fence.   Mike was a builder by trade and very meticulous about his work.   Many of his project houses were listed every year in the Parade of Homes due to his eye for quality and detail.   Life was good and the family seemed very happy and secure, but one day that all changed when Mike enrolled in school to become a Pastor.
 
This was only somewhat of a shock at the time as Mike had been growing in his faith for many years.   He became more involved at his church, started attending small groups and spending more and more time in the Scriptures.   While Mike felt that his life was flowering into something new and beautiful his wife did not.   She felt abandoned and felt like she had lost her husband to something else.   As time went on the arguments became uglier and the time they spent away from each other seemed to fuel the fires even more.   Finally, the camel’s back broke.   Mike’s wife felt that her marriage was going down a path that would be unrecoverable.   She felt ordinary, not appreciated, abandoned and empty.
 
While Mike was becoming more and more involved with his faith, growing and now going to pastoral licensing school, his wife was also becoming more involved at her work.   She was starting to sense the attention and affection of a co-worker.   Over the months, Mike missed the signs of a deteriorating marriage until the day she finally told him she was having an affair.   This rocked his belief in God to the core.   “After all I’m doing for God how could He let this happen?”   Mike felt that since he was following the path God had carved out for him that God was left with the responsibility to keep everything else “in order!”   Wrong!   Mike was putting God to the test!
 
While we are to “Do What It Says” (follow the call of Christ in our lives) we are not to ignore the other responsibilities God has entrusted to us.   Mike had family responsibilities that he had walked away from.   He ignored those that he loved because of his enthusiasm for his new-found life direction.   In essence he had replaced his family with his ministry calling.   In his subconscious, Mike was also looking forward to “God owing” him because of his service in Pastoral Ministry.   Mike’s enthusiasm got the best of him!
 
To be faithful to the calling of God we must remember that God will never ask us to do something that is wrong.   God is good and the plans He executes in the world through us are good too!   These plans are many times difficult, misunderstood and laden with hardship, but they are always good.   We have to remember that “good” in God’s eyes is much different than “good” in humanities eyes.   God is always moving forward toward the eternal redemption of His creation while our attention is many times very temporal.  
 
In the fall of 2015, I had the opportunity to spend some time with Mike at a seminar we were both attending.   Things had progressed in his family situation to a full-blown ugly divorce that included using the kids as pawns.   Mike was extremely depressed.   One day in the middle of a class Mike turned to me and said; “I really blew it!   I mentally and emotionally walked out on my family …. now it’s just done.”  
 
As the months went on Mike did his best to become the father and husband that he knew God wanted him to be.   He found out that he could serve God as a pastor and be a loving father and partner at the same time.   It was difficult, as most things God calls us to do are, but he prayerfully started to seek God’s help and guidance to do them all.   The good news is that Mike and his wife started “dating” once again.   Truly God was healing their marriage.
 
As in all situations where we are torn between living out God’s plans in our lives, we have to remember that those plans do not include abandoning the loved ones He has giving to us or expecting God to clean up our trail of broken commitments.  
 
NOTE TO SELF: Don’t abandon those lovely people God has given to you!   


​

The biggest problem for individuals that want to serve Christ, is that they don’t know where to start.   I have a great idea, start by serving either as a greeter or nursery helper in a place of worship.   Both of these ministries are usually understaffed, so check in with the ministry leader for each and get plugged in.   How hard is it to welcome someone to church or change a diaper?   Neither of these ministries is complicated or require great skill, they just require a willing heart.   That’s the key: willingness.  
 
Mark 10:38
"You don't know what you are asking," Jesus said. "Can you drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?"

In this setting the disciples wanted to follow Jesus without completely understanding what they were getting into.   I believe we can admire their faith and choices at this point even though Jesus points out to them that they could never endure all that He was going to.   Their hearts were willing to step into the unknown regardless of how extreme it was going to be.   They were eager to follow but unrealistic as to what it would cost them.   At this point the disciples were relying on their own strength, fortitude and reasoning to be able to walk in Jesus’ shoes.   It wasn’t until later, after the ascension, that the disciples were ready to go forth with the help, strength and wisdom of the Holy Spirit.   That’s the deal … it is God through the Holy Spirit that provides the wisdom, strength and fortitude to do His will, not the human intellect, stamina or persona.   Our job is to simply be willing …. regardless of the path or outlook!
 
Question to consider: Are you?

​I love this program!   The men and women on this program risk life and limb for the sole purpose of catching crabs and making a living.   These fishermen sail into the Bering Sea throughout the year in search of large healthy Ophelia crabs.   In many of the episodes I have watched the weather conditions were horrendous!   The risk is immense and these fishermen are faced with long endless hours of monotonous work, extreme cold, massive waves, hunger, illness and even death.   Without a doubt being a crab fisherman in the Bering Sea is one of the most hazardous jobs in the world.   One small slip into the frigid waters will leave the individual in a hopeless state of hypothermia.   Besides that, there is no guarantee that they will catch anything!
 
One-character trait I have observed about the men and women on this program has been their selfless sacrifice for the sake of their families.   They are willing to put themselves in harm’s way and endure countless hours of misery for the sake of providing for their loved ones.   We also see this type of trait with those in military service.   Our military service men and women have made the choice to protect our nation and their families by placing themselves on the firing line, and they do this by choice and dedication.
 
Jesus calls us into the same type of setting: placing ourselves into an uncomfortable or harsh situation for the sake of others.   Crab fishermen do it for income, our military do it in order to protect, we should do it in order to serve others in Christ’ name.   It all seems so simple, but in reality, unless we apply rule number 1 (It’s Not About You), it will never happen.
 
We also need to remember that Jesus dove headfirst into a deadly situation all for our sake.   He didn’t have to, He chose to, for you and me!   I must assume that Jesus, knowing the future, must have seen a great worth in placing Himself in that deadly position as compared to allowing us to fall into the future we were heading for.   Jesus chose to place Himself in harm’s way fully knowing that it would cost Him His life while saving ours.  
 
Isn’t it gratitude for this that should be an overwhelming motivator to serve Him in our lives?   Aren’t you moved to be a light for Him in the lives of others?   Friends, Jesus sacrificed Himself, in many ways, all for our opportunity to be forgiven and be reunited with God our Father.   Truly, nothing could separate Jesus from sacrificing Himself for our sake.
 
NOTE TO SELF: Hmmm … maybe “humanity is the deadliest catch?”

Today is April 2, 2026, and it appears that the world has gone completely crazy!   Political unrest, anything goes sexuality, cancel culture, and most Christians in the USA have become comfortable and “Luke-warm.”   I can’t imagine what the world will look like in a few years!   But regardless of what year it is, the message Jesus gave us regarding doing what the Bible says has not changed and never will.  In short, we are to be faithful in serving Christ in the world and into the next.  
 
Ephesians 4:1-3
"I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing forbearance to one another in love, 3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

We are to follow to the best of our abilities the pattern of living that Christ has demonstrated and confirmed.   This might make many of us uncomfortable, after all, I have certain plans and aspirations for my life!   I don’t need someone to tell me what to do!   No, I got this!
 
The Bible references various stories, quotations and ideologies in which we are to follow the “lead” of God and not human nature.   “Doing What It Says” (living according to the guidelines of Scripture) will most likely entail some difficult, unpalatable choices that you and I had never thought of before.   Peter never anticipated watching his family martyred in front of him because of his testimony regarding Christ.   Mother Teresa never thought she would end up in Calcutta watching people die on the street, and John Wesley never thought he would be riding around on a horse preaching to anyone that would listen in a field.   Nevertheless, God does things much differently than we ever would.
 
We simply must be ready to accept His will and to the best of our abilities, prepare ourselves for Him to work through us and be open to whatever He sees as fit.   Guess what, I never thought I’d be writing a blog!   But God uses people that are willing, that’s the key.   We must be willing to be used and ready to relinquish our calendar and personal understanding for His purposes.   Ya gotta trust Him!
 
NOTE TO SELF: Wonder what’s next?