They say that time flies when you're having fun -- our version of the Latin tempus fugit. I'll certainly agree it flies when you're having fun, but I'm increasingly convinced it flies regardless. Tomorrow is March 1st; didn't we just have New Year's parties? Wasn't the Super Bowl last week? I'm pretty sure we still have Christmas ornaments hanging around somewhere from the Hanging of the Greens. How on earth are we already two months into 2018? As life gets more and more frantic -- and Americans show no sign of slowing down -- time will fly even more. But the idea of time passing all-too-quickly is found throughout the pages of Scripture. Moses, in Psalm 90:12, prays, "Teach us to number our

If one word seems to describes us all right now, it's "tired." Yesterday it seemed like most of us (the preacher included) were dragging a bit more than normal. We had a rough week as a church family. Family members passed away. Friends were diagnosed with cancer. The nation continues to reel after yet another shooting. And the list goes on. At this point, we're all worn out, and there's never enough sleep. In the midst of this, I remembered the chorus of a gospel song: How beautiful heaven must be Sweet home of the happy and free; Fair haven of rest for the weary, How beautiful heaven must be. We don't really sing "How Beautiful Heaven Must Be" these days. Like I've written previously, w

The first news I heard when I woke up this morning was the passing of Billy Graham at age 99. There aren't enough words to say what an incredible man he was, and I have no doubt his loss will be felt around the globe. He was listed in the Top Ten Most Trusted People for 57 years. One poll asking "Who has done the most for religion in the world?" placed him second -- beaten only by God. He personally met and prayed with every American president from Truman to Trump. By the standard estimates, his crusades drew a total crowd of nearly 215 million people, and his faithful evangelism led over 3 million souls to saving faith in Jesus Christ. That's what made Billy Graham so special, so unique. He

Today is Presidents' Day. The holiday was created in 1968 to act as a way to honor all presidents of the United States, but it is especially for George Washington and Abraham Lincoln -- hence the date falls between their two birthdays. Presidents' Day was fixed as the third Monday in February in 1971, but even before then, Washington's birthday had been celebrated as a day of remembrance for our first president; in fact, Washington's Birthday became a federal holiday in 1879 and was celebrated long before then. When we look back on the history of our presidents, some of course stand out more than others. While I'm not entirely convinced anyone will ever celebrate the birthdays of Martin Van

Today is Valentine's Day, which is great and all, but even more importantly, it's Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, the forty-day season of the church year leading up to Easter. Lent is a period of prayer and fasting, inviting us to remember and reflect upon Christ's forty days of fasting and temptation in the wilderness before he began his public ministry. In many ways, the road to cross begins today. Ash Wednesday itself is a rather unique day. Churches around the world will burn the palm leaves left over from last year's Palm Sunday celebrations, mix them with oil, and use them to make the sign of the cross on a person's forehead. The person administering ("imposin

Christians today, especially evangelical Christians living in the Bible Belt, fight what I truly consider an unnecessary war: a war against science. You all know my background: I come from a family of scientists and engineers and started my own college career along that path. So maybe I'm biased, but I just don't see how truth, actual truth, can pose a threat to our faith. It's time for us to stop fighting science and join together as allies. Science truly offers us the best way to know new facts about our universe. There are some things it can't answer, of course -- and we need to be aware of its limitations -- but it certainly provides a far more complete picture of the natural world than

I try to keep a week's worth of blogs written at a time. The key word there is "try"; I haven't managed it yet this year. Still, I prefer to stay ahead of the game and keep "spare" posts at the ready in case I don't have time to write something that day. I try to keep spares for a lot of things in life, a habit I come by honestly: my grandfather kept everything from backup VCR's to extra commodes. The Peterses do not like to need something in an emergency and not have one on hand. Unfortunately many people see their faith as a spare, a backup. If something in life totally falls apart, they pull out prayer or church attendance like a spare tire, drive on it until the main problem is fixed, th

I may have started at RSCC on Superbowl Sunday in 2016, but today marks my official two-year anniversary at Russell Springs Christian Church. The past two years have given me some of the greatest joys and deepest sorrows of my life, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I fully believe that God brought me to our church at just the right time for all of us. You needed me, and I needed you. I may have had a bit of a rocky start -- I'm not sure any of us were completely without confusion my first couple of months here -- but I'm proud of what God has accomplished through us since then. And so while some of you still give me fits, let me say that I love each and every one of you, and I am both h

I've seen it online as the sign for many churches. The churches themselves look buried in snow, and it seems the sign person had enough: "WHOEVER IS PRAYING FOR SNOW, PLEASE STOP." It's a funny sign, and it makes me chuckle every time. But there's also a belief behind the message: prayer works. Someone (or multiple someones) has been praying for snow, and that prayer was answered -- in spades. How do you stop the snow, then? Stop praying for it! Jesus tells us in Matthew 21:22, "If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." Earlier in Matthew, he says this: "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you" (Matt. 7:7). 1 J