A few days ago in Iowa, a white woman drove her car onto the sidewalk running over a fourteen year old girl because she "was a Mexican." In a church in White Settlement, a gunman opened fire, killing two members of the congregation before he was killed by armed members of the church. In a … Continue reading December 31, 2019 →

A few months ago, my doctor convinced me to eat a plant based diet. This has made eating at restaurants a challenge. Last week, Shannon and I were in Austin. It was time to eat so, out of curiosity, I looked up vegan restaurants on my phone. I am not making this up. There are … Continue reading December 30, 2019 →

Rerun Daily Devotional December 27, 2017 Two of the three grandchildren were sick at Christmas. That means the hayride trailer I rebuilt sits in the driveway waiting for its inaugural hayride, the gifts are still in their wrapping paper under the Christmas tree, and Shannon had to freeze all the food she had made for … Continue reading December 27, 2019 →

Today is a very depressing day for me. Not because I have to go back to work - I love my job. It's depressing because Shannon is a woman on a mission. She always puts up our Christmas decorations early and as soon as Christmas is over, she takes them down. This afternoon, when I … Continue reading December 26, 2019 →

Tonight is Christmas Eve and I am pumped. We have three completely different types of worship services so it’s kind of like chaos on steroids. There will be kids hopped up on sugar, mothers worried that all the food isn’t cooked, and father’s panicking when they see “Some Assembly Required” on the boxes of their … Continue reading December 24, 2019 →

Yesterday at church, both Melanie and Cherri said they had received suspicious text messages that had my name but a strange phone number. I asked that the texts be sent to me. They both did. This is what Melanie sent: Pastor Tom, Because my technological skills are lacking, this is the only way I could … Continue reading December 23, 2019 →

Rerun from Daily Devotional December 12, 2016 This past weekend, my family had its annual Robbins’ Christmas. The entire clan gathered at my parent’s home in the country. We had the best time seeing brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, grandparents, and of course, my grandchildren. While I dearly love my entire family, I spent most of … Continue reading December 20, 2019 →

This year, Melanie headed up our Angel Tree Ministry. We sponsored eighty-seven children. You’d think it would be an easy task, but as usual, there is always the unforeseen. While Melanie has had good luck in contacting the parents about the time to pick up their children’s gifts, she has had trouble getting ahold of … Continue reading December 19, 2019 →

Last week I was on vacation. It was a thrilling experience in which Shannon had me clean out the garage. When I was busy with the garage, Shannon walked in and excitedly said, "Isn't it fun to clean the garage?" What is wrong with that woman? No one likes cleaning out the garage. That's like … Continue reading December 18, 2019 →

Recently, I asked Shannon to buy me a new pair of reading classes because I had broken my only pair. When she returned from the store, I looked suspiciously at my new glasses. I didn’t say anything negative because she had been kind enough to get them for me. The best way to describe them … Continue reading December 17, 2019 →