Author: David Tyra

Once again we’re on the threshold of another new year. The sense of time passing faster only increases the older you get. An aging actor was once asked by an interviewer, “What is it like to get old?” He replied, “You eat breakfast every half hour.” When I first heard that, I thought he meant, he ate a lot. Then I realized he meant that it seems like morning comes every thirty minutes. I’m beginning to understand that.

I love the Book of Psalms, and Psalm 139 is one of my favorites. I am especially drawn to verse 16. The King James Version renders it this way:

Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.

The first phrase refers to our growth in the womb. The Hebrew word for substance was used to refer to “the body”. Unperfect means “unformed” or “unfinished”. The idea is that God was watching over you in His providential care from the very beginning of your existence, even before your birth.Read More

I love Christmas time. It was always my mother’s favorite time of year, too. It seems to come hurtling at us faster than it used to, and there always seems to be too much to do and too little time to do it. And I really don’t remember feeling so tired at Christmas time when I was a kid!

But I still love it. I love the Christmas trees (the Reformer Martin Luther was the first to decorate an evergreen tree – with real candles! – based on Isaiah 60:13); I love Saint Nicholas (he was the bishop of Lycia in the 4th century, who was noted for his love for the poor, especially in giving small bags of gold to children); and I love the gifts, which mirror the gifts that the Wise men brought to the Baby Jesus in Matthew 2:11, and which reflect the image of our Creator who “so loved the world that He gave His only Son” (John 3:16; see also Luke 11:13).Read More

I’m always a little uncomfortable during a “Pastor Appreciation Dinner”.

Don’t get me wrong: it’s very nice, and I am grateful for all the kind and affirming things you say to my wife and me, in person or in cards and notes. Pastor Lee Eclov says that a congregation feeds it’s pastor, as well as the pastor feeding the congregation. That is absolutely true, and your expressions of affirmation have fed my spirit, and my wife’s. So we’re both grateful. I am grateful.

But I’m always a little uncomfortable, too. After you have commended me for various things, I can’t help but think of this Scripture: “So likewise ye, when you shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.” (Luke 17:10 KJV)

And I sometimes wish I were really as good as some of you think I am.Read More

I’m going to tell you something I thought I’d never say (or put into writing): recently my wife and I decided to stop drinking coffee and wean ourselves off of caffeine. (Relax: this isn’t about trying to get you to do the same.)

If you know me at all, you’re probably surprised. For the last seventeen years or so I have drunk coffee, bought coffee, ground coffee and brewed coffee. I have read and researched coffee’s history and how to make it properly, at restaurant strength.

I have purchased my own whole beans and tried out several different kinds of grinders. I’ve collected a large assortment of coffee mugs (if you’ve been in our kitchen, you can testify). I’ve had many different kinds of coffee makers: drip makers, French presses, espresso machines, a stove top espresso maker, and a Keurig. I have all kinds of coffee gadgets, with which to measure, store, stir, foam, flavor and serve coffee.Read More

One morning recently my wife said to me, “I used to think that people who did the same thing everyday were boring. But I’ve come to realize how wonderful it is to do simple things: to get a good night’s sleep, to have breakfast at home, to have good food to eat and meaningful work to do, and to come home to your own place, to sit and rest at the end of the day. These things are all gifts.” I could only agree with her. I confess to having much the same thoughts myself.

Last Sunday night after the evening worship service, I was at home in my chair, sharing a bottle of ginger ale with my grandson, who was sitting on my lap. I’m always pretty spent by Sunday evening, but relieved, too: I got all three sermons done again this week! Yay! (Our daughter says that Sunday nights after church are the best time of the week in a preacher’s house.)

We’d had a bit of a surprise earlier that day: the plumbing had started backing up. Now that will complicate your life! But the plumber had promised to come in the morning, and we decided to take advantage of the showers at church before bedtime. (Bless whoever decided to put those in the building plans!) So there we were, just beginning to enjoy a slow Sunday night.Read More

Memory is a wonderful thing, but it is often a humbling thing, too. Sometimes my wife will look at me and ask, “What are you doing?” And I’ll say: “Trying to remember why I came in here!”

It’s not just older folks who have trouble with memory. Bill Cosby said that all teenagers are brain-damaged from smacking themselves in the head and saying: “…I forgot!”

Remembering is frustrating sometimes, especially when it comes to reading. Sometimes I’ll read something I’ve read before. I know I’ve read it it before, because I can see my notes in the margins and places where I’ve highlighted. I’ll think: “Oh, yeah: I’d forgotten this was in this book. This is really good stuff!” Sometimes I even make more notes and highlight more of the text, apparently thinking that just maybe it’ll work this time and I’ll remember it!Read More

The first time I remember hearing the word “providence” was when Michael W. Smith sang a bouncy song called Hand of Providence on Christian radio, back in 1988. There was also a TV show called Providence in the late ‘90s. Before that, I never really heard or used the word much. I had a pretty good theological education in college, but our group was always afraid someone might think we were Calvinists. So we shied away from anything that might be construed as “Calvinistic”…like the word “providence”.

That’s too bad, because what the Bible teaches about God’s providence is incredibly rich, mysterious and comforting. It’s one of those words that hardly appears in the Bible. It isn’t found in most modern translations, and only used once in the King James Version, in Acts 24:2. Some of the Apostle Paul’s accusers were trying to make their case against him before a Roman governor named Felix. They started by flattering Felix’s ego, saying: “…by thee we enjoy great quietness, and…very worthy deeds are done unto this nation by thy providence.” The English Standard Version renders the word “foresight”, and that is exactly the meaning. Pro- means “before”, and video means “to see”. Combined, it means “to see before”, or “to see what is needed beforehand, and make arrangements to meet that need”. This is exactly what someone is doing when they exercise “foresight”: they are seeing to something beforehand.Read More

Every Sunday Afternoon, after the morning service at the church, the Pastor and his eleven year old son would go out into their town and hand out Gospel Tracts. This particular Sunday afternoon, as it came time for the Pastor and his son to go to the streets with their tracts, it was very cold outside, as well as pouring rain. The boy bundled up in his warmest and driest clothes and said, “OK, dad, I’m ready.” His Pastor dad asked, “Ready for what? “Dad, it’s time we gather our tracts together and go out.” Dad responds, “Son, it’s very cold outside and it’s pouring rain.” The boy gives his dad a surprised look, asking, “But Dad, aren’t people still going to Hell, even though it’s raining?” Dad answers, “Son, I am not going out in this weather.” Despondently, the boy asks, “Dad, can I go?” His father hesitated for a moment then said, “Son, you can go. Here are the tracts, be careful son…” “Thanks Dad!”

And with that, he was off and out into the rain. This eleven year old boy walked the streets of the town going door to door and handing everybody he met in the street a Gospel Tract. After two hours of walking in the rain, he was soaking, bone-chilled wet and down to his very last tract. He stopped on a corner and looked for someone to hand a tract to, but the streets were totally deserted. Then he turned toward the first home he saw and started up the sidewalk to the front door and rang the doorbell. He rang the bell, but nobody answered. He rang it again and again, but still no one answered. He waited but still no answer. Finally, this eleven year old trooper turned to leave, but something stopped him. Again, he turned to the door and rang the bell and knocked loudly on the door with his fist. He waited, something holding him there on the porch!Read More