Last night, the New York Knicks won the NBA Championship after a drought of 53 years. Good for them. I watched very little of the playoffs, but I did monitor the different series, taking less interest when my (favored) Denver Nuggets lost in the first round to the Minnesota Timberwolves. I was pleased when the San Antonio Spurs took out the Timberwolves and went on to defeat top-ranked and reigning champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder. I thought how can San Antonio miss with the tallest player in the game, Victor Wembanyama?

The guy on the left is 6’3″. Wembanyama is 7’4″

The Knicks, however, went on a historic run. Down two games to one in their first playoff series, they won three in a row to beat the Atlanta Hawks. Then they won another eight straight games, sweeping both the Philadelphia 76ers and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

But can they beat the Spurs?

• The Spurs won 9 more games in the regular season than the Knicks. Didn’t matter. The Knicks extended their winning streak by two more games, winning the first two games against the Spurs (in San Antonio!). 13 consecutive wins in the playoffs before losing the third game in their best of seven series with the Spurs.
• Spurs had 7’4″ Wembanyama. Didn’t matter.
• Spurs had double-digit leads in four of the five games. Didn’t matter.
  • Knicks came back in their first game against the Cavaliers, down by 22 in the fourth quarter.
  • In the fourth game of the finals, Spurs were up 29 (not a typo – 29) points late in the third quarter. Knicks came back to win game 4.
  • At one point in game 5, the Knicks were down by 16. They were down by 15 late in the third quarter, before rallying to win game 5 and take the championship.

As sometimes happens, David defeats Goliath, and the Knicks defeated the Spurs four games to one to win their first NBA title since 1973.

And the king of Israel answered, “Tell him, ‘Let not him who straps on his armor boast himself as he who takes it off.’ ” (1 Kings 20.11, ESV)

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. (1 Corinthians 9.24, ESV)

Seth Godin wrote on May 20, 2026, about changing the function of something that already exists:

Functional transformation doesn’t ask us to build something new from scratch. It requires us to look at what already exists and see possibilities others have missed.

This is how industries evolve. Not always through invention, but through transformation.

Sometimes, we make an impact by transforming the function of what already exists.

It’s the kind of thing Neil Hudson advocates in his book Imagine Church (strongly recommend). He calls the concept “the one-degree shift.” For example, how could the worship service hour be used more fruitfully? Already, I notice, our new pastor has put the meet/greet time earlier in the service and makes it last longer. That certainly adds to community and “fellowship.”

Here’s an idea: No matter where I’m preaching, no one can stop me from adding a meditation minute at the end, having them think and pray about what they want to apply. I’m going to try it when I preach on June 28. I have added this to the end of the sermon:

Let’s pray and as we do, I want to give you a few minutes to look back over the text and any notes you might have made. James 1.22 says, “Do not  merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says!” What does God want you to do with what you heard this morning?

Let’s take a couple of minutes to ask Him…

I’ll let you know how it turns out.

Every day my computer selects a picture from that day in some previous year. On May 16, 2026, it showed me this picture:

It’s Mark on May 16, 2025, showing us for the first time the house that we now live in. “I just want to get an idea of the kind of house you might like when you decide to move.” “We like this one! How can we get it?”

Seven weeks after we saw it for the first time, we had been in it for two days! That was a fast seven weeks, including:

• Getting a bridge loan application in process
• Spending two weeks on Grand Cayman Island
• Enjoying a week’s visit with son David and family from Atlanta
• Starting packing
• Hosting daughter Melody and her daughter Liana for Matt’s wedding on June 29 in the old house.
• Finishing packing June 30 and July 1.
• Moving on July 2.

A fast seven weeks.

A slow 17 weeks after that, we closed on our old house. It seemed like a long wait at the time:

• Trusting and waiting, July 30, 2025
• Still waiting, September 15, 2025
• Faith Lessons, October 11, 2025
• God humbles himself (to meet needs), October 23, 2025

We closed on October 31, and when all the dust settled, we had a new house and about $100,000 more in our accounts than when we started the process. As I say, a long 17 weeks with a lot of unknowns.

But now? It’s a year later and “That’s the six months we spent buying a new house, moving, and selling the old house.” Time perspective.

One of my Cousin Joyce’s daughters posted a photo tribute on Facebook after Joyce’s passing that closed with, “See you in a minute.” True.

But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. (2 Peter 3.8, ESV)

I promised an encouraging story from my friend Mike Oldham, on the Executive Leadership Team of the American Baptists, Rocky Mountain Region. Mike got the story from black pastor Otis Moss III whom Mike heard at a conference.

The story is about a concert in Köln (Cologne), Germany, 1975. Here’s the startling opening of the Wikipedia version, worth the read in its entirety:

The Köln Concert is a live solo double album by pianist Keith Jarrett recorded at the Opera House in Köln, West Germany on 24 January 1975 and released on ECM Records later that year.  It is the best-selling solo album in jazz history and the best-selling piano album.

“The best-selling solo album in jazz history and the best-selling piano album.” Wow. You can hear part of the concert here. But it’s the backstory that captured Otis Moss’s attention:

At Jarrett’s request, Brandes [the concert promoter] had selected a Bösendorfer 290 Imperial concert grand piano for the performance.

[Bob’s note: the Bösendorfer Imperial is nearly 10 feet long. Most concert grands are 9 feet. The Bösendorfer has nearly an extra octave of low range: 97 keys (not 88), 8 full octaves.]

However, there was some confusion by the opera house staff and instead they found another Bösendorfer piano backstage—a much smaller baby grand piano—and, assuming it was the one requested, placed it on the stage. The error was discovered too late for the correct Bösendorfer to be delivered to the venue in time for the evening’s concert. The piano they had was intended for rehearsals only and was in poor condition and required several hours of tuning and adjustment to make it playable. The instrument was tinny and thin in the upper registers and weak in the bass register, and the pedals did not work properly.

Jarrett initially refused to play, but the house was sold out (for an 11:00 p.m. concert!), and recording equipment was in place. Jarrett had driven over from Switzerland, tired, and with a sore back. He attempted to get dinner at a nearby restaurant without success.

So he played the concert tired, hungry, in pain, and on a broken piano. (Let that sink in.)

Otis Moss’s conclusion was simple:

Our God is a jazz pianist.

God can take broken, flawed, tired people and do great things.

 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12.9, 10, ESV)

I need to write about my cousin Joyce who passed away last Friday at age 79. I have only three cousins on my dad’s side, all in the same family, and Joyce is the middle one, born two months after me.

Joyce Moran with her husband Charles, who passed on January 11 of this year.

Joyce’s mother, Grace, was my dad’s sister, who came to the Lord in her early 20s. (My dad wasn’t saved until his early 40s.) Grace’s husband, my Uncle Sam, lived to be 99 and was sending out inspirational emails until about three weeks before his homegoing.

Uncle Sam taught my cousins music. Joyce and her older sister Carol were excellent singers and pianists. Cousin Dennis sings and plays guitar. I like to say, “Any song, any key, any part.” They could start a song, realize another key would be better, transpose to that key, and then switch their singing parts around until everyone was in their right range. It was amazing. They came from the Pentecostal tradition with upbeat music that was just fun to listen to (and to play when they let me sit in!).

Joyce had a hard life. They added on to her parents’ house in Pampa, Texas, and Joyce took care of them in their later years. Uncle Sam passed in 2013; Aunt Grace, a few years before. At some point, Charles developed MS. I last saw Joyce and Charles when I came down for Uncle Sam’s memorial service in 2013. Charles was bedridden at the time, and didn’t pass until earlier this year. (Do the math!) Meanwhile, Joyce developed brain bleed, for which she had at least two surgeries. She wasn’t receiving visitors when I wanted to see her in 2023. (I see cousin Carol whenever I travel through Amarillo. Dennis moved to Amarillo from Forth Worth a few years ago, and I just spent time with both of them in early May. Always a blessing.)

Back to Joyce, here’s an excerpt from her obituary:

 [Joyce and Charles] pastored the Foursquare Church in Pampa until 1977. For the next 25 years, together they pastored several churches which included Wichita Falls for 9 years during the 80s. Joyce was an ordained minister as well, and they were a great team together serving the Lord. Eventually they had the opportunity to serve at Life Pacific University in San Dimas, California where Joyce worked in the admission department and attended as a part time student for several years before they returned to Pampa.

…Joyce loved Jesus more than anything and devoted her life to ministry, singing with her parents, siblings, Charles and her daughters. Joyce spent her quiet time with the Lord at the piano worshiping and writing songs. Joyce was also passionate about the prolife movement. She along with other women across the nation traveled to Washington during the Reagan administration to talk to senators about the right to life.

A full life, a musical life, a ministry life, a life well-lived. I love you, Cuz.

Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.” Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. (Proverbs 31.28 – 30, NIV)

PS I’m not able to attend Joyce’s funeral, which is at 2:00p, tomorrow (Thursday, June 11). I’m playing a piano/organ concert with my friend Mike Guyote at noon at Immanuel Lutheran Church gym where the theater organ is. (It’s free for any local folks who want to come.)

I wrote before about Benji the dog who arrived in October 2024 and left December 2025. I’m pleased to report that Benji’s replacement has arrived. “Paddy” was born on Saint Patrick’s Day, March 17, 2026. We acquired him from the breeder 9+ weeks later on May 23.

He’s a Cavachon: his mother is a King Cavalier Spaniel, and his father is a Bichon Friese. He weighed 7 pounds when I got him, 9 pounds when he saw the vet 10 days later, and he’s expected to top out at 20 – 25 pounds.

I was having lunch with my friend Mike on Friday, May 22. He found out that Benji didn’t live with us anymore so Mike recommended I check out Cavachons at a breeder in Strasburg, Colorado, just east of Denver, about 90 minutes from here. They had puppies on hand: “Why don’t you drive up tomorrow and pick one up,” they said.

Here is Paddy saying good-bye to his littermates. The Kennel has a (long distance) view of the northern mountains.

We haven’t had a puppy since we raised a golden retriever for my parents in the early 80s. A bit of work! But so far, he’s been mostly fun. He’s adapted well. Some of the ladies in our 20-unit gated community are gaga over him. Two (so far) have offered to watch him any time we need. This pic was shot by a neighbor:

So a bit of a break from “heavy” blog content. Tomorrow I’ll share another “gift” from my friend Mike, this one for your encouragement.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights… (James 1.17, NIV)

We saw Baruch, Jeremiah’s secretary, in the episode about Burning the Scroll. From Baruch’s point of view, the king’s defiance just produced more work for Baruch!

Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire… (Jeremiah 36.32, ESV)

Then in Jeremiah 45, Baruch’s complaints are reviewed from God’s point of view:

The word that Jeremiah the prophet spoke to Baruch the son of Neriah, when he wrote these words in a book at the dictation of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah: “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to you, O Baruch: You said, ‘Woe is me! For the LORD has added sorrow to my pain. I am weary with my groaning, and I find no rest.’” (Jeremiah 45.1 – 3, ESV)

Yep. Life is tough, and judgment is on Jerusalem:

Thus shall you say to him, Thus says the LORD: Behold, what I have built I am breaking down, and what I have planted I am plucking up—that is, the whole land. (Jeremiah 45.4, ESV)

And here’s a word for Baruch…and for us all. It’s one of my favorite short rebukes in the Bible:

And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not. (Jeremiah 45.5, ESV)

We go again to Eric Church’s challenge to the graduates of University of North Carolina:

The people who tend to their faith in ordinary seasons do not come undone in the extraordinary ones. They still hurt. They will still sit in hospital waiting rooms asking unanswerable questions at 3 in the morning, but they have a foundation to return to. – Eric Church

Some people are really put to the test. David and Alicia Lloyd were missionaries to Haiti, running a children’s home in Port Au Prince. Their son, Davy, in his early 20s, had recently married a lovely Christian girl, Natalie, and they were enjoying serving in Haiti together. After all, Davy grew up there.

On March 23, 2024, Davy and Natalie, along with Judes (pronounced “Jude”), a Haitian staff member, were brutally murdered by one of the (too) many gangs that operate virtually unimpeded in Port Au Prince. The parents, again, David and Alicia, worked with my friend and accomplished Christian author Dean Merrill to write a book about their mission, their son and his wife, and their murder.

Strong to the End is short (June and I both read it the same day), but it’s a brutal read. Satan-inspired sin is real and ugly:

The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy… (John 10.10)

When I say “brutal and ugly,” here’s an example. The bodies of Davy and Natalie were flown home for burial in Missouri. Judes was buried in Haiti, of course, but in his casket was the part of Davy’s leg that was cut off by the murderers.

The Foreword of Strong to the End opens with:

There are stories that shape our faith, and there are stories that test it. The pages you are about to read do both. – Mike Pence, 48th Vice President of the United States

Test our faith? You bet:

• Why do the good ones die early?
• Why does God allow the deaths of two of the finest, most dedicated people of their generation?
• Why do their godly parents have to go through the pain of burying their children?
• Why are there no guarantees of outcomes when we give our lives to God’s service? (Of course there are no guarantees of outcomes any time. See the story of my friend Bob Edelstein. He didn’t know the end game when he married Theresa, maybe, 10 years ago.)

And so it goes. But it’s not a new story. Read Acts 12. James dies. Peter lives. Stephen’s martyrdom is reported in Acts 7, at the hands of Saul of Tarsus who later becomes the Apostle Paul. I’m praying that some of those gang members meet Jesus in this life.

And the counsel of a country singer still stands:

The people who tend to their faith in ordinary seasons do not come undone in the extraordinary ones. They still hurt. They will still sit in hospital waiting rooms asking unanswerable questions at 3 in the morning, but they have a foundation to return to. – Eric Church

You can read about the book Strong to the End, along with as yet not completely updated info about the work at https://www.missionsinhaiti.com/.

…Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.

And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. (Hebrews 11.35 – 40, ESV)

It’s the 82nd anniversary of the Allied invasion of Europe. A reminder that freedom isn’t free and homage to all the soldiers over whom millions of people rejoiced on May 8, 1945, less than a year later.

It’s worth a pause to remember that freedom isn’t free. Over 4,000 allied soldiers died that day. The opening scene of Saving Private Ryan (9+ minutes) captures some of the horror of it:

Here are a few of the comments posted on this film clip:

Imagine living for 18-30 years, then going through weeks of demanding training, just be shot dead immediately after the landing boat door opens.

This is thought to be the most accurate depiction of war ever put to film. Hundreds of veterans walked out of seeing it in theaters because it was too much to take in.

I’d like to say a thanks to all the brave men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice on June 6th 1944, lest we forget.

I can’t improve on those.

Here is a first-person account from a 101-year-old veteran of D-Day. Jake Larson passed away on July 27, 2025, at the age of 102.

Wright Bryan, a graduate of my alma mater, Clemson University. broadcast the the first radio report of the invasion. He went on to have a distinguished career in journalism and was Vice-President for Development at Clemson when I was a student. (Of course, none of us undergrads knew any of that history.)

Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. (John 15.13, ESV)

God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5.8, ESV)

Note: this blog originally posted here on June 6, 2024, the 80th anniversary of the invasion. It reappears with minor edits.

The story of Johanan, hero of chapter 41, continues. They ask Jeremiah for direction…

Then all the commanders of the forces, and Johanan… and all the people from the least to the greatest, came near and said to Jeremiah the prophet, “Let our plea for mercy come before you, and pray to the LORD your God for us, for all this remnant…that the LORD your God may show us the way we should go, and the thing that we should do.”

…and promise to obey:

Jeremiah the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Behold, I will pray to the LORD your God according to your request, and whatever the LORD answers you I will tell you. I will keep nothing back from you.” Then they said to Jeremiah, “May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act according to all the word with which the LORD your God sends you to us. Whether it is good or bad, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we are sending you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.”  (Jeremiah 42.1 – 6, ESV)

So after 10 days, Jeremiah gives a clear answer:

Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your plea for mercy before him: If you will remain in this land, then I will build you up and not pull you down; I will plant you, and not pluck you up; for I relent of the disaster that I did to you. Do not fear the king of Babylon…for I am with you, to save you and to deliver you from his hand. (Jeremiah 42.9 – 11, ESV)

The story continues in chapter 43. To recap:

• People: Jeremiah, should we go to Egypt? Whatever you tell us, we’ll do.
• Jeremiah: No. Don’t go to Egypt. That’s a really bad idea. (See Jeremiah 42)

So, naturally, the people said, “Your word from the Lord is clear. We won’t go to Egypt.”

I crack myself up. Here’s what they really said:

When Jeremiah finished speaking to all the people all these words of the LORD their God, with which the LORD their God had sent him to them, Azariah the son of Hoshaiah and Johanan the son of Kareah and all the insolent men said to Jeremiah, “You are telling a lie. The LORD our God did not send you to say, ‘Do not go to Egypt to live there.'” (Jeremiah 43.1, 2, ESV)

They acted immediately:

But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the commanders of the forces took all the remnant of Judah who had returned to live in the land of Judah from all the nations to which they had been driven— the men, the women, the children, the princesses, and every person whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan; also Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah. And they came into the land of Egypt, for they did not obey the voice of the LORD. And they arrived at Tahpanhes. (Jeremiah 43.5 – 7, ESV)

So Jeremiah has to deliver another message of judgment:

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will send and take Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and I will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden, and he will spread his royal canopy over them. He shall come and strike the land of Egypt, giving over to the pestilence those who are doomed to the pestilence, to captivity those who are doomed to captivity, and to the sword those who are doomed to the sword. (Jeremiah 43.10, 11, ESV)

An obvious lesson.

Don’t merely listen to the Word and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says! (James 1.22, NIV)