I recently received a phone call that brought me tremendous joy.  A friend who has had a very difficult life, including time in jail, had finished the sentence and was back in society as a reformed and changed person.  The voice on the other end of the phone was happy and hopeful, taking complete ownership… Continue reading Pastor’s Perspective April 11, 2024

One of the great blessings of living on this relatively small island is that the shoreline creates the boundaries of our community, and if you live somewhere within the confines of the high ground, you have enough in common with the other island residents to foster relationships.  While each of us may live within a… Continue reading Pastor’s Perspective April 4, 2024

On the Christian calendar, today (Maundy Thursday) and tomorrow (Good Friday) represent some of the most challenging aspects of the Christian faith.  On that Thursday, Jesus humbled himself before his disciples and washed their feet, including the feet of the disciple who would shortly thereafter depart with his freshly-cleaned feet to betray Jesus, condemning Jesus… Continue reading Pastor’s Perspective March 28, 2024

With the advancement of communications technology, we find ourselves sorting through a veritable avalanche of words and images.  Before the invention of the moveable-type printing press, books were difficult to produce, and words had to be copied by hand.  But with the printing press, now books and newspapers became easier to create and distribute.  Typewriters… Continue reading Pastor’s Perspective March 21, 2024

We live in a finite world, and each of us is constrained by limitations on resources available to us.  Some of those resources, such as time, are fixed for each of us, as no one has more hours in their day than anyone else.  Other resources, such as money, are not so evenly distributed, but… Continue reading Pastor’s Perspective March 14, 2024

Most people are familiar with the commandment that we love our neighbors as ourselves, but have you ever noticed that sometimes, the further your neighbors are from you, the easier it is to love them?  Life can get messy sometimes, and there have been times where all of us have done things that we are… Continue reading Pastor’s Perspective March 7, 2024

For those who may not have seen yet, international hotel and resort operator Six Senses announced the signing of a management agreement with Whitestone and partner Redrock Portfolio, Inc, for the Six Senses South Carolina Islands.  Central to their plan is the regeneration of the resort assets within the Melrose community.  According to the press… Continue reading Pastor’s Perspective February 29, 2024

There’s an old saying that tells us that we will catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.  While the wooden, literal application of that saying results in dead flies, the practical application for us leads to being more persuasive in our endeavors.  Being sweet can be far more effective than being sour.  That is… Continue reading Pastor’s Perspective February 22, 2024

When I was involved in college athletics, our training contained a significant amount of weightlifting done throughout the year.  As part of that effort, once or twice a year we would have “max day” where the objective was to find out the maximum amount that you could lift in a particular exercise, which would provide… Continue reading Pastor’s Perspective February 15, 2024

In the twelfth chapter of 2 Samuel, King David, king of Israel, is confronted by a prophet named Nathan.  David has had what could most kindly be called an adulterous relationship with Bathsheba, who was the wife of Uriah, one of David’s best and most loyal soldiers.  As if the affair wasn’t bad enough, when… Continue reading Pastor’s Perspective February 8, 2024