Tommy Mann

There is a greeting in the Bible that gives me goosebumps every time I read it. It is found in Acts 9 during the conversion of Saul of Tarsus (also known as the Apostle Paul). Saul had been blinded by the light when the Lord appeared to him, and he was led to a certain house in Damascus. While that was unfolding, God spoke to a man named Ananias and told him to go to that house and pray over Saul. In v.17 we read the greeting: "So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, 'Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.'” Brother Saul? This gives me goosebumps when I remember who Saul was. Essentially a terrorist, Saul gave his approval for the martyrdom of Stephen. This same Saul obtained letters from the high priest to round up and imprison anyone who followed Jesus. Acts 8:1 says he was "ravaging" the church, and 9...

Ulysses S Grant was not really the 18th President of the United States.  No, I'm not talking about a rigged election, or denying the results of the 1868 election. I'm talking about his name. His parents named him Hiram Ulysses Grant, and that was his name throughout his childhood and teenage years. But when Hiram (who actually preferred his middle name) received his appointment to West Point, a clerical error had him enlisted under the name Ulysses S Grant. There is no record of Grant objecting to the mistake, and he embraced his new name. He went by the initials U.S. for a time, but since those letters also stood for Uncle Sam, his military friends dubbed him "Sam." So Grant went by a variety of names over the course of his life, but history remembers him for a name that was not truly his--Ulysses S Grant. The war hero-turned-President and eventual author brought fame to a name that did not belong to him.  That is what Christians are called to do. We are tasked with ...

To the best of my knowledge, there has never been a Super Bowl-winning football team that played their home games in a dome on artificial turf. There have been champions that played in domes, and some that played on turf, but never both. All the other champions have played under the elements on real grass.  Maybe that is a coincidence, or maybe it points to a true concept, that the teams that spend the season sheltering themselves from discomfort are hindering their growth as a team. Who wouldn't prefer to play under a dome? Too hot? Too cold? Snowing? Raining? No problem; we'll just close the dome. The kick returner never loses the ball in the sun. The quarterback never has a wet ball slip out of his hand. It seems great (and the fans have to appreciate it as well).  But the teams that play through it all may not enjoy it, but they are conditioning themselves to play through adversity. When you make it to the big game, and it starts to rain, and there is no dome to close, one...

This time of year I can't take a step in our driveway without crushing about a hundred acorns. We are surrounded by oak trees, so the acorns are innumerable. I like the sound of the crunching under my feet, and I also like that the sight of dead acorns reminds me of the words of Jesus. When speaking to His disciples in John 12, Jesus didn't mention acorns, but rather grains of wheat. In the 24th verse Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."  This was spoken in response to a group of people who requested an audience with Jesus. Surprisingly, Jesus turned down this request, telling Philip and Andrew "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified (v.23)."  We would expect Jesus to drop what He was doing and speak to the people who wanted to see Him, but for the first time in His ministry, He announced that the hour had come. Jesus was making Hi...

Although I do not have them very often, I like root beer floats (you may prefer a Coke or Dr. Pepper float). I think I have perfected the art of the perfect float. It starts with a good amount of vanilla ice cream (preferably Blue Bell). But there is room for more ice cream if you take the spoon and smush it down, so do that and add even more ice cream. Then comes the root beer. Pour in as much as you can fit and wait for the fizz to die down. Once that happens, you can give the glass a little shake and the ice cream will settle, allowing the soda to fill in the cracks and make room for even more root beer. Add just enough to reach the top, and a little fizz will run down the sides of the mug. That is a well-executed float, getting as much out of the drink as possible. Interestingly, God follows that same formula when it comes to how He blesses us. Speaking in Luke 6:38, Jesus said, “Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be p...

Have you ever seen a bread tree? It would be nice if loaves of bread grew right on their branches, and all we had to do was pluck them and eat. In their book The Shaping of Things to Come , Michael Frost and Alan Hirsch address the question of why God didn't just create a bread tree. They wrote, "He prefers to offer us a grain and invite us to buy a field and plant the seed. He prefers that we till the soil while He sends the rain. He prefers that we harvest the crop while He sends sunshine. He prefers that we grind the crop and knead it and bake it while He gives us air in our lungs and strength in our arms. Why? Because He would rather that we become partners with Him in creation."  I agree with those authors, and believe we can apply that same way of thinking to our money. Most churches probably have a wish list, things they would love to do if only they could afford it. We dream about doing things, and say, "If someone gave us a million dollars, I would use the m...