Tommy Mann

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...