Posts with the tag “pastor-greg-warmerdam”

We went to an east Indian funeral service in the middle of March. It was a time and a place of little or no hope. People with empty eyes. Some just openly weeping. A service devoid of honor, with chea...  Read More

Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you (John 6:53). My flesh is true food, My blood is true drink (v 55). He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abid...  Read More

Today I GET TO DO THE KINGDOM!Part of that is going to work!Today I GET TO MOVE IN THE SPIRIT!And accomplish the kingdom!Today I GET TO PRAY!And bring the kingdom to bear!Today I GET TO REJOICE AND BE...  Read More

Spring is my favorite season of the year (Christmas is my favorite “time” of the year). Why? Well…warmer weather, flowers, sunlight, birds, everything growing and flourishing! It is good news to me wh...  Read More

“You shall be holy men to Me” (Exodus 22:31). This is God’s statement to Moses, for all Israel. Such a command! We often see it as a performance call. Maybe an impossible call. But we are to look deep...  Read More

Sometimes it is the backyard with the Lord we need.Sometimes the quietness and restfulness.Sometimes just beauty (Psalm 27:4).Sometimes just to linger with You.Sometimes just simple life and pleasures...  Read More

Day 11. My misery meter (0–10) has been mostly in the 7–10 range. My hernia surgery seemed to go well. My recovery, however, has been an ordeal both physically and emotionally.  I have had some high m...  Read More

Three years after establishing our lives in Reedley, we bought our second home. It was new. In fact, it was not even built yet when we made the decision. So we were able to work with the builder and c...  Read More

I wanted to stop coaching. I felt it was time in my young Christian life to put it aside, with all my worldly goals and dreams. But the Lord said, “No!” I was shocked. We always feel God wants more de...  Read More

In 2010 I began a renewal. I have had several of these significant periods. It always means I have to start doing something different. It does not mean what I was doing was bad, more that it was time ...  Read More

I have spoken often of the relationship between Lynn and me, which began in February 1967. There were many things which bound us together: our romantic love, college classes, Fresno State sports, humo...  Read More

There are a lot of nice places to live in Fresno. The area Lynn and I came to love the most, early on in our lives together, is the Old Fig Garden community. It is a county island, caught in the middl...  Read More

Lynn and I both lived at home all our lives until we were married at 22 years old. Our first place was modest, but we were thrilled! Our own address! Our own phone number! It was in Harvard Arms Apart...  Read More

She seemed to come from nowhere, silently gliding into the church aisle. She was maybe 3-4 years old, in her “church clothes†dress, with her long hair cascading down past her shoulders. Delicate l...  Read More

Jack was taller, bigger, and more mature and aggressive than all the rest of us boys in my grade school days (k–8). He liked it that way. He enjoyed threatening and tormenting others. More than one of...  Read More

I have taken lots of evaluations over the years that purport to tell my personality type, my strengths and my giftedness. It does not always seem to come out the same.But what is often at the top for ...  Read More

We grew up playing poker in our home. We never bet much – pennies and nickels, in the form of chips. But I love competition. I love winning. Probably the most compulsive drive I have is to win.It was ...  Read More

I did not want to go. I really did not want to say what was in my heart. But it had to be done. It was the day and the hour. So I went. I had a word with the older, respected man in the church. He was...  Read More

Life is really uneven. Six years after my salvation, I was called to pastor a small church. While there were ups and downs, it was mostly a marvelous experience, high and holy! But by 15 years later i...  Read More

Lynn and I were married in 1969. In the 5½ decades since that time we have had experiences beyond counting. We have owned six houses, and lived in at least seven other apartments or rental houses. I h...  Read More

A couple of decades back I prepared a surprise for Lynn. A work she would not have believed if told. In cooperation with my brother Mark from Pleasanton I bought a newer car for her, on the sly, as a ...  Read More

In the fall of 1977 the Lord said to me that I should begin reading His word daily. I had never read the Bible, had only owned one for about a year. I had been born again through faith in Jesus, and h...  Read More

My brother says he did not preplan it. At the moment I asked to borrow his golf clubs, he was inspired to extract a bargain from me: the use of his clubs for reading a book he would give me. He did a ...  Read More

As I write this, I am on my second stretch of waiting to have a pacemaker put in. Because of COVID, what was a three-month wait has become of five-month wait.While waiting I prayerfully planned a way ...  Read More

Jesus had healed blind Bartimaeus. He had gone into Jerusalem in a processional on a donkey, a celebration fitting for a king. He had done His wild cleansing of the temple, knocking things over and dr...  Read More

I once traveled with another pastor, “sojourned” with him. Our trip took us across the US to a state on the east coast. We attended a church conference there, which turned out to be a blessed experien...  Read More

I write this devotional on day five. It is the fifth day of our confinement, per the instructions for those who have COVID. Lynn and I both tested positive earlier this week. This COVID invasion happe...  Read More

In my final year of coaching high school basketball, we were leading the league late in the year. It had been a long 7 years in rebuilding the program at Reedley HS. The league was strong, with usuall...  Read More

I grew up on a farm on the outskirts of the city of Fresno. In addition to the 10 acres of peaches, my dad farmed in between teaching school teaching and coaching demands, each of us kids got our own ...  Read More

The last time I saw my sister, Gloria, she was sleeping heavily on a hospital bed in the house of her son, Shawn. We waited on her for a time. We touched her shoulder and greeted her verbally, saying ...  Read More

When is the best week of the year? It is this week, Dec 25–31! It has long been my favorite. Why? Many reasons, not the least of which is that my birthday, Dec 28, always falls exactly in the middle, ...  Read More

I told Lynn I was going to go for a walk, which was only part of the truth. It was a Sunday. We had taken a trip to So Cal to visit Lynn’s relatives. It was our first trip overnight together. We staye...  Read More

I read a short story once called "The Monkey’s Paw" by W. W. Jacobs. Three wishes are granted to the owner of a particular monkey’s paw.  But while the wishes are granted as requested, terrible and tr...  Read More

Within a few months of my salvation, I became very zealous for all to receive what I had.  How many church goers, like I had been, did not even know about getting saved?  I did some street witnessing....  Read More

I was trained as a teacher and a coach.  It took six years to complete a BA, and an MA and secure a teaching credential.  Trained in physical education, biology, and coaching basketball.  Six years, p...  Read More

Let us not get too smug about the knowledge of God we possess.  It is my God, and yours, who appeared to Ezekiel in glory—a compelling and overwhelming vision.  Not too long after, he received these i...  Read More

We got married in a fever, hotter than a pepper sprout! (Song: "Jackson").  Lynn and I did.  August 1969.  It’s still hot!  As a country we were fighting a war across the ocean we were not willing to ...  Read More

How glib we can become.  We are privileged in these New Testament times.  We are bidden to come waltzing into God’s presence, and we do, in shorts and a t-shirt with flip-flops, and talk casually with...  Read More

When I was pretty little, I realized I had a small bald spot.  It is on the left side of my head, in the hair at the temple.  I worried often about that.  I did not want to look weird to other people....  Read More

I found myself in need recently.  I was awake in bed for 3 hours.  I finally got up at 4 am, quietly so as not to awaken Lynn.  I could not do my normal read the Bible and pray pattern.  I was in too ...  Read More