Fall is the season of change.  The leaves change from their summer green to red, brown, yellow, purple, and every shade in between.  The leaves have already begun dropping from the trees as the trees are getting ready for fall and then winter.   It’s an awesome transformation, especially in Maryland...

I received an email from the brother of my lifelong and late friend Jeff Trollinger today.  Robert asked me to forward a tribute he had put together in honor of Jeff to friends Jeff and I had grown up playing ball with and sharing as school mates. Robert’s tribute would...

Friends are indeed like a four-leaf clover, hard to find and lucky to have.  I’ve never been successful at finding four-leaf clovers, but I’ve sure been blessed with having good friends in my life. Sometimes I take time to consciously recall my good friends that the Lord has blessed me...

Hard times come into all of our lives.  They aren’t wanted.  They challenge us at our deepest levels of being and can easily send us into a spiral of bad things.  Hard times often hit us unexpectedly and leave us reeling.  We all know of such times.  I have been...

Sweet friendships refresh the soul and awaken our hearts with joy, for good friends are like the anointing oil that yields the fragrant incense of God’s presence.  Proverbs 27:9 TPT   I just recently went to North Carolina to conduct the Memorial Service for a long-time friend and former church...

“A new pastor in a small Midwestern town spent the first four days making personal visits to each of the members, inviting them to come to his first service.  The following Sunday, the church was all but empty.  Accordingly, the pastor placed a notice in the local newspapers, stating that...

One of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes was a story in which three men, having discovered a time machine, successfully stole millions of dollars of gold and sent it forward into the future.  They then sent themselves into the same future to secure the gold and be rich beyond their...

A student needed medical care and a place to call home.  His teachers adopted him. The story is so inspiring it reminds me of the power we all have to make a difference in someone else’s life and to set an example for others to follow.  We all have the...

The last several years have brought huge changes in the life of churches all across America and across all  denominations, sizes and types of churches. The effects of the Covid Pandemic have been huge and disastrous on churches. We’ve all grown smaller with far fewer people actually attending worship and/or...

So, it’s a brand-new year. What is the year is going to bring to us? Do we  know what the new year will bring? Not me, that’s for sure. I don’t know  for sure, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say, “not you, either.” Certainly not...

The Advent story of hope and mystery,anticipation, preparation, a kingdomof this world and the next,and a king appearing when we least expect. Open eyes and hearts, that this might bean Advent of hope to the world. Please join the many opportunities to worship with us this season. Bob Chance

Ghost tracks behind us.  Sounds spooky doesn’t it?  Just right as we approach Halloween.  It isn’t graveyard or “Stranger Things” kind of spooky though, it’s very real and very evident.  Let me explain.  On Sunday mornings during the church worship service, I go in and change the camera view of...

I recently had a good conversation with a couple of people around the question “What do we offer to people as a church”?  It’s a good question.  It’s a question every church should ask themselves on a regular basis.  Some of the answer to “what do we offer” will remain...

We are on the cusp of a new season.  Soon the air will begin to become crisp, the days will become shorter, night will get here earlier, the leaves begin to fall, and the trees will turn to a wonderous palette of red, yellow, brown, and green and shades in...

Last week while leading the Family Camp in Bethany Beach, Mary and I were returning to the Conference grounds from downtown Bethany.   Being the week of July 4th. the sidewalks were crowded with people, the roads were clogged with cars and overall, it was an amazingly busy scene.  The vibe...

I saw a meme on Facebook recently that showed a barrel of monkeys with some hanging on the side, others climbing in or out and it read, “You know we used to be a lot more fun”.  I’m pretty sure many young people won’t even get the reference of a...

I’ve lost some dear friends who have died in the last few months.  I’ve also lost dear friends who have either moved out of the area or simply stopped feeling our friendship and moved out of relationship with me.  Grief comes in many forms and I’m sad and facing my...

Walking out of the garage the other day I startled a beautiful brown rabbit with a fluffy white cotton tail who scooted out from under a bush and disappeared into the woods faster than I could blink three times.  “She” startled me as much as I startled “her”.  After my...

 As I look out the front window of my Study at my home I see the wonderful signs of Spring.  Crocus are sprouting up randomly all over the yard.  They are beautiful bright little purple flowers that are among the first signs of spring.  I stand on my deck and...

In the movie Avatar (2009) there is a phrase spoken that is deeply meaningful to me. When “Jake” says to “Neytiri”, “I see you,” he means I see the love in your heart and the feelings in your soul.  It means he is truly listening and that she means everything...