happiness – DAVE GIPSON

Dear victims,

BlogOctober 20, 2022121Views 0Likes 0Comments

Dear victims, You need to understand something about the pain you are feeling. Someone has hurt you, misused you, or abused you. You are right to feel wounded, and I'm sincerely grieved for what has happened to you. However, there is great danger in those wounds you're nursing right now. Sometimes the pity and sympathy…

Broken or Bitter

BlogSeptember 3, 202257Views 0Likes 2Comments

One day recently, I was in my office at church when a ministry friend stopped by at the door to chat. As we talked through the joys and pains of ministry, she reminisced about a particularly tough time in her husband's pastorate. After decades of faithful service to a congregation, some power brokers within their…

Divine mistakes

BlogJuly 30, 202289Views 0Likes 0Comments

We pray for our lives to go smoothly. We beg God to stay with our plan and keep to our schedule. But sometimes God wants our plans to fall apart so His plan can go into action. When I lead a worship service, I plan every detail out specifically. I respect people’s time, so I…

Stubborn love

BlogJuly 28, 2022121Views 0Likes 0Comments

My mom has always been a source of gentle humor in our family. Whenever she got amazed or exasperated by something, Mom would try to say, “Well …” — probably meaning to eventually say “well, I never.” Instead, all that came out was a “wuh” noise. Then she would say it repeatedly, in a sort…

The Presence of My Enemies

beliefJanuary 24, 2022119Views 0Likes 0Comments

"You ask me if we will know each other in heaven. My friend, we will not really know each other UNTIL heaven!" So as the joke goes, “A baptist pastor dies and goes to heaven…” But inevitably the day finally came that I did. Right now, I’m standing by a roadside. But I don’t…

Broken

BlogDecember 17, 2021168Views 0Likes 3Comments

I was sitting in a sanctuary of around 1500 people that Sunday morning. But I felt completely alone. We had just been through a whirlwind of death and then disappointment the previous year. Now we were in-between where we had been and where we were going. And we had no idea where that was. …

When God Doesn’t Want You Happy

beliefJanuary 30, 202081Views 0Likes 0Comments

I recently got a Facebook message from a well-meaning Christian friend: "God has seen everything you've been going through, and He told me to tell you 'IT'S OVER'! Your trial has ended, and now God's about to open up the windows of heaven to bless you beyond your wildest dreams!!!!!" (Full disclosure: I may have…

Happiness is Your Choice. Period.

UncategorizedApril 28, 201671Views 0Likes 0Comments

There's a man on our street who I know is watching our house, every single day. And even worse, he is constantly leering at our children. Anywhere else this occurred, you'd call the cops on him. But in Florida, you elect him to the Neighborhood Association. Maybe it's because we have teenagers. Anytime my kids park…

When God Wants You Unhappy

BlogNovember 26, 2014457Views 0Likes 3Comments

I recently got a Facebook message from a well-meaning Christian friend: "God has seen everything you've been going through, and He told me to tell you 'IT'S OVER'! Your trial has ended, and now God's about to open up the windows of heaven to bless you beyond your wildest dreams!!!!!" (Full disclosure: I may have…

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