​     When my daughter was a very young it amazed me how she could know all of her many dolls on a first name basis. I will never forget sitting in the living room while she was playing with her dolls in the other room and I heard these words coming from her room, “God loves you, yes He does!”  My daughter was repeating the words over and over so I went in to check on her and see what she was doing. She had lined up about twenty of her dolls and she was going down the line in front of each of the dolls and after inserting their individual names and then she was saying, “God loves you, yes He does!”
     The Book of Ephesians reminds us how much God loves us. Ephesians 3:17-18, speaks of the love of Christ in these terms: 17 … And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ. The love of Christ is wide enough to cover all of us. His love for us is long enough to last for eternity. The love of Christ is high enough to lift us to glory land. His love for us is deep enough that we can be rooted and established in it today, tomorrow and forever.

Clark Tatum

​     One day some people who were following Jesus were arguing over money. So, He took the opportunity to tell a parable of a rich man. This particularly rich man stored up many things for himself but was not rich toward God and as a result Jesus called him “a fool”. (Luke 12:20) He was a fool because he left God out. Have you ever played the game of monopoly? The goal of monopoly is the same as the goal for any game – to win. And in monopoly to win means that you own all the best property and the most expensive property. You collect houses and hotels, and of course lots of cash. If you do really good in the game you have stacks of money, and railroads, and the bank is borrowing money from you, but when the game is over what happens? Every dollar, every red hotel, every green house, every piece of property including Park Place and Boardwalk goes back in the box when the game ends.
     The man in Jesus’ story of Luke 12 played the game of life pretty well. In the eyes of the world he would never have been called a fool. But he was a fool because he forgot what really matters – loving God and loving others is the identification of those called to be saints (Romans 1:7) and live holy lives (1 Corinthians 1:2, Hebrews 12:14, 1 Peter 2:9, 2 Peter 3:11). 

Clark Tatum

​Are you interested in having a more abundant hope? Are you interested in having a healthier more fulfilling hope? God extends a special hope to His people. Hope can take us to a place where our past wounds and mistakes no longer haunt or hamper us. Hope can take us to a place where we can live totally free from that which has bogged us down in the past. Hope can take us to the place of beginning again with a fresh start. Hope can guide us to a region where our relationships are better than we have dared dream they could ever be.
 
Hope can move us from the monotony of watching time pass by in our life, to getting up every day with purpose. The hope we can find in God allows us to wake up feeling the exhilaration of knowing that today God is going to use our lives to make a difference in the lives of others. Imagine, the Holy Spirit’s teaching leading us on an unpredictable, magnificent, transforming Journey into Hope from Ephesians and other scriptures. Imagine gaining such a closeness to Jesus along the journey that God progressively infuses us with the transforming power of hope. There is a place of hope and with hope we find that every day with Jesus is sweeter than the day before. Hope will surely infuse our hearts with the desire to press on in our journey with Jesus.

Clark Tatum

​     Bum Phillips, former coach of the Houston Oilers (now the Tennessee Titans) once made the comment; There are two types of coaches in the NFL: them that have been fired, and them that are going to be fired. There are two types of people in the world as well, those who have been hurt and those who will be hurt. However, when we are hurt, hurt does not have to destroy us. Christ offers us hope in dealing with our hurts.
     We cannot escape being hurt or avoid feeling the emotional pain of hurt at times. At some time or another, we will all get hurt—either by the circumstances of life, or by friends, or by people we trust, or even by own foolish actions. When we commit to follow Christ, we do not receive an exemption from getting hurt. However, Christ offers us hope in dealing with our hurts.
     No one is exempt from being hurt, but thank God no one is exempt from the opportunity of knowing the hope God wants us to enjoy. Therefore, we wait in hope for the LORD; he is our help and our shield (Psalm 33:20). Christ offers us hope and help in dealing with our hurts (Matthew 11:28-30). May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13).

Clark Tatum

​The book of Job is the Old Testament’s definitive statement on the subject of the goodness and righteousness of God in the light of human suffering. If God is all-powerful and entirely good, why does He permit His own people to suffer? Many assume that all suffering is a result of sinfulness on the part of the sufferer which is not true. We may not completely understand His ways, but we must know God is always seeking the spiritual and eternal welfare of humankind. God can use anything and everything that happens, to make better people of us (Romans 8:28). The trials through which we go provide a proving ground for the strengthening of our faith (1 Peter 1:6-9). Let us never blame God for trouble, but rather look to him for help. 

Clark Tatum