Pastor Tom's Journal

Matthew 15:21–39 takes us from crumbs to baskets. A Canaanite woman comes to Jesus crying for mercy for her tormented daughter. She is outside the expected circle. She is loud. She is persistent. The disciples want Jesus to send her away. But she will not go. When Jesus speaks of children’s bread and dogs beneath the table, she answers with faith: “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” She does not argue entitlement. She argues abundance. She knows that if Jesus is the Master of the table, even the crumbs are enough. Then Matthew widens the scene. Great crowds come to Jesus, bringing the lame, the blind, the maimed, the mute, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he heals them. Then, in the wilderness, Jesus feeds 4,000 men, besides women and children, with seven loaves and a few small fish. The story begins with crumbs and ends with baskets. For the contemporary church, the question is unavoidable: who are we tempted to send away? Who sounds like...

 Today, our 250th anniversary matters because this is our shared holiday, our shared heritage, and our shared observance. It belongs to all of us. It belongs to Black Americans, white Americans, Hispanic Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, immigrants, descendants of immigrants, and descendants of those who were here before most of the rest of us arrived. It belongs to men and women. It belongs to Republicans, Democrats, independents, Green Party members, conservatives, liberals, moderates, and those who are tired of all the labels. It also includes the politicians with whom I take strong exception — even those I may feel have tried to hijack this significant observance. They, too, are my fellow Americans. Check out and share my Medium aerticle and then, take a deeper dive into https://open.substack.com/pub/tomsims/p/heart-cry-for-freedom?r=2m40s&utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web https://medium.com/@tomsims/heart-cry-for-freedom-f00d077eb824?sk=ea2936...

    Clean Hands, Distant Hearts Matthew 15:1–20 Clean hands can still belong to distant hearts. In Matthew 15, the Pharisees confront Jesus because his disciples do not follow the ritual handwashing tradition of the elders. Jesus turns the question back on them: Why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? This passage is not really about hygiene. It is about holiness, tradition, mercy, hypocrisy, and the condition of the heart. Jesus is not against clean hands. He is against distant hearts hiding behind clean hands. He is not against tradition. He is against tradition that cancels commandment. He is not against holiness. He is against counterfeit holiness that avoids people instead of loving them. Jesus says it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth. Our words, motives, resentments, slander, and contempt reveal what is happening inside us. The mouth is the heart going public. So the question becomes: A...

  Bread is not bait. Mercy is not manipulation. Compassion is not a church-growth strategy. Compassion is the heart of Jesus. When Compassion Walks on Water Matthew 14:13–36 In this passage, Jesus has just heard of the death of John the Baptist. He withdraws to a deserted place, but the crowds follow him. When he sees them, he is moved with compassion. He heals the sick. He feeds the hungry. He involves inadequate disciples. He goes alone to pray. He comes to his frightened followers in the storm. He catches sinking Peter. He remains reachable to those who can only touch the fringe of his cloak. This is not only a story about miracles. It is a revelation of the character of Jesus. Jesus did not feed the multitude so they would listen. They had already come. They had already followed him into the wilderness. They had already shown spiritual hunger. Then evening came, and they were physically hungry. So Jesus fed them. Not as bait. Not as leverage. Not as manipulation. Not to gain co...

  Matthew 14:1–13 Herod heard reports about Jesus, but instead of wonder, he felt fear. “This is John the Baptist,” he said. “He has been raised from the dead.” Herod had tried to silence John, but he could not silence the truth John had spoken. He could behead the prophet, but he could not behead the truth. This message explores what happens when truth confronts power, when conscience is silenced but not satisfied, and when a person has enough spiritual curiosity to be disturbed by God but not enough surrender to repent. John loses his head. Herod loses his soul. Jesus receives the news, withdraws in holy grief, and continues the work of the Kingdom. Main idea: When truth confronts power, the faithful may suffer, but the Kingdom does not die. The real tragedy is not that John lost his head, but that Herod lost his soul while trying to save face. Read the full Substack reflection and subscriber study materials here: https://tomsims.substack.com/p/the-haunting-of-herod Join The Fell...

  Matthew 14:1–13 Herod heard reports about Jesus, but instead of wonder, he felt fear. “This is John the Baptist,” he said. “He has been raised from the dead.” Herod had tried to silence John, but he could not silence the truth John had spoken. He could behead the prophet, but he could not behead the truth. This message explores what happens when truth confronts power, when conscience is silenced but not satisfied, and when a person has enough spiritual curiosity to be disturbed by God but not enough surrender to repent. John loses his head. Herod loses his soul. Jesus receives the news, withdraws in holy grief, and continues the work of the Kingdom. Main idea: When truth confronts power, the faithful may suffer, but the Kingdom does not die. The real tragedy is not that John lost his head, but that Herod lost his soul while trying to save face. Read the full Substack reflection and subscriber study materials here: https://tomsims.substack.com/p/the-haunting-of-herod Jo...

I recently posted this piece under Pastoral Excellence , and I’m leaving it there because the application to spiritual leadership is real. But the same idea also belongs in Leaning Leadership Ladder and here,  because it speaks directly to leadership development, professional growth, communication, coaching, and the process of turning concepts into embodied skill. Zig Ziglar is often credited with saying: “Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly — until you can learn to do it well.” That line is not an excuse for carelessness. It is a correction to paralysis. We do not usually become skillful by waiting until we feel ready. We become skillful by beginning, rehearsing mentally, acting, noticing what happened, correcting, and trying again. The learning loop is simple: Begin. Rehearse. Act. Notice. Correct. Repeat. Practice does not automatically make perfect. Practice makes permanent. Corrected practice makes better. Read the LinkedIn article here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/...