Focus on Faith with Curtis Shelburne: Recent Episodes
Curtis Shelburne
A good place to be and breathe and hang out for a while and share some words about life in Christ, and that's all of life--the good, the bad, the fun, the sad, the deepest joys, and the toughest sorrows--all of it.
I like many songs, but not this one. I would nominate it as "The Theme Song of Hell." See what you think.
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Cats and Dogs, Democrats and Republicans, Conservatives (Classic) and Populists (Not Conservative), Earthly Kingdoms and Powers, and... God's Kingdom. Perspective. Oh, and One Sister.
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An update for your computer can seem more like a downgrade if it fouls things up. But when God says He has something brand new and better for us, we can trust Him!
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Why does it seem like everything is running down? Brand new turns to old, shabby, and scarred in about ten minutes flat. Except . . . for this.
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I love steeples! I love the fact that they point directly toward heaven and remind us of Christ's love and our hope. This is a joyful thing! But when your steeple starts dancing, well, that can be a problem.
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Did you know that January 20 is Penguin Awareness Day? But special days are always available for non-penguins, too! Let's talk about it.
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Would you ever wash just the outside of your dishes and leave the inside dirty? It happens more often than you'd think.
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The sound quality of this episode is not great, but the location is close to Heaven itself for four pastors in need of rejuvenation. Join us at the Key Place!
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Nothing good happens when we spend too much time associating with skunks--animal or human. No amount of perfume will mask the encounter.
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What can you learn from a 12th-century Benedictine monk who manages to do an amazing amount of detective work? Much it seems!
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Want to know why an escalator can never break? This episode is for you. Want to know if God cares about people who often DO break? This episode is for you.
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Freedom is an incredibly precious gift from God, but it must be cherished, or it can be lost. God's people should know that. And nations who care about freedom had better know that.
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When twenty-one precious lives were taken recently in Uvalde, Texas (nineteen of them, kids), a multitude of hearts were broken. What do we do? First, we cry.
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You can probably find a physician specializing in disorders of the left little toe, but what about faith healers? That's a thought-provoking question!
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A "rest mat" was for generations among the required school supplies for little folks. No matter our age, we still need to take some time to rest. Mrs. Carmody thought so; so does our Father.
How many clocks do you have? Twice a year you'll figure out that you have twice as many as you thought! Spring forward, fall back. But our Father holds all our "times" in his hands.
I've just had my cell phone stolen! This is not the first time, and the whole frustrating situation is completely baffling. Mysterious? Yes and no.
When God's enters our world at Bethlehem, He comes in a way we would never expect. A stable. A manger. A baby. THE Baby. And the greatest miracle of all: the Incarnation!
When God sent His Son into this world at Bethlehem, the situation was "normal" in many ways, but after that miraculous birth, nothing would ever be the same.
Left untreated, grinching, grouching, and grumbling will turn a human into a grinch, a grouch, and a grumble. The antidote--it always works--is gratitude.
The changing seasons are beautiful and offer a multitude of reasons for gratitude--even the impending seasonal demise of a serious pest.
Background music: Some songs aren't worth much as dinner music! But some of the very best blessings of God are "background" blessings.
Need a little quiet but strong wisdom? Sit outside for a little while on a dark, clear night and just look upward. Class is in session! The stars have much to teach.
Time. The passage of time. The way we feel about time. Strange. Surprising. Always. Add in a pandemic, and wow! Stranger still! But all time is God's, and He loves us all the time.
If God really wants to give us haloes (which I don't expect), we can be sure he’ll do it at exactly the right time. In the meantime, most of us just look silly trying to hang our own.
After a struggle with COVID-19 (Delta variant), being anywhere near "back in the saddle" is a matter for deep gratitude.
An uninvited guest, COVID-19 (Delta variant) and its accompanying isolation brought with it some lessons and even some blessings--but you do NOT want this pestilence!
Emergencies can come in a lot of forms, but this one was easily handled with love and hugs, giggles and delight.
It's one of the biggest and most difficult questions of all: Why does a good, powerful, and loving God allow suffering?
Have you ever dreamed a weird dream? Who hasn't?! And then you wonder if it means anything important--or should you just have left off the jalapenos? Caution: Strange Dream Ahead!
When you hear a dog talking, you don't waste time criticizing his grammar; you just thank God for such a wonder! Sometimes, our "standards" need to be kept in perspective.
The "woke" folks we hear from these days have a number of issues with reality, but they have presented us all with some real challenges, not least, grammatically. Would a nap help?
The Apostle Peter would rather swing his sword and draw blood than allow his Lord to be taken by His enemies; Jesus would go peacefully, quietly, to a cross where blood was shed--His own.
Peter the Rock said he'd stay awake and never deny. He did both. Christ does his best work not when we’re fat and sassy and so “spiritual” we have to tie rocks to our feet to keep from ascending prematurely. He lifts us up when we’re broken, and we know it.
As a new President of the United States takes the oath of office, maybe it's a good time to think about citizenship and what two martyred apostles said about praying for rulers.
It was the greatest and most astounding birth announcement ever sent, and the Father of the Baby dispatched it to shepherds!
Mothers give Christmas gifts all the time, right? Yes, but I got this precious gift eighteen years after my sweet mom passed away.
A Yuletide tragedy was narrowly averted as authorities trace the source of the problem to improper Christmas tree icicling by two little boys in Amarillo, Texas.
Don't you love the delicious smells of Thanksgiving meals and Christmas delights? What smells better than a New Mexico piñon pine fire blazing in the hearth? Listen on . . . and breathe in the sweet smell of . . . Well, listen on!
Have you noticed that the best people to work on serious problems are the ones who don't take themselves too seriously? Being able to laugh, especially at oneself, is a very good sign!
If my call is so important, why am I stuck in "The Nine Circles of Customer Service Hell"? But our "calls," our prayers to our Father, really are precious to Him; they go right to the top.
Old Job was suffering, and his "friends" thought they knew why. Job's friends are still around. They were wrong then, and they are wrong now.
Keep asking, seeking, knocking. It is our Father's deepest joy to open the door for His children anytime. Any time. Any time at all.
If our "identity" is rooted in the One whose love is ever-present and unchanging, we become the very best "selves" we could ever be, the children in whom He delights.
Exactly the right word can be hard to find. That's when words like thingamabob, thingamajig, whatchamacallit, whatsit, and doodah are handy. A good word is a fine thing!
I may order some caps soon. Something like those well-known red MAGA caps. But mine will boast a different acronymn: MAMA. Wherever we are politically, it's a great message.
Making mistakes can carry some serious consequences, but living in fear of making mistakes may be the biggest mistake of all.
Often the world around us seems to crowd in, and, focusing too much on this world, we become soul-sick, tired, and . . . world-weary. Is there anything we can do about that?
Which would you rather smell? A diaper or a rose? Who do you ultimately trust? Yourself or God? The first produces the awful stench of death; the latter, the beautiful aroma of life and joy.
Lives are like quilts. We don't center for long on just one or two "squares" of the quilt; we look at the complete quilt and how the whole mosaic fits together as we consider its beauty.
During this pandemic, wearing a mask at the grocery store is probably wise. Let's just not forget to wear a little humility at the same time.
Drips and crickets. Little annoyances can add up to be weighty when you're already under stress--say, maybe, the stress of a pandemic.
Wow, how bored does a person need to be to write a poem about toilet paper?! But who would've thought it would ever be so . . . "precious"? Which makes me think . . .
Did the turtle, the Terrapene ornata, predict the rain? If so, he was right. Those of us whose species is "human" may or may not be right, but we often could use "a little slack" and a lot of mercy.
Freedom is the gift of God, and purchasing it for us cost the Father his very Son. As America celebrates its birthday and heritage of freedom, here's a story of the price paid by an earthly father, grandfather, and "ordinary" good man, a "citizen soldier" and one of us.
We live in an “out of kilter” world, but we can thank our Father for the Gift he gave to be sure that one day, pure joy will reign, and nothing and nobody will ever again be out of . . .
A little cross-breed dog was a sweet friend, but some "mixes" are a really bad idea, and some won't work at all, as the Apostle Paul tries to make very clear.
Some changes can be surprising! Real change that is positive requires power from Someone stronger than we are.