My friend Barry Suttle passed away unexpectedly in his sleep recently. Where should I start? My earliest memories of Barry came as I rode my bicycle by his house on my way to the pool in the summers. I knew who he was because of football. He was one year ahead of me but his…

Proverbs 22:6 Amplified Bible (AMP) 6 Train up a child in the way he should go [teaching him to seek God’s wisdom and will for his abilities and talents], Even when he is old he will not depart from it. My father had been an atheist most of his life and all of mine. I had prayed…

  Proverbs 3:5-6 New King James Version (NKJV) 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; 6 In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall [a]direct your paths. It was a difficult decision but in the spring of 2013 I moved away from my home in Georgia. I have decided to put…

Spotlight Ministry: Patria House Bill Hopper Patria Ministries would like you to learn more about one of our family members: Bill Hopper of Patria House. Bill has been connected with Michael French for several years and was a founding member when Patria Ministries was created. In the spring of 2013, Bill retired from the fire service and moved from the…

  Acts 9:11 New Living Translation (NLT) 11 The Lord said, “Go over to Straight Street, to the house of Judas. When you get there, ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul. He is praying to me right now. My first call to minister to a Latino came over 20 years before I sold my place in…

2014-2015 I lost some people I cared deeply for in 2014 and some I knew from a distance. I think we all hope and pray for better days, especially for our kids. But life can quickly sober you up sometimes. Recently, I was sharing encouraging words with a friend of mine who had come to…

      Romans 8:28 New Living Translation (NLT) 28 And we know that God causes everything to work together[a] for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them. My father, William Otha Hopper, was a writer. He went by Otha. He taught English at the University of Alabama and…

  Jeremiah 1:11-12 New Living Translation (NLT) 11 Then the Lord said to me, “Look, Jeremiah! What do you see?” And I replied, “I see a branch from an almond tree.” 12 And the Lord said, “That’s right, and it means that I am watching,[a] and I will certainly carry out all my plans.” Why this verse for this story? Because it’s a pun…a play on words….

Malachi 4:6 New King James Version (NKJV) 6 And he will turn The hearts of the fathers to the children, And the hearts of the children to their fathers, The year was about 1981 or as late as 1983. It’s tough to recall exactly. I lived in an apartment with a couple of guys in Smyrna, Ga. My…

I’m going to be sharing some things that may be outside of your Christian experience comfort zone. God has used them in my life to build intimacy in our relationship and to confirm to me “again” we can be as close to Him as we want to be. I believe the church in general is…