Guest Post by Gabe Jones One of my favorite parts of being a parent is having an excuse to watch some of the older shows (cartoons) I used to watch as a kid, but now with my son. As kids grow older their interest in shows/movies change. Right now, my son’s favorite movie franchise is Pixar’s Toy Story. Admittedly, I had previously never seen any of the Toy Story movies until my son chose to watch the first one. The movies follow Woody, a Sheriff, and a rag tag group of toys

Tomorrow would have been my dad’s 64th birthday. However, in 2015 he went home to be with the Lord. In honor of his would-be birthday, this week’s article will be an “I Was Just Thinking…” Throwback. Titled “Visually Changed”, this article describes what our lives should be like as Christ-followers. This article originally appeared in “I Was Just Thinking… 2007 edition” – a book of my dad’s original articles from 2007. Note : I have made formatting and spelling edits as well

Have you ever spent time working on a plan for anything and then when it is time to execute that plan it does not work like you planned it? Many people know exactly what I am talking about. We all spend a considerable amount of time crafting up the perfect schedule just to get the random person interrupting it or constructing the perfect grocery list full of health and thrift just to smell the fresh baked doughnuts when you walk in the store or maybe organizing every detail

People love to celebrate for all kinds of occasions: weddings, birthdays , anniversaries, graduations, and more. We even love to practice celebrating. We want to make sure every detail is perfect and goes just the way we have envisioned it. A couple of weeks ago, we completed our Upward Flag Football and Cheer season at our church. There was one boy in our youngest division who was very tiny and very fast. He would run all over the field and no one could catch him and even if

Last week, I completed reading my second book of this early year . In 2019, I have set a personal goal to read a certain a number of books. The one I just finished reading is titled "The Bonsai Theory of Church Growth" by Ken Hemphill. I have known about this book for just about my entire life and have been meaning to read it . So, I finally did. The book takes the theories and practices of caring for bonsai trees and applies them to church growth. Admittedly, I completely mi

A few weeks ago, Christians celebrated and remembered Jesus’ resurrection from the tomb. Easter, as we call it now, signals hope, joy, and confidence that God is in control of life and death. He is stronger than death – and Revelation tells us that one day God will throw death itself into the lake of fire. Easter also carries some other thoughts and emotions for me and my family. Many years ago, my grandmother died on, or around, Easter. (She was born on Easter too, but not

Recently, I have been thinking a lot about a fairly tough, sensitive topic. Death. A few weeks ago my wife’s grandfather passed away. He is a beloved and well respected man in his community, and loved by his family. Funerals are never easy, but like it or not, we will all face this one day. While helping and watching my in-laws prepare for the funeral, I was overwhelmed by the stories, pictures, and love they demonstrated to their husband, father, and grandfather. There were

As I mentioned back in November of 2017, this article is the relaunch of my dad’s article. Therefore, I want to feature his original work from time to time. I am going to title those posts as “IWJT Throwback”. This particular article was originally written in January 2008. I have titled it Ripeness. I have done some light editing to it, but it is largely intact in its original form. I hope you enjoy this article, and thank you again for reading. “Because of a new jelly commer

Guest Post by Gabe Jones As I’m sure many people did at the beginning of the year, my wife and I sat down to list and discuss our short and long-term goals. One of the goals I listed for myself was the often cited, “get back into shape this year” goal. I didn’t have a groundbreaking approach to this endeavor. In fact, I know exactly what caused my “getting out” of shape in the first place. For the second half of 2017 I didn’t eat healthy… at all. As if that wasn’t enough to d

This past Sunday, I had a really busy and crazy day. I was coming home from out of town and I was a bit behind schedule. I thought I had a plenty of time but I didn’t. I had to be back for Youth Group at 5:30pm. I literally pulled in the church parking lot at 5:28pm. My adult leaders and several youth were out in the parking lot entertaining themselves. I ran inside, turned on all the lights and unlocked the doors. Once everyone was inside I had to run back home because our t

This past Sunday I had the opportunity to preach at the church I am currently serving. I spoke about remembering the “great things God has done”. Normally this time of year we are so excited about the new year and all that awaits us that we run the risk of ignoring what has taken place over the past year. And if we do look back it is usually about all the bad things that occurred. My sermon was based on Deuteronomy 11:1-9, where Moses is retelling the Exodus story and its sub

This past weekend, my wife and I were in North Carolina visiting my family for Christmas. This visit was a little different because it was the first time I have traveled to another state with our two golden retrievers. We stayed at a hotel and were on the second floor. This may sound insignificant, but with a one year old puppy, it is VERY significant. Our puppy, Mowgli, is a tough guy. He is a smaller retriever, but he is built solid and has no concept of pain. He has two sp

Now a month into the relaunch of the “I Was Just Thinking…” article, I want to honor its origin and history. Therefore, I have pulled out the archives of my father’s original work. I will periodically do this and title them "IWJT Throwbacks". This week’s post, titled Christian, will you help me?, was originally written on October 3, 2007. I hope you enjoy this article, and thank you again for reading. “Today, as I had gone to the grocery store to just pick up some milk, I had

Last night, the middle school basketball team I am coaching had its first game. It was an exciting time as we began our new season. Unfortunately, we did lose. However, that is not the story here. Our head coach is an eighth grade history teacher and takes academics very seriously. Any of you who have played school sports, or had a child play, knows that there are academic requirements for eligibility. Our school’s policy regarding academic eligibility is pretty low. Therefor

“You’ll eventually find yourself too busy.” This was a comment I received from someone after I mentioned that I wanted to begin reading more. My decision to do so was because I scarcely read anything before I started full-time ministry. I had read plenty for school, but nothing for personal growth or interest. And what I had read, I left unfinished. One book in particular I started to read seven times. I even received several late fees from the local library after multiple ex

Many years ago my dad, Billy Hutchinson, a pastor and ministry leader of over two decades, began writing a column for a small-town newspaper, The Brunswick Times-Gazette. His column connected the truth of God’s Word with real life situations, observations, and experiences. His article was known as “I Was Just Thinking…” and reached people throughout the United States and the world. Two years ago my dad passed away. While I know he is with Jesus, his passing has been difficult