As highlighted in Kris Flynn's article in this issue of the Central Beacon, CCC has been blessed for more than a decade by the talent and heart of our worship leader, Steve Duff. In addition to being an accomplished musician, Steve is also an excellent songwriter. Last year, Steve introduced our congregation to a worship song that he had recently composed – The Beauty of It All. Steve included this song in the worship set for the first Sunday of the new year, and being the last song of the set, I came up at the end to transition us to the next part of the service. As I did so, I was struck not only by the beauty of the song but more so by the invitation it extended to see and persistently seek the beauty of God, his creation and his purposes, especially in a time filled with so much doubt, darkness and division. At the moment, I asserted that The Beauty of It All should be our theme song for the year of our Lord 2025. This declaration seemed all the more appropriate as we had just comp...

My wife, Rhonda, and I recently had the privilege of cruising through the Greek islands with close friends. While on the beach on the island of Rhodes, I decided to try to take some underwater pictures with my cell phone. When I declared my intention, my friends stated: Your phone can do that! At least, that's what I heard. So, with the confidence of my desire and my friends' affirmation (so I thought), I marched into the water, stuck the camera end of my phone under the surface and snapped a picture – and it worked! Thus further encouraged, I dipped my phone again into the beautifully blue Mediterranean Sea for another shot – only this time, my phone made a weird buzzing sound, a jagged green line shot across the screen and my phone shut down, never to be operational again. As I returned to Rhonda and our friends, lamenting that I had damaged my phone, probably beyond repair, they expressed amazement at what I had done. But you said my phone could take underwater pictures! I cried. T...

In celebration of our 60th birthdays, my wife, Rhonda, and I recently had the unexpected pleasure of going on a Mediterranean cruise, visiting ports in Italy and Turkiye and several Greek islands. It was truly the trip of a lifetime, and we will cherish the experience for years to come. If you have never been on a cruise, I highly recommend it. Instead of packing and unpacking as you travel from place to place, your hotel simply goes with you, with all the amenities included – food, lodging and entertainment – as you visit some of the most beautiful and interesting places on the planet. As we were on the elegant Holland America ship the Nieuw Statendam for fourteen days, the last Saturday of the trip, sometimes referred to as Sadurday, came as something of a shock. As we left the ship, and especially when we returned home, we faced the reality of once again preparing our own meals, making our own beds and cleaning up after ourselves, and longing to return to the onship BB King Blues L...