"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven"
~ Ecclesiastes 3:1


Growing up in Indiana, I used to just love the fall. The hills and hollers would turn into a sea of red and orange. If you were to shuffle your feet while you walked, you could hear the sound of autumn as leaves crunched beneath your feet.

It's interesting how different seasons promote different memories. Although I miss those moments, for me now as an adult, the thought of fall is quickly a reminder that winter will soon follow.

Aging is a process that we all encounter. I was reminded several years ago that we are Ecclesiastical people. Our lives are marked by seasons, or chapters.

Our ability to maneuver through seasons, or situations in our lives, mark both our successes and challenges. Years of education, jobs, and the journeys as we create relationships. Autumn also reminds me of the term, "golden years," when we begin to reflect on all of these things, and prepare to enter our next journey as we die.

Choosing to end one chapter and beginning the next can be created in many things.

What's difficult for many of us is when a chapter ends abruptly, leaving us feeling like a failure because it may not have ended as we had hoped.

Sometimes those endings leave us filled with uncertainty as a new chapter begins, and the fear of failure, or unsure of how to begin again paralyzes us.

For the trees of the forest, the leaves that sprout forth in spring helps to identify the type of tree. While the green color of summer may look like the rest of the summer, the onset of autumn reveals much more. So it is with our lives until touched by God, who then reveals to us who we can truly be.

Even as the leaves are surrendered in the fall, and the onset of winter leaves the tree bare. There is always the spring that will once again cause the cycle to begin again.

God is always like that. Even while we look at a chapter in our life ending, God has the next chapter ready to be written.

To everything there is a season...

Stay in God's grip!

​G. Todd Williams (c) 2017

"For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."
~ Acts 4:20


As much as I love the spectacular beauty that this world has to offer at times, I must also remember that there is another place being prepared for me.


Living in the present, and being faithful can bring about many challenges. But knowing that the whole time I struggle with the present, God is busy creating a place where I will spend eternity.


It's an interesting thought, isn't it?


Our faith, and even scripture, remind us that what we see and know now shall pass away... all of it. That there will be a new and amazing place we will call home. Our hearts and our souls long to be there.


The old B.J. Thomas song declares, "They say that heaven's pretty, and living here is too, but if I had to make a choice between the two, I'd go home."


Heaven has been the focus of movies, songs, poetry and documentaries. No one has brought back pictures, but glimpses. No one has seen the gold-plated streets and sent an address to forward mail.


In our dreams, and amongst daily challenges, we know it's where our faith will take us.


I'm reminded of a glimpse shared by a patient of mine that was in the process of dying. "You know one thing I've discovered? There's no such thing as time in heaven."


For me, heaven will be filled with amazing beauty. It will be home to family and friends that I have loved and now miss each day. The most amazing thing is that the voice I have felt calling me over the decades will be calling me by name, and I will be able to see into the eyes, who first saw mine.


Heaven will be amazing.

Stay in God's grip!

​G. Todd Williams (c) 2017

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’


“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’


“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’


“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’"
~ Matthew 25:40-45

Each day as I drive around the city I see families trying to recover from the storm that hit us a month ago now. I can't even begin to imagine what others elsewhere, like Puerto Rico, are experiencing.

Earthquakes, fires, hurricanes and floods have created a whole new group of people that can be seen as "the least of these."

The need we are seeing can be so overwhelming that we turn our heads away because the images are too painful. It's as if every corner you turn there is someone holding a sign as a cry for help.

It begins to paint a clearer picture of how Christ must have seen the world. It is not simoly the obvious need for those who were hungry, naked or imprisoned. It was also about knowing the hearts of those whom he met, and the struggle for many to even find a way to reach out.


Today we witness the least of these in so many more ways.


While we struggle to decide how we can help one another, rememeber this, it can be as simple as a prayer for one another, a hug for someone who is hurting, or simply stopping what you are doing and listen.

Jesus reminds us as well that the poor will be with us always. Finding ways to help one another has become as varied as those we see now as the least of these.

Stay in God's grip!

​G. Todd Williams (c) 2017

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
~ John 16: 33


Someone asked me the other day, "What is wrong with the world? Everyone seems to be angry about something."

God has already shared with each of us how there will be unrest and trouble, but yet peace will always be present.

It's about how we perceive and welcome it.

Every generation has something that is troubling to them. Even during the generation of Jesus, Rome occupied Israel. Among the disciples there was discension, Judas made a deal, and Jesus lost his life. Talk about chaos!


Just as certain there is anger and unrest, there is ALWAYS the possibility for peace. It's just up to us as the people of God to remind ourselves that as the instruments of the living Christ in the world that we are called to be bearers of peace.


You know, God doesn't mess around when it comes to us. Don't forget, God let the Hebrew people wander in the sand for 40 years before God said, cross over into the promised land.


God waited generations until a young girl would carry Christ.


We must look foolish at times, but how often does God look at us and feel embarrassed? We were each created in the image of God. Our actions towards one another makes that image difficult to see at times.


I don't know about you, but I'm ready for some respect, love, and PEACE in the world, and guess what, it's up to us!


I pray for all of us, as we all should be doing. This world will fade away. Just as history has done time and time again, while God just continues to offer us simply this... Peace.


Today's challenge, do one thing that brings harmony rather than division.

Stay in God's grip!

​G. Todd Williams

It's days like today that remind me we are part of God's sacred handiwork. As I look around this creation I'm reminded that this was all prepared with us in mind. I wonder if we realize that all things have been created so that we may have joyful and abundant lives. Or do we see creation first of all as a sacramental reality, a sacred space where God reveals to us the immense beauty of the Divine?


I am reminded that we are not the owner of this creation. We, like creation, are sacred. But when we relate to all that surrounds us as creation by the same God who created us and as the place where God appears to us and calls us to worship and adoration, then we are able to recognize the sacred quality of all God's handiwork.


We are God's workmanship created by the Divine, to live abundantly in all creation. It's amazing to consider we are the result of dust meeting the Divine.

How wonderful to realize we are all part of God's amazing plan.

Stay in God's grip!

​G. Todd Williams (c) 2017

"Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead." ~ Phil 3:13


Have you ever discovered that something you thought to be true wasn't true at all?

Working with all kinds of people means that you encounter all kinds of lives. When working with the homeless I would hear some amazing stories of need. I would have to prayerfully consider everything I had heard to know what to do next. Sometimes I would learn that what I was told was not true, and it would then effect my ability to help the next time the person knocked on my door.

The thing about desperate people is that sometimes they do desperate things to get help.

How do we overcome when the reality of the situation is not what you thought?

God expects us to be real. At least that was what I was always taught. The writer of Phillipians has some great advice. Don't look back. There are greater prizes, or what I'm discovering, there are indeed better things ahead.

The strides we make may cause us to struggle. The realities of what we have thought may take time to heal, but there are better days ahead, and God will help each of us create healthy boundaries to help us with those days.

While each person has the ability to make their own decisions, when our life has been effected because someone has chosen to not be truthful, God has a plan to help us.

Stay in God's grip!

​G. Todd Williams (c) 2017

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
~John 16: 33


"Yes we've got trouble, right here in River City..."

"Trouble... yes, trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble..." (From the musical, "The Music Man")

I guess the disciples knew something about trouble, and so do we.

It's in our music, it's in the paper, and it seems to surround us daily.

There's something about the word trouble. I once heard someone comment, "Trouble just seems to follow that person."

I'm not necessarily sure what troubles each of us, but trouble is a very real and problematic force to be reckoned with.

Christ wants us to realize that even in the midst of trouble you can experience peace. Or that peace should be something we can have, even as the storm rages around you.

There's something about knowing who you are, and that there is an inner strength that will keep you strong when trouble surrounds you. It's what makes saints out of sinners and strong leaders.

Yes, there is plenty to worry about, and trouble can be real, but the grace and peace that God has to offer will prevail in the worst of situations.

Be strong in the Lord and experience real peace.

Stay in God's grip!

​G. Todd Williams (c) 2017

"Therefore, return to your God, Observe kindness and justice, And wait for your God continually."
~ Hosea 12:6


The hardest word, or experience, is when we encounter the need to "wait." For many of us, this word is not just a part of our prayer life, but in our tangible life as well.

Over the years i have actually gotten quite good at waiting. I spend much of my day driving around the city of Houston visiting hospice patients in their homes. Scheduling for traffic has become part of the word, "wait" that I really have learned to embrace!

The idea, or thought of waiting, in our culture is just not something that we value. I often think that's why we all seem to have difficulty with the process of waiting.

While I can say I've learned to wait, there are still times when waiting encounters anxiety or lack of patience. Waiting on a committee. Waiting to hear about the next step for a project. Waiting, waiting, waiting....

The signpost needs to simply say, "wait upon the Lord."

Yes, I said it. The proverbial "It's God's timing."

That's the one day in Seminary I paid close attention because next to, "It was God's plan," is the punctuality of the Creator statements that we all have heard plenty of times. (Next to, "How are you?" "I'm fine" statements)

For any of us, the process and the educational presence of the idea of waiting is fundamental to our faith and daily life. At this point in my life I simply want to ask God why it has taken me so long to learn this!

Stay in God's grip!

​G. Todd Williams (c) 2017

"When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established, what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?"
~ Psalm 8: 3, 4


Do you ever take the time to realize just how beautiful creation is? Turn off the headlines. Turn off the electronics. Take a look around. What do you see?

Is the world you see around you full of "things" or do you see the earth full of God's glory? Remember, you are part of that glory, created to do do marvelous things.

You can do all things, and accomplish great things by recognizing the world is full of "things" to make it possible for you to succeed at many things.

The other thing I realize is that this is also where God reveals just how amazing the Divine is.

When we relate to all that surrounds us as created by the same God who created us and as the place where God appears to us and calls us together, then we are able to recognize the sacred quality of all God's handiwork.

You are amazing...

All of God's creation is amazing...

Go and be amazing today!

Stay in God's grip!

G. Todd Williams (c) 2017

There is something about breaking bread, lifting a cup in prayer, and the words reminding us that bread represented a body broken, and that a cup represented blood that would be poured out for many.

When God took on flesh in Jesus Christ, the Divine and the created, the eternal and the temporal became united. This unity now means that all who live now, shall live forever. Everything mortal now points to the immortal Creator.

In and through Jesus all creation has become the means for the face of God to be revealed to us.

What I have discovered is that all things are sacred because God has spoken all things into existence. There is a redeeming quality in all things and everyone because with each creative stroke of the master, it is done in love. We aren't just here. We are an intentional part of the masterpiece!

Seas and winds, mountains and trees, sun, moon, and stars, and all the animals and people have become sacred windows offering us glimpses of God.

The sky above declares the glory of God, and we are reflective of God's glory. Let it shine, let it shine!

Stay in God's grip!

​G. Todd Williams, (c) 2017

"But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."
~Isaiah 40: 31


We all get tired. It's normal. We fill our lives with so many things. Of course we are tired.

The thing we must watch out for is exhaustion and burnout.

Easier said than done.

I have been reminded time and time again that one should never plan for more than you have time time to pray about.

Having the kind of relationship with God where you share all the time doesn't count! I know! Unless you take time out, and are intentional about the time, then there is nothing unique or special about the time.

Our plans are important. God wants to be part of those plans.

​Rest and pray. Rise up and soar!

Stay in God's grip!

​G. Todd Williams (c) 2017

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
~ Isaiah 40: 31


A few years ago I was walking the beach one morning. I asked a woman who was walking as well, to wave her arms when I reached a place to take this photo. I wanted her to cause the birds to rise together.

When I reached the point, I motioned her. She let out a loud scream and waved her hands. I about fell over because not only did she frighten the birds, but I was not expecting the loud scream.

I snapped a few shots, started laughing, and then asked if she was okay.

I love the photo, and love the memory.

There is something about "being ready, or prepared." So much of what our faith is based on, is the need to be ready.

Ready for Christ. Ready for turmoil. Ready for... you name it.

I grew up with the family motto, "Nothing is as permanent as change."

For us, it's not to a need to be ready, but also about watching and sharing that message with others.

I don't know what it is about being a pastor that seems to bring those moments when someone questions, "so do you think we're living in the end times?"

My honest answer, "I don't know."

What do you think?

I do believe that there is still the need for, and the presence of hope for each new day. I'm grateful to know that for each of us, no matter how much change, or perhaps how the world may be perceived, God's love does not change. I can't prepare myself any more than simply acknowledging and believing that no matter what may happen tomorrow, God will make sure I'm ready.

That is a promise for each of us. Stay in God's grip!

G. Todd Williams (c) 2017

I often think of Noah when encountering change. This is a man who heard God tell him to prepare for a flood. The world that he knew his whole life would be radically changed. The people that he knew as his neighbors, the community that he shopped in, the place he worshiped, and the home where he laid his head to sleep at night; all would be washed away. Everything that Noah knew and saw, would be gone.

What Noah saw and knew as normal, would all be gone.

I remember in 2008, laying in bed, watching outside my bedroom window, as the wall of Hurricane Ike ravaged the community. The wind just never seemed to stop. The rain, torrential in nature backed up storm drains and reached out beyond bayou banks that normally could hold back the waters. Trees snapped, and in the darkness, I could hear the screams to squirrels calling out for their mothers when knocked from the trees. It was a night I will never forget.

For Noah, the storm raged for forty days. The sounds he heard, and the images he saw, must have haunted him the rest of his life. The responsibility was great. The devastation complete.

We struggle each day to hold on. Hold on to our health. Our families. To seek security in our jobs, and to uphold our standing in our community. We join clubs, we volunteer in soup kitchens, and we find ways to make our existence meaningful, all the while we know that this is all temporary.

​One of the biggest challenges each of us have is realizing our temporariness on this earth. For Noah, the post-flood experience must have been strange. The security that God would need to provide this family as they began to rebuild the earth, must have been amazing, especially when clouds would appear and that first sprinkle would begin to fall.

It is comforting to know that there is eternity. Although I don't believe any of us can humanly understand the existence of eternity, we can however reflect and know that everything we experience is a brief encounter while living, and what we do in our life can and does make a difference.

We are reminded that faith, hope, and love are cornerstones, with love being the most important. Through this experience, no matter how long or brief our lives may seem, God is forever recreating... always, even when experiencing and after the storm, and beyond into eternity.

Stay in God's grip!

G. Todd Williams (c) 2017

Listening to the grief of someone is by far one of the most sacred moments I encounter in my life. There is something about being present with the vulnerability of someone who mourns, especially when the person is a stranger.


The question was raised, "did Jesus ever feel sadness, mourn, or feel bad about life?"


Yes, Jesus, got sad, mourned, and definitely had his moments. Jesus weeps when his friend Lazarus dies (John 11:33-36); he feels sad when he overlooks the city of Jerusalem, soon to be destroyed (Luke 19:41-44). Jesus mourns when he considers the losses that bring each of us pain. I am never ashamed of the tears that I have shed in the presence of one who is feeling pain. Why must we hide our own sharing in these moments. In my role as pastor, I sometimes feel like I'm expected to guard myself against such moments of grief.


I mourn. I grieve, and I hurt with those I journey with. There is nothing more sacred than being in those moments and allowing them to be real. Somewhere along the way, we have adapted a distorted view of pain and the expression of grief. It is through these expressions that we learn to welcome God to come in and provide consolation when our hearts ache and we feel pain.


Being with one another in these times brings us closer to the One who knows all our thoughts, our feelings, and chooses to be with us... ALWAYS...

Stay in God's grip!

​G. Todd Williams (c) 2017


(The picture is of my hand being placed within a sculpture. I found it interesting that the hands of the artist were perfectly shaped to match mine. That's the way it is with God... we are designed to walk, and BE with one another...)

At some point in our life, we will all experience loneliness. It is real and can be a life-changing experience for many.

I wish that I could say, "but you're never really alone," and immediately a person's perspective would change.  Feeling abandoned by God is by far one of the most difficult moments to understand.  

Sometimes the silence in our hearts, and the emptiness of the moment can seem like eternity when we find that we are waiting on an answer. Awaiting the echo of your own voice in a dark valley can be comforting, but when the voice is not yours, but instead a comforting message of hope to your call, there comes the assurance that you are not alone.

Remember that whatever you may go through, there has been someone who has felt just like you. Even in a moment of great darkness for Christ he cried out, "Why have you abandoned me?"

I have to believe that because we are made in the image of God, that God has an understanding of what loneliness feels like.

I have often wondered what the years of darkness and nothingness of the universe must have been like before God decided to command, "Let there be light."

You are not alone. In times of loneliness consider the moment and that while you wait, may you find the grace your heart desires to move forward and know you are not alone.

"I will be with you always..."

Stay in God's grip!

G. Todd Williams (c) 2017