Posted on by Pastor Poet

Invisible…

January 30, 2026

Years ago, during an anniversary program, my wife stood up at the end of the service and jokingly referred to being married to the invisible man.

Ouch.

She spoke of seeing the impact of my presence everywhere—while often not seeing me.

Yikes.

Her words still give me pause today.

She wasn’t wrong. I’ve always worked a lot—behind the scenes, below the radar—pulling strings, holding doors, cleaning up messes, fixing things, filling gaps. Keeping my head down. Helping out. Avoiding attention. Seeing without being seen.

This, I told myself, was faithful ministry. Or at least, that’s what I believed at the time.

“The invisible man,” she said. I understand what she meant. I can’t dismiss the piercing, painful truth in her words.

But I may offer a slightly different perspective.

Invisible? Perhaps. But I am not invisible—though I am often unseen.

There is a difference.

Invisible suggests absence. Unseen suggests presence without recognition.

And somewhere along the way, I’ve learned to be okay with that… sort of.

Unseen… impactful.

Unseen… integral.

Unseen… evident.

I’m okay with that.

But it’s a slippery slope.

Because unseen can become ignored. Unseen becomes unacknowledged. And over time, unseen becomes invisible.

And that matters.

So I have a question for us today:

Who are the unseen yet impactful—the unseen but integral people who have blessed us behind the scenes, simply because?

Who has God used to refresh and encourage us?

Here’s my challenge for us:

Don’t let them become invisible. Don’t allow those who have influenced us, sustained us, and quietly inspired us to fade into obscurity.

Though they may be unseen, do not let them become invisible.

Because invisibility is loneliness. It is the quiet ache of being present, faithful, and forgotten.

No one really wants to be invisible.

So choose to see. Choose to remember.

Although others may be blind to our benefactors, let us not allow them to become invisible to us.

“…for they refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such people.” 1 Corinthians 16:18

Good morning. I love you.

ihs,

just adam

Posted on by Pastor Poet

Secure Your Own Mask

January 12, 2026

Lessons from Flight Safety

I’ve traveled a lot. I’ve flown around the world. I’ve practically memorized the safety speeches they give at the beginning of each flight. The one that stands out to me is the one about changes in cabin pressure that require the deployment of oxygen masks.

The flight attendants make it clear that if there is an incident, the first thing everyone should do is to secure their own mask. And if you are traveling with someone who cannot secure their own mask, always make sure to secure your OWN mask first.

The Underlying Principle

For me this translates to a simple truth.

We cannot care for others well, when we do not care for ourselves. We set up unhealthy habits and codependence’s based on guilt-savior complexes that can ultimately break us and stifle the growth of those we are aiming to care for when we compromise caring and loving ourselves well.

Secure your own mask.

Encouragement for Caregivers and Leaders

So, if you are a parent, a caregiver, a manager, or a ministry leader, I encourage you to ask for support and seek prayers from those you trust. But when these are missing, do NOT feel bad or guilty about taking time to care for yourself. This is not selfishness; this is wisdom.

Secure your own mask.

The Overlooked Needs of Supporters

While prayers are easy to remember for those who are struggling, those who are ill, or for those who require special care, sometimes prayers for those who provide support and care are lacking. And oftentimes, the actual support for those who care for others is conspicuously absent.

So, the wisest and most compassionate thing you can do for yourselves and for others is to learn to…

Secure your own mask.

We cannot help anyone if we are incapacitated. Get it?

We love others AS we love ourselves.

Matthew 19:19

Now, secure your own mask.

Good Morning, I love you all.

ihs,

just adam 

Posted on by Pastor Poet

Our Daily Bread…

I have to admit, most of my stress and anxieties come from concerns about the future.  In an effort to  be responsive to any number of circumstances, I have become a saver and planner.  

More often than not, the impetus to save and plan has served my family well, but I have to admit that the toughest times we’ve faced have little to do with a lack of resources.  

In retrospect, many of the worries and concerns that drove me to work so hard and to save  – these things never happened.  So, as a result, we often have more than what we need.  We have more stuff, more money than we actually need. (I probably shouldn’t say this out loud…)

We aren’t independently wealthy, but we aren’t lacking.  Unfortunately what we don’t have is an abundance of time.   And now when I look back, I wish I would’ve been more deliberate about the time I took off, the time I could’ve spent creating memories rather than trying to secure an unknown future or prevent some unlikely calamity.

When our family was young, we struggled with resources like many young families do, but God was faithful!  Things were leaner but our lives were simpler and we were happy.  I remember the days of buying groceries a day at a time, sitting at our small table and blessing our meals, and being content.  I remember the way we used to pray:

“Give us this day our daily bread…’

Matthew 6:11

Those were some sweet days, sweeter than I realized. I am only saddened by my latent realization.  But I will do better, one day at a time…

Good Morning, I love you all!

ihs,

just adam

Posted on by Pastor Poet

Keep on Living…

When we lose loved ones it can feel like our worlds have come to an end.  Grief ebbs and flows like waves on a shore, leaving us forever altered but somehow the same.  Our beloveds have left us but are somehow always with us.  We cling to their memory with our feet in the sand hoping that we will meet again.  

What do we do to assuage grief?  

In the words of my dear mother, we gotta ‘keep on living…’

When our love seems to have no place to go, it must find itself in the present.  We gotta keep on living.  We gotta learn how to pour this love into those with whom we remain.   We gotta keep on living.

We mustn’t remain among the tombs.  God has placed souls in our way that will become  welcome receptacles and repositories for the love that feels like it has no place to go. We gotta keep on living.

We can  honor our beloveds by continuing to live and to love.  We continue living as we cling to the gratitude that this love was a gift that we were privileged to receive.  

The poet Tennyson wrote,

“It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all…”

I offer this addendum:  

It’s better to have loved, because love is never lost.  

Certainly love changes, but it is never lost. 

Love just  finds new ways of expressing itself.

Pardon my rambling this morning, as I work through my own grief at the passing of so many that I held so dearly.  This love that feels sometimes like it has no place to go,  I offer it to you.

Now, pass it on.

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.

1 Corinthians 13:7-8

Good Morning, I love you all!

ihs,

just adam

Posted on by Pastor Poet

Time & Distance

Have you ever been on the road behind a large vehicle that blocks your view and impedes your progress?

I have, and I think it has unnecessarily raised my blood pressure on several occasions. But I’ve learned something over the years.

Some obstacles, and I must stress very firmly the ‘some,’ can be avoided with patience, distance, and just a little bit of planning. Some delays can be prevented when we develop a broader perspective.

By giving ‘big things’ room sometimes we can see better. We can see around them in ways that we cannot when you’re right up on them. Huge impasses become manageable and sometimes avoidable when we give ourselves time and space to move around them.

No, we cannot avoid every obstacle, but we also don’t need to get stuck trying to plow through stuff we may be able to go around if we give ourselves some time and space.

By learning to look down the road a bit, we are not consumed by what’s immediately before us. We realize that we can perhaps even change lanes. Does that make sense?

It may simply be that we need to learn to slow down, and to develop some patience, in order to avoid the frustration caused by the disruptions that life sometimes serves us. We can get where we’re going safely and with less anxiety by giving ourselves just a little extra time and space. Try that out!

Are there some large things looming ahead of you that are obscuring your view and impeding your progress? Give yourself some time and some distance, and you may see that you can get around it, and if you can’t get around it, you can at least make it safely through!

Slow down. Give yourself some time and space. Be patient. You will get where you’re going!

Remember:

The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way…

Psalm 37:23

Good Morning, I love you all!

ihs,

just adam