GAP Fellowship

GAP Fellowship We seek to share Jesus outside the confines of a building.

GAP Fellowship is a Non-Denominational, non-traditional fellowship of Christians that believe in the Word of God and understand that Jesus Christ filled the gap that separated us from God.

05/23/2026

“Here or there”

Joe called his brother Bob’s cell phone and sat waiting on him to answer. He had called Bob a couple of times and was on the verge of driving out to the little house Bob had moved to when he returned to town two months ago.
But Bob finally answered the phone.
“How is it going ?”Joe asked his brother.
“Okay I guess”, answered Bob.
“Well, how is the new job? Are you liking it?”
Bob had taken a night job stocking merchandise in the local lumber and hardware store. Bob had said he liked it because he was able to work alone. “All I have to do is follow the list they leave me each night”, he had said.
“The job is going fine”, Bob replied with a tone that indicated he was not very interested in talking about it.
“I haven’t seen you around brother”, Joe said. “ I figured I would see you at the coffee shop some morning, I was even hoping to buy you breakfast.”
“No, I just hang around home and go to work mostly”, Bob replied.
“I see you didn’t show up to Clifford’s birthday party and barbecue either, he really hoped you would.”
“No, I just didn’t feel like getting out”, Bob said.
“How long have you been home now Bob?”, Joe asked the question he already knew the answer to.
“Oh, about two months”, Bob replied.
“Yeah, and all you have done is work and isolate yourself in that little house. Why?”, Joe asked.
In a rather irritated tone, Bob answered.
“Because I can’t look people in the face after what I did! That’s why!”, Bob shouted into the phone.
“Oh, my mistake Bob, I didn’t realize that you were still in state prison. Well by golly, I better come drive you back there! I am sure they are looking for you!”, Joe said with a note of sarcasm.
“Shut up Joe”, Bob muttered.
“No, sure ‘nuff brother. I guess I was mistaken. I thought you got released from prison a couple months ago. I had no idea whatsoever you were still doing time”, Joe said.
“I ain’t still doing time Joe, I just don’t want to face anyone. You don’t get drunk and rob a gas station in your hometown and feel good about it.”
“That was five years ago, do you think folks are still walking around and talking about it? I have news for you, folks have a lot more to talk about than some kid making a mistake five years ago.”
Bob didn’t respond.
Brother, the folks in this town, including Roger who owned the gas station, have gotten way past that mistake you made. And if they haven’t, that’s up to them. Fact is, they are not making you live in shame, you are making yourself live in shame and regret.
Joe went on, “so tell me Bob, are you going to live here in the present and move on with your life?
“Or will you just keep living in the prison of your yesterday?”
There was silence on the phone.
Joe broke the silence, “you have to decide my brother, will you be here, or there? Because if you are going to live in your past mistakes you may as well pack up and head back to prison, it will save you from having to keep building your own prison here.”
Joe’s tone softened and he said, “Bob, when our Bible instructs us to forgive, that includes ourselves.”
Again there was silence. Bob finally spoke.
“I will see you at breakfast tomorrow and you are buying.”
Then he hung up on Joe.
Joe looked at his phone and laughed.
“I guess he may try living here, instead of there.”
“Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.” – Matthew 18:15
“As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.” – Psalm 103:12
“Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 3:13-14
Brother Mark

05/05/2026

“The day they danced again” (Written February 18, 2025)

Marion waited for his friend Randy at one of the sidewalk tables of the Black Goose cafe. Marion had only moved to Wubberville Texas a few months ago, but he had soon become friends with Randy. They already had the habit of meeting at the Black Goose for coffee two mornings each week.

“I guess this is what you do when you’re retired”, he thought.

He would sit and drink coffee with Randy and be informed about the lives of everyone that walked or drove by.

Randy arrived and sat down after letting the waitress know that he wanted a coffee, one cream and one jelly donut.

Marion laughed to himself because he was sure they already knew what he wanted. Randy ordered the same thing every time.

“What’s new”, he asked Randy.

“Other than the raccoons getting in my trash last night, absolutely nothing”, he replied in a tired tone of voice.

Marion noticed a man and woman he had never seen before walking down the sidewalk toward them.

They looked to be close to forty and Marion noticed they were both smiling broadly.

“Good morning Randy”. they said in unison.

“Must be the Wubberville glee club”, Marion thought.

The couple stood there five minutes, just passing the time of day with Randy and telling Marion how happy they were to meet him.

They introduced themselves as Marty and Adele.

They even asked Marion to join their softball team.

After they walked away Marion turned to Randy and said, “Well there are a couple of bright souls.”

“They are now”, “ said Randy.

“But for several years that wasn’t the case.”

Marion sat back as he knew he was about to be given a profile on these two young people.

But for some reason, probably because of their dispositions, Marion was very interested in hearing about them.

“Marty and Adele have been together since high school. As a matter of fact, they got married as soon as they graduated.”

Randy paused and went on.

“I used to watch them at the community dances. No one could dance like those two. It was a graceful thing to behold. It was like those two were the music when they danced together.”

Randy stopped a minute and stared down the street, it was as though he was seeing them dancing right in front of him.

He resumed. “Marty and Adele had a beautiful baby girl. You never saw a prettier baby. The bluest eyes I ever saw and that baby smiled at everyone.”

Randy stopped again and Marion felt a bit awkward as he saw a tear run down Randy’s face.

“Marty and Adele dropped the baby off with Marty’s Mother one night and attended the chamber of commerce dance. They won first prize in the dance contest that night.” Marion could tell that Randy was replaying that night in his mind.

“And”, said Randy, “ while they were there a fire broke out in Marty’s mother’s house and she wasn’t able to get that baby out.”

Marion felt his own eyes well up after having met this couple.

“Tragic”, was all Marion could mutter.

“Yes, it was”, Randy said in a whisper.

Randy went on. “Everyone wondered if they would even be able to stay married after that. They did, but it changed them. They were just going through the motions of living.”

Randy turned his eyes toward Marion and said, “the music and the dance had stopped in their lives.”

“Well, it appears things have gotten a bit better”, Marion said. “Going by my one impression this morning, they seem on top of the world.”

“That just changed not long ago”, Randy said.

“What happened?”, Marion was anxious to know.

Randy stared down the street in the direction Marty and Adele had gone and said, “They heard the right song and started dancing again.”

Marion was on the edge of his seat now and even knocked his coffee cup over as he asked, “what song man? What was the song?

Randy smiled and looked at him, evidently enjoying Marions’ anticipation.

“It’s a song I have been meaning to ask if you knew Marion. The name of the song is “grace”.

“Grace?” Marion repeated.

“Who is the Artist?”

“The artist is named Jesus”, Randy replied.

After noting Marion’s silence Randy said, “a man moved in next door to Marty and Alene. A new person in town. And he began caring for them and teaching them about the one who said He would bring a healing that no one else can. Once they met this artist and heard the grace, they began to dance again. They found peace and life again.

After a moment Marion said, “I believe I may like to hear that song myself. I don’t think I have danced for quite some time now.

Randy pulled a worn Bible from his jacket pocket and said, “what say I play it for you Marion?”

Psalm 149:3

Let them praise His name with the dance; Let them sing praises to Him with the timbrel and harp.

Psalm 33:21

For our heart shall rejoice in Him, Because we have trusted in His holy name.

Matthew 11:28

“Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

When we know heartbreak and defeat, may we remember that the song of grace still plays. No matter what has happened, no matter what mistakes you have made. The song of grace is available that we may begin “the dance” and live.

04/20/2026

Story First posted in 2022:

Texas summer, soda water bottles, and kindness.

I had the privilege of growing up in a small Texas town where summer vacation went on forever it seemed.
My Dad felt a boy who was too young to come work on his hot tar roofing crew should have some daily assignments to keep his mind right.
After completing these assignments, I along with my friends would choose from a variety of adventures which we would immerse ourselves into.
Baseball, bike riding excursions, cane pole fishing, blowing up tuna cans with firecrackers, building coaster cars, and swimming in the creek were a few of the things to choose from.
We loved swimming in the creek.
But another great thing to do (especially after deciding that girls were a wonderful thing) was to go to the one small public swimming pool run by the town.
There was only one problem with this. The public pool charged a dime to get in.
A dime was serious money for a boy back then.
Why, with a dime a guy could get a “soda water”, (that’s what we called sodas back then) a candy bar or a a small dish of ice cream at the drug store fountain. It would also pay for one patch on your bike tire inner tube if you wanted to get it professionally applied at the gas station. Otherwise a small “monkey patch” kit could be purchased for the same price.
Much strategy had to be applied toward obtaining a dime. I never knew one kid that I ran around with that either got an “allowance” or got paid for doing chores around their own home.
It was expected that everyone would just do their part.
One of the techniques for obtaining this coveted coin was to search the roadside ditches around town and and find “soda water bottles” that had been pitched from cars, wash them out with a garden hose, and attempt to return them for the 2 cent deposit at a local store.
5 bottles successfully returned equaled access to an afternoon of swimming at the pool.
Finding those bottles took a lot of walking or bike riding and watching for snakes as you searched the ditches.
If you failed, the best you could do is sit outside the chain link fence surrounding the pool and look at everyone else having fun.
Each bottle found and sold was a step nearer the goal of swimming pool bliss!
Sometimes it would take two days to make the entire 10 cents.
But if you kept at it you would make it inside.
But one day stands out in my memory more than others when it comes to that little public pool.
After a successful morning of bottle hunting, bottle washing and selling I had obtained the shiny dime. Getting into my swim trunks and riding my bike the mile to the pool, I arrived and to my dismay found that I had lost the dime somewhere along the way.
Sitting on my bike, immersed in self pity I see a car roll up and a man got out with his two daughters. He went to the window and paid for their entry into the pool and headed back to his car. I suppose he couldn’t help but see the look of absolute misery on my face.
This man asked “you going swimming “?
I told him about my success in finding and selling bottles and the subsequent loss of my dime.
He smiled as I told the story and when I got done he said “come with me” and he walked toward the gate to the pool. There he laid down a dime and said to the teenager taking money “this is for this young man right here”.
He then turned to me and said “have fun” and walked to his car.
I never saw that man again, never knew his name although it was a small town.
But I remember his face, his voice and his kindness in great detail.
In my life I have often remembered this experience when I have seen others that need help.
No matter how small, an act of kindness goes such a long way. This one for example has lasted 54 years as I still remember it often.

It often takes only a drop of kindness to fill the cup of someone in need.

Brother Mark

Colossians 3:12

Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience

04/13/2026

“A slow ride to Pueblo”

Bobby got behind the wheel of his Chevy Impala and sat there a minute before starting the engine. He was about to start the drive from central Texas to Pueblo Colorado. It was normally about a twelve-hour drive and Bobby was looking forward to it.
Bobby traveled to Pueblo often to visit his daughter who went to the university there.
Friends often asked, “why don’t you fly”? Bobby admitted it would be much cheaper and faster overall. But he always chose to drive. He would tell his friends, “The drive provides good thinking time.”
Bobby had a demanding work life that consumed much of his time. A seventy-hour work week was common, and he was on call twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.
Lately it had seemed to Bobby that life was rushing by so fast that he could not keep track of the days. Demands for his time and many projects to manage kept his mind constantly busy.
The things he spent his time on were worthwhile, but he noticed how fast the journey of life was going by. “Both the days and the years go by faster than I can understand,” he would often think.
Bobby started the engine and began the journey. Heading up through west Texas, across the corner of New Mexico, then up to Pueblo.
Bobby always enjoyed the fact that the further he got away from the area he lived in, the lighter the traffic became and he would begin to find himself relaxing after a while.
As he got into west Texas the long stretches between towns found him slowing down a little. He was eager to see his daughter at the end of the drive, but the solitude of the drive felt good. Enjoying the drive without many other vehicles around him, Bobby would find his mind beginning to think of where he was in life. His Dad used to tell him, “It’s good to take a break from the rat race once in a while and look at where the race has brought you.”
Bobby would stop for fuel as needed, grab a soda, and just sit back and appreciate the drive. Cell phone coverage was weak in some areas, preventing work from calling him.
Solitude. Time of reflection. Slowing down. Sorting things out. Being grateful.
Bobby thought about his age, the journey so far in life, and wondered what the future may hold. Bobby knew that life could change or end in a moment’s time. “I guess we all wonder when we will arrive at the end of this journey.”
Bobby watched the time and miles pass by. As his mind left the fast pace of life’s demands behind him, he began thinking about the fact that he would see his daughter in a few hours. So, the journey to see her was good because each mile brought him closer to seeing her face.
Bobby thought about the fact that each day, each breath, was bringing him closer to the end of his time on earth. Like the miles, the days were going by.
Bobby realized that his life needed to take more occasions for a “slow ride.”
He realized that on this journey of life he needed to take time for rest, time to be grateful, time to love those around him and let them know they were valuable.
He needed to spend time with God, listening, learning, strengthening himself to live out Gods purpose for his life. He needed time to evaluate his efforts and see if they were even worth investing time in.
Bobby noticed that even out in the arid spaces of west Texas, the sun setting on the horizon was beautiful.
“We go so fast that we miss seeing and hearing so many good things that are right there in front of us” he said aloud. “When was the last time I even noticed the beauty of a sunset?”
“When was the last time I actually slowed down and listened to what God is saying to me?”
Bobby eased up a little more on the gas pedal. And he watched as the stars came out. And he felt his mind slow down and peace in his soul grow.
“I need more slow rides to Pueblo,” he thought.

Mark 6:30 The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught.
Mark 6:31 And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.” For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.
Mark 6:32 And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves.

04/07/2026

Reflection: "As I look at the scars"
I hope your celebration of the Resurrection of our Lord was glorious. In this we look to our hope in Him because He has overcome the world. We live in a time in which many are looking for hope. It is my prayer that each of us seek the guidance of the Holy Spirit to live that hope in our own lives and in love share it with all people we encounter.
Life is difficult and leaves impressions upon us. I find that I often look back on my failures, my losses, and my regrets. They have left a few battle scars on my heart and mind.
In these scars I can often experience negative feelings and thoughts.
However, I have found that I have the freedom to see them as testimony of the faithfulness of my Lord as I went through the battles. And from those battles I have found that God is faithful in His promise to never leave me. I see that in the battles is where He showed Himself most brilliantly, faithfully and powerfully.
And from the past battles, the failures, the losses, I observe a strength of hope and faith that grew far more than in the good times of my life.
May you know the fruit of His Spirit today and everyday. And remember that the battle was won for you and me on the cross. "It is finished".
And as we press through the storms and the goodness of each day may we have the peace that passes understanding.
Originally posted in 2023:
As I look at the scars
Clifford sat on the back porch on an old kitchen chair. In front of him on a small folding table was the carburetor that went to his riding lawn mower. Clifford had removed the carburetor hoping he could clean it and get it working right again. “Soon as you get time to mow the yard the durn mower decides to lay down on ya”, he had grumbled to himself. But Clifford had stopped working on the carburetor after a few minutes. Something had caught his eye and now his mind was wandering through years past. The thing that caught his eye and brought a halt to progress on the carburetor was a scar across the back of his right hand. Clifford had begun thinking about what had caused that scar. His mind went back thirty five years. He had been trying to tighten a bolt on a motor mount under a one ton stake bed. When the wrench had slipped his hand flew into the frame of the truck and laid the back of it open. Clifford thought about how long it had taken for that to heal. He had not been able to use that hand for much for a long time. “But it healed up good as new”, he thought. “Just left a scar to remember it by”. Clifford had then began looking at his hands and arms and noting how many scars were on them. ”Some big and some small and they all have a story attached to them”, he thought. One was from a fight with “Tree Bob Acres”. Clifford chuckled to himself. “I must have had a few cold beers in me to fight that big rascal”. “And as big as he was he still hit me with a beer bottle !” He remembered that it took a while to heal also. ”It healed just fine but I have the scar to remember that too”. Clifford thought about how scars showed where wounds had been but weren’t painful like the wound had been. “Fact is, when that wound heals the area is kind of strong where the wound was”. Clifford looked over at another old kitchen chair on the porch. It was empty. “That is where Charlene sat and cracked ‘many a pecan’ ”, he remembered. He also remembered looking at her sit there after coming back from her cancer treatments. He remembered how each week she had looked a little more exhausted. “Scars”, he thought. “Just the kind folks cannot see”. Charlene had passed away eight years ago. Clifford thought of the wound that had been brought to his heart and mind. He also thought about the many prayers he had uttered as he sat in loneliness after she passed. “Like the scars on my arm that remind me of past wounds, I will always have a scar on my heart from Charlene’s passing “. Clifford thought about the fact that this scar on his heart didn’t bring the pain it used to. In fact, Clifford spent most of his time on the back porch nowadays remembering and being grateful for the wonderful times they had been able to have together. “That scar will never go away but the good Lord has removed the pain. And for that I am grateful”. Clifford then thought about how he had come to know God in a deeper way after that wound had been inflicted on his heart. “Yep, that’s a bad scar”, he thought. “But God has slowly healed the pain and I am grateful for the years He gave me with Charlene.” Clifford went back to working on the carburetor as his mind went through hundreds of good memories of his time with Charlene. 2 Kings: 20:5 ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of David your father: “I have heard your prayer, I have seen your tears; surely I will heal you."
Brother Mark

03/30/2026

Devotional/Reflection March 30, 2026
Growth potential

Lee watched as his grandfather came through the backyard gate. He was always amazed at his grandfather’s height. His mom had said he was six feet ten inches tall, and his uncle Melvin had said he was six feet eleven inches. They also said that his grandfather’s brother who lived in California was seven feet tall.
Lee had never asked his grandfather how tall he was before. He just knew he was tall and wondered if he himself would inherit some of this height. Lee was twelve years old and had not yet shown signs of being exceptionally tall.
His grandfather sat down on the back porch and Lee was again amused at how high his knees were stuck up in front of him when he sat in a standard-sized chair.
“Well hello knot head”, his grandfather said to him. This was his usual greeting for Lee.
“Hello Granda”, Lee replied.
“What are you up to besides nothing?”, his grandfather asked. This was something else his grandfather always said.
Lee decided to step out on a limb and asked, “How tall are you really Granda?”
“Five feet twenty-three inches” was the reply.
Lee did the math quickly and said, “six feet eleven inches.”
His grandfather laughed and said, “very good addition their boyo.”
“How old were you when you got that tall?”
“Oh, I guess I reached my full potential in height around nineteen or twenty years old.”
Lee thought about that a minute, wondering if he still had the potential to grow that tall being he was only twelve years old.
“Did you want to grow more than that”, Lee asked.
“Nope”, his grandfather replied. “Not as far as how tall my body stood anyway.”
“What do you mean”, Lee asked.
“Well, there are many ways to grow. Some good and some not so good. I grew tall enough as far as my body went, but I am still growing in other ways.”
“Like what”, the boy asked.
“Well boyo, I found that I could grow in wisdom or foolishness, forgiveness or hate, or kindness or bitterness, to name a few. I can grow in my faith, I can grow in my love for God and others, or I can grow in selfishness.”
“Well, when do you finish growing in those things Granda? How old are you when you finish growing in those things?”
“Well, number one, I never want to be finished growing in my relationship with my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I never want to finish growing in love and kindness. And the good news is, there is always, always, more growth to be had in many good things. We have the freedom to choose how we grow. Because we will grow, no doubt, either in what is wonderful or in those things that are temporary and that may even tear us down. And when we use our freedom to choose what God has in store for us, it is glorious. You must always give attention to what is growing within you, my child.”
“So, in some ways we can grow forever?”, said Lee.
“With the love of God and our love for others there is no end to our growth potential”, replied his grandfather.
“I never thought about growing that way Granda. Thanks for telling me that. But I still want to be as tall as you. In more ways than one. But if my body gets as tall as yours, I can play basketball, make lots of money, and you and I can build a race car and travel all over together racing it.”
The old man laughed and said, “that’s a deal boyo, I will get my bags packed.”

May we never think that we “retire” from a life of growth and new beginnings as we follow our Savior. We always have the freedom to grow in glorious things. There are no plateaus. Only more to be had in our walk with Jesus Christ.
Brother Mark
Ephesians 4:11
And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
Ephesians 4:12
for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,
Ephesians 4:13
till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
Ephesians 4:14
that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting,
Ephesians 4:15
but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—
Ephesians 4:16
from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.

03/06/2026

Unfaded ink

This morning, I stood looking into the bathroom mirror and listening to the water run in the sink. I was waiting for the water to get hot so I could shave. It seemed like a long wait. I observed my reflection and thought how the force of gravity over a lifetime could bring a whole lot of change to how a person looked.
I could remember the way I looked at different stages of my life and truth be told I believe I have a mental picture of a much younger version of me in my head most of the time. Until I look into a mirror and that view quickly makes me become aware of the present condition. I saw wrinkles where they did not use to be and the absence of hair where it once was.
I had to lean in a bit for a closer look because my eyes are not as clear as they were nor do they see as well as they once did. And the colors. The brown eyes are not bright, and the mustache has not even one hint of the color it once was. “Fading away” were the words that came to my mind.
I studied the tattoos on my arms and my eyes drifted to the first one I got back in the time when tattoos were mostly limited to being upon the skin of bikers and sailors. The first one was a heart, with a sword through it and a banner across it. The heart had been bright red 50 years ago. Now, like my mustache, the color was all gone. There had been a word written on that banner. A word that the tattoo artist had first written with a toothpick he had stuck in some cigarette ashes before driving the ink into them. The word on that tattoo is no longer readable. It has faded along with the color. Not gone but blurred.
I remember sitting there and thinking that this tattoo was going to cost me twelve dollars. A lot of money for a 17-year-old on Navy pay. I listened to the buzzing of the needles and watching as he outlined, colored and wrote the word into my skin.
The word said, “FREE”. And I can no longer read that word on my arm.
Looking back, I remember defining my freedom as being on my own, out of my parents’ house and free from their authority, a free thinker, free to make my own decisions.
There I was bound by a navy enlistment, already bound by a strong drinking habit, often angry, and I get “FREE” tattooed on my arm.
It did not take many years at all before what I defined as free changed dramatically. As the ink has blurred and faded, I have seen many other things fade away as well.
What we think, what we know, what we see in the mirror, quickly blurs and fades.
What was so fresh, bright, strong and seemed so important goes its own way. It came to pass; it did not come to stay.
And I have often sought freedom and fulfillment in things that bind me and eventually fade away, leaving me empty, tired and older.
So, looking in that mirror this morning, I saw that time was taking its inevitable toll. But I also saw that it could not take away something that I am free to have always. A smile, my joy, my confidence that a greater thing is coming.
There are many reasons I can look into the mirror and laugh out loud. I can laugh at the way I look. I can laugh in joy over what is to come. And I can smile over that which is now.
I know that when I acknowledge my Savior Jesus standing beside me when I look in that mirror, I have an awareness of being free forever. Forever includes right now.
And there is no fading away of this truth I have come to know.
2 Corinthians 3:3
…...This “letter” is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God. It is carved not on stone tablets, but on human hearts.
2 Corinthians 3:4
We are confident of all this because of our great trust in God through Christ.

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Granger, TX
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