Category Archives: General

A reflection on the fear that rises when the world grows loud, and the quiet call to speak with peace in a time when words feel heavy.

There are moments when the tone of the world grows sharp, and people fear what heated rhetoric might awaken in those who are already fragile. This is a conversation about the quiet fear of escalation, not from our own words, but from the atmosphere around us, and the truth that God calls us to speak with peace in a world that feels overheated.

Me:    God, the world feels loud lately. Too loud.

God:  What is it that troubles you?

Me:    The way people talk. The anger. The heat. The way words can spark a fire.

God:  And what do you fear those sparks might do?

Me:    That someone unstable might take them the wrong way. That someone already hurting might hear permission instead of caution.

God:  You are not wrong to notice the danger of a heated atmosphere.

Me:    So it is not just me.

God:  No. People sense when the emotional temperature rises. They feel the tension even when they cannot name it.

Me:    But I do not want to add to it. I do not want anything I say to be misunderstood.

God:  Then speak with the tone I have given you. Calm. Steady. Grounded. Your voice does not carry the fire you fear.

Me:    But what about the voices that do.

God:  Every generation has them. Words can stir, inflame, confuse or embolden. But they can also heal, steady and guide.

Me:    So what am I supposed to do in a climate like this.

God:  Guard your heart. Guard your tone. And trust Me with the rest.

Me:    But what if things escalate.

God:  Then your peace becomes even more necessary. Light is most visible when the world grows dark.

Me:    So You are saying my voice still matters.

God:  A calm voice matters most when the world is loud.

Me:   And You are not asking me to fix the whole atmosphere.

God:  I am asking you to be faithful in your corner of it.

The fear of escalation is not new. Scripture has always taught that words carry weight and that tone shapes the world around us. Proverbs says that life and death are in the power of the tongue (Proverbs 18:21). James says the tongue is a small thing but speaks of the enormous damage it can do-a great forest can be set on fire by one tiny spark. (James 3:5–6). Proverbs also says that a gentle answer can turn away wrath, but harsh words can stir up anger (Proverbs 15:1). Long before our moment, God understood the way speech can steady or unsettle, calm or inflame, heal or harm.

People today are not only worried about arguments or disagreements. They are worried about the atmosphere created by heated words. They are worried about what the wrong person might hear at the wrong moment. They are worried about how quickly anger spreads and how easily fear can take root. Scripture does not tell us to silence ourselves. It tells us to speak with wisdom. It tells us to guard our tone. It tells us that peace has a voice, and that voice matters most when the world feels loud.

For those who haven’t guessed, this about the vitriolic rhetoric in the political world we see today. I know some may see this as hypocritical, but I stumble in this too. James says we all do. This is not a warning I give from a distance, but a truth God is shaping in me. 

This Conversation is not meant as God’s literal speech. It reflects how Scripture portrays God’s heart toward us when we are troubled by the weight of words and the temperature of the world.

On this date in 1985, I started my second year as an attorney in Lancaster, Ohio. I still remember that first day, a year before. I had four early morning hearings with Judge John Martin. Quite a start to a new job.

I started practicing law in northern Ohio, but I fell in love with Lancaster when I received an offer to head a branch office there for a Columbus law firm and to visit Lancaster. Although I grew up in a small town of about 1,000, Lancaster seemed like a bigger version of my hometown. Plus, my mentor at the time, one of the best attorneys in northeast Ohio, when asked what he thought, quoted a Bible verse to me that convinced me the change would be a good one. He turned out to be right.

The biggest thing I had to do on the first day in court was pronounce Lancaster the way people here do. Today, Lang-ster rolls out easily when talking. Back then, it didn’t, so I practiced to sound like I had lived there all my life. Sure enough, in my first hearing, I screwed it up when I asked my client if she resided in Land-cas-ster.

Over the years, I’ve been honored to have represented thousands of people in various legal matters. I’ve worked with great people in the office over the years. Starting in 2000, I began working with Margie, and one couldn’t ask for a better person to assist. Without her, nothing would get done. Just as important, over the years, I’ve hired attorneys. One in particular, Holly, is still around and doing well. Another became my boss in a sense, becoming a magistrate in the domestic court. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention Barb and others who worked with me. I’m pretty sure I had nine or ten people working with me at one point.

Moving here was one of the best things I’ve done in my life. My daughter moved here reluctantly but is doing exceptionally well. I remember people would ask her whether her father was Lee Thompson. Now, people ask me if Krystal Thompson is my daughter. That was really cool. I’m also blessed to have a fantastic wife, Dawn. We grew up together in that tiny little town in northern Ohio and reunited later in life. She has two daughters, Anna and Arianna (I call her Ari), and a son, Alex.

Anna, her youngest daughter, is an RN, like her mom before her, and her oldest daughter, Ari, is an excellent attorney with a Columbus-based firm she co-owns with her husband, Jesse, and a second office in northern Ohio.

Outside the courtroom, I’ve had a chance to be on television news, co-host a radio show for a short time, do a couple of training tapes on legal issues for Hospice, and give a presentation at OU-Lancaster broadcast to other branches, be in the newspapers and on radio news, and be a guest on a radio show and on television news, all fun.

In late November 2022, my wife and I, with our cats, Charlie and Flossie, moved back home to Mantua (Man-a-way). Krystal and her husband, David, remain in Lancaster. Krystal has always worked in a medical related field and in a sense, still does. David has been a trucker for years. ,Anna lives in Columbus, and Ari splits time between Columbus and the area where we live. Alex lives in Cleveland employed with Sherwin-Williams. Alex shares his life with a wonderful gal, Trish, an RN-noticing a trend here.

My sincere thanks to the folks in Lancaster and Fairfield County. You made my move here 41 years ago one of the best experiences of my life. The evening before I started, my drive down was quite a story, but another time. I had a wonderful time being part of the Lancaster community for a little over 38 years.

But the other thing is, it was a win-win, so to speak. In the first contested case, a visitation case, I won. My last contested case was a visitation. We won that one too. It was a great way to start and finish. Even better, though, was making a trip last December to accept, with an extraordinarily long speech, the George Martin Professionalism Award, what some call the Fairfield County Bar Association’s highest honor. Given to one attorney per year, the award is named for George D. Martin, a legendary Lancaster lawyer whose integrity set the standard for the legal community. Recipients are chosen for careers marked by civility, steadiness, and principled advocacy, qualities I’m still not sure I’ve lived up to.

You matter more than you know

There are seasons when we cannot see what is ahead, but we can still trust the One who walks with us and talks with us along the way. This is a conversation about the quiet fear of not mattering and the truth that God’s purpose is not an accident.

Me:  God, sometimes I wonder if my life really matters.

God: Why do you think it wouldn’t?

Me:   Because some days feel small. Ordinary. Forgettable. Like nothing I do changes anything.

God: Meaning is not measured by size. It is measured by purpose.

Me:   But what if I don’t have a purpose?

God: You do. You always have. Even before you knew Me.

Me:   Paul said something like that, didn’t he?

God:  He said he was set apart from his mother’s womb. He understood that My calling was not based on his performance, but on My grace.

Me:   But Paul was an apostle. I’m not.

God: Paul was a man. I am the One who called him. And I am the One who calls you.

Me:   So You knew where my life would go?

God:  I knew your path, your struggles, your wounds, your questions, and your strengths. And I called you with all of that in mind.

Me:    Then why do I still feel like I don’t matter sometimes?

God:  Because people measure worth by what they can see. I measure worth by what I have placed within you.

Me:    So I matter to You?

God:   You matter not because of what you achieve, but because of who you are to Me.

Me:    And You won’t forget me?

God:   I could no more forget you than I could forget the ones I formed with My own hands

The fear of not mattering is one of the quietest and deepest fears some of us face.People often measure worth by visibility, success, or usefulness, but God measures worth by purpose and identity. When Paul said he was “set apart from birth” [Galatians 1:15], he wasn’t claiming greatness. He was recognizing that God’s purpose for his life existed long before he understood it. God’s calling is rooted in His grace, not in our achievements.

Romans 8 reminds us that God works through all things, even our detours, because His purpose is steady even when our steps are not. God gives us free will, and we do not always follow the path perfectly. We wander, resist, hesitate, and take wrong turns. But God already knows that, and He weaves even our wandering into His purpose. We matter not because of what we accomplish, but because we belong to Him. His purpose is not fragile. It is steady, intentional, and rooted in love.

This Conversation is not meant as God’s literal speech. It reflects how Scripture portrays God’s heart toward us when we fear that our lives do not matter.

When silence feels safer than truth

There are seasons when we cannot see what is ahead, but we can still trust the One who walks with us and talks with us along the way. This is a conversation about the fear of speaking truth in a world that often punishes honesty.

Me:  God, I’m afraid to say what I believe anymore.

God: Why, My child?

Me:  Because people turn on each other so quickly. One disagreement and the whole relationship collapses.

God: When people feel insecure, threatened, or exposed, they often lash out.

Me:  Not because they’re evil?

God: Sometimes there is evil in the world. But often the reaction comes because fear is loud.

Me:  I try to speak gently, but it doesn’t matter. Some people don’t want a conversation. They want to win.

God: Pride does not listen. Fear does not reason. Wounded hearts do not hear clearly.

Me:  I don’t want to lose people. I don’t want to be rejected.

God: Even My disciples faced rejection. You are not the first to feel this.

Me:  But why does speaking truth feel so costly?

God: Because truth exposes what people would rather hide. And because standing with Me has always required courage.

Me:  I’m not sure I’m brave enough.

God: Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is faithfulness in the presence of fear.

Me:  So You’re saying I should still speak?

God: Speak truth in love. Not to win arguments, but to remain faithful.

Me:  And if people turn away?

God: Then you have not lost Me. And you have not wasted your words.

Jesus told His disciples, “If the world hates you, know that it hated Me before it hated you” (John 15:18). What He told them, He tells us. Speaking truth has always carried a cost. The early disciples faced rejection, ridicule, and even death, yet they kept going because Christ strengthened them. Today we fear being wrong, misunderstood, or rejected by friends and/or family, but God reminds us that truth spoken in love is never wasted. Relationships may shake, opinions may divide, but faithfulness to Christ remains steady. God doesn’t ask us to be unafraid. He asks us to be faithful.

This Conversation is not meant as God’s literal speech. It reflects how Scripture portrays God’s heart toward us when we fear speaking truth in a world that often rejects it.

#FearNotForIAmWithYou #GodIsGood

God is already where you fear to go.

There are seasons when we cannot see what is ahead, but we can still trust the One who walks with us and talks with us along the way. This is a conversation about worrying about the unknown.

Me:  God, I know You hold the future, but the world feels so unstable right now.

God: The world has always shifted. I have never moved.

Me:   But everything feels unpredictable. Nations, leaders, conflicts, disasters.

God:  Nothing is unpredictable to Me.

Me:   I keep imagining worst‑case scenarios.

God:  Your imagination is not prophecy.

Me:   Then why does the unknown feel so threatening?

God:  Because you are trying to carry what only I can see.

Me:    So what do I do with this fear?

God:  Bring it to Me before it becomes your master.

Me:    But what if things really do get worse?

God:  Then My grace will meet you there, just as it meets you here.

Me:    And if I cannot see the path ahead?

God:  You do not need to see the path when you are walking with the One who made it.

Me:    So the unknown is not something to fear?

God:  The unknown is simply the place where My faithfulness has not yet been revealed to you.

Jesus told His disciples, “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet” (Matthew 24:6 NKJV). What He told them, He tells us. Scripture never denies that the world will shake. It simply reminds us that God does not. 

The unknown is not a threat to God. It is not a gap in His plan. It is not a place where His sovereignty weakens. The unknown is simply the part of the story we have not reached yet, but He is already there. Worry tries to convince us that we are alone in what might come. Faith reminds us that God is already present in what will come.

This Conversation is not meant as God’s literal speech. It reflects how Scripture portrays God’s heart toward us when we face uncertainty and fear about the future.

#FearNotForIAmWithYou