Tag: life
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The Long Road Between Pain and Peace
Life moves like that song from Bosch—slow, deliberate, a little haunted, and honest enough not to pretend things are fine when they aren’t. You wake up carrying yesterday with you. Some memories refuse to loosen their grip. Loss. Regret. Questions that never quite resolve. You learn early that life does not hand out clean endings,…
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December 5, 1927 – September 6, 2013
🎂 Happy Birthday, Dad Today we celebrate Robert E. Hargrove—a man who showed us that the greatest gifts aren’t found in stores, but on the banks of the Neches River. Dad gave us something precious: a love of the outdoors and the simple joys of being together. Camp Hargrove was his classroom, and we were…
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Carrying Weight, Seeking Light
Carrying Weight, Seeking Light Over the past several weeks, I’ve noticed a pattern rising in my heart—a mix of heaviness and hope, grief and gratitude, pressure and purpose. The holiday season always magnifies what is present in the soul, and this year is no different. I find myself remembering the people who shaped me, the…
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What I Would Tell You Now
For Joshua Blake Hargrove from John Hagrove his dad June 2025 1984–2002 My son, If I could sit across from you today—twenty-three years after you left this world—I would begin with the words that still rise unbidden in my heart: I miss you. Every day. Not with the same sharp ache as before, but with…
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My Epitath
Here lies John E. Hargrove January 24, 1958 – [date yet to be written] A boy from Buna who never stopped wondering how things worked and never stopped trying to make them work for others. He chased signals across microwave towers and fiber miles, built networks that carried light to forgotten places, and in the…
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Reminder of the Light
Some days I’m reminded to go back to the starting point. “In the beginning was the Word…” That truth centers me. It reminds me that everything we’re doing—family, work, community—rests on something solid and steady. The scriptures in the RCL today lean into that same hope. Daniel talks about God standing with His people even…
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Keeping Going When No One’s Listening?
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to do work that matters when it feels like no one cares. For the past few years, I’ve been advocating for rural East Texas communities—places like Buna, Newton, San Augustine. I’ve built communication frameworks, written strategic plans, installed digital kiosks, organized meetings, drafted policy briefs.…
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Several strands of biblical wisdom for those haunted by regret and recurring temptation
1. Remember that God’s mercy is greater than memory. Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Condemnation is not the same as conviction. Conviction calls you back to grace; condemnation chains you to the past. The devil traffics in old evidence. God calls you into a new…
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The Pain We Carry
– Lament with Jeremiah & the Psalmist There’s a weight we don’t often talk about in church life—the grief that lingers in the soul when things don’t work out the way we prayed they would. Jeremiah knew that weight. He wrote, “Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain…
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Living the New Life by Compass in a Fractured WorldSermon – September 14, 2025
Sermon – September 14, 2025 Title: Living the New Life by Compass in a Fractured WorldTexts: Ephesians 4:22–24; 2 Corinthians 5:17–20; John 15:5; Colossians 3:17 Opening Prayer Lord Jesus,Thank You for offering us a new name amid this week’s heartaches—Kirk’s loss, Evergreen’s terror, Memphis’ violence, and Vidor’s wounds. As we gather, be our compass in…
John Hargrove Seeking Truth and Reality 