Remembering a Legend!

August 15, 2025August 12, 2025 / Greg Asimakoupoulos

**Chuck Girard was a founding member of the Christian band LOVESONG**

The little country church
on the edge of town
(and bigger ones
across the nation)
are remembering
a Christian music pioneer tonight
because Chuck Girard died today.

His life was a love song
to the Lord he worshiped.
Sometimes alleluia
leapt from his lips
and sometimes changes
prompted groans
that only the Spirit of God could decipher
as the wind was low.

That other Chuck
sang this Chuck’s praises
before Pastor Smith joined Heaven’s choir.
And now both are
blending their voices
together as one
on the other side.

Tonight I invite you to
welcome back
forgotten memories
of “the Jesus Revolution”
when we made our way to Calvary Chapel
in the front seat
or the backseat
with or without shoes
with a hunger for God’s Word.

Let us be one
as we feel the love
and extend our two hands.
With one
reach out to Jesus
with gratitude
for Chuck’s ministry
and with the other
bring a friend
to your home
to talk about
the good old days
when we’d honk ‘cause we loved Jesus.
And then,
while recalling that amazing time in our lives,
ask Alexa to play
music by Chuck Girard.
I just did!

Peace to his memory!

With Praise of Yawns!

August 8, 2025August 4, 2025 / Greg Asimakoupoulos

**Pastor Greg Asimakoupoulos holding a yawning Jeremiah Besso**

Don’t think it rare that we need air.
It is our daily bread.
Without that unseen nourishment,
we all would soon be dead.

So, when a yawn is coming on,
don’t fight it. Feed your face.
Our appetite for oxygen
is part of God’s sweet grace.

So open wide. Those yawns provide
our hungry lungs with food.
That extra snack of oxygen
is anything but rude.

In addition to each week’s post on this website, Greg Asimakoupoulos offers daily video devotionals on his YouTube channel. Here is a sample video. If you are interested in receiving these devotionals Monday through Friday, you can subscribe on Greg’s channel.

Praying Without Words

August 1, 2025July 7, 2025 / Greg Asimakoupoulos

**Prayer is prayer even without words being prayed**

I bow in prayer, but words fall short.
I don’t know what to say.
Old phrases fail. They seem so trite.
I’m desperate for a way
to vent my doubts and voice my dreams
and verbalize my fears.
And then amid the silence, Lord,
You whisper that You’re here.

“No need to speak!” I hear You say.
“I know what’s on your mind.
Just speak My name and rest assured
I’ll answer in My time.”

Summer is My Season!

July 25, 2025July 15, 2025 / Greg Asimakoupoulos

**The Seattle skyline in the summer with the Olympic Mountains in the background**

I like to simmer in the summer,
tan my body, cool my jets,
grill my burgers on the barbie till they’re done.
I love dressing down for worship
and then gearing up for golf.
I enjoy the beach and surfing in the sun.

Summer takes me to my sweet spot.
It’s my favorite time of year.
Light that lingers in the evening, rain or shine.
It’s a season when I’m mindful
of how laid back life can be
giving in to what I’ve put off
taking time.

Grace to You

July 18, 2025July 15, 2025 / Greg Asimakoupoulos

**Pastor John F. Mac Arthur, Jr. as a young preacher**

Grace to you and grace to me.
It’s only grace that sets us free
from failed attempts to earn God’s love
and the shame from wrong we’ve done.

And thanks to you, dear Pastor John,
it’s the Son of God we’re counting on
to guarantee our hope in death.
Your teaching made that clear.

You helped us know the Father’s face
is only seen in Christ’s embrace.
And as you now behold that Face,
I’m grateful. “Grace to you!”

I was first introduced to “Pastor John” when he was the guest speaker on his father’s television program “The Voice of Calvary” that my dad and I watched on Sundays when I was a boy.

As a pastor’s kid, I was impressed with this father-son duo. “Johnny” (as his father Jack called him) resembled his dad physically as well as in his mannerisms and preaching style. At the time young “Johnny” MacArthur was in seminary.

Because our family lived in the Pacific Northwest, I made note of the fact that the older MacArthur moved to Eugene, Oregon after pastoring in Southern California for several decades. He was a near neighbor! Well, kind of.

The year Wendy and I became engaged, she was working at Trinity Western University in Langley, B.C. The pastor of the local Evangelical Free Church was a sixty-nine-year-old Jack MacArthur. Pastor Jack truly was a near neighbor to Wendy.

“Johnny” would later out-distance his father in prominence through his megachurch in the San Fernando Valley (Grace Community Church), the Master’s College and Seminary (that he founded) and his daily radio program “Grace to You!”

Although I took issue with some of Pastor John’s theological perspectives and often found him less-positive in his delivery (compared to his upbeat radio ministry counterpart Pastor Chuck Swindoll), I salute his lasting contribution to the Kingdom of God. Peace to his memory!