Blog
Finding Life After Loss and Grief
Almost every day my life crosses with someone who is living with some form of loss. One day I am standing in a driveway talking to a man who is slowly watching Alzheimer’s claim his wife one memory at a time. Another day I am visiting a woman in a nursing home with...
Mia, Irma, and the Butterfly
I was playing outside with Mia, my 18-month-old granddaughter, a few weeks ago when a butterfly decided to join the party. At first, it just circled, to Mia's delight. Then, it decided to land, not more than a foot from Mia's hand. While the butterfly was harmless,...
The Most Difficult Part of This Job
Less than two hours after landing in Monrovia, Liberia, a land that had been devastated by civil war, I stood in the pulpit of Second Providence Baptist Church in 1995 to preach a sermon. As I looked into the faces of people that had waited three hours for us to...
Recognizing Those Behind the Scenes
Every year the Jefferson City Schools begin the year by inviting the community to a breakfast, which is followed by a gathering in the Performing Arts Center. The community joins the faculty, administration, and the school board, in a pep rally of sorts. Dr. John...
There is No Greater Love: A Memorial Day Tribute
Memorial Day is a day to honor men and women who went into battle but did not survive. With their lives, they paid the ultimate price. The late U.S. Army General Norman Schwarzkopf once said, "It doesn't take a hero to order men into battle. It takes a hero to be one...
Looking for Tom
Turkey Season. Opening Morning. Temperature 56 degrees. Overcast. The alarm went off at 4:00 A.M., three hours before sunrise. My son John and I got our gear together and we ate breakfast on the go. We drove to a Wildlife Management Area (WMA) "destination top...
Removing the Johnson Amendment Would Make Us “Great Omission” Churches
I prayed for President Trump during a recent Sunday morning worship service. The prayer prompted one man to ask following the service, "So, did your man win the election?" His wife tried to rescue me by interjecting, "Now you should not put the pastor in that...
Are You Listening?
On a recent early morning walk in the woods, I was captivated by the sounds around me. The frost-covered rye grass crunched beneath my feet. The wind swished through the loblolly pines. The crows “cawed” to each other in a language only they understand. We would...
Looking to the Amish for a Lesson in Humility
Last October Tina and I vacationed in Maine. For three days, we stayed on a working Amish farm. I learned that the Amish dress alike because it provides less opportunity for vanity. If everyone is wearing the same thing, no one worries about how much to spend for...
What Charlie Brown and Linus Teach Us About Christmas
As a boy, I looked forward to all the Charlie Brown specials the way an astronomer looks for the return of comets. Charles Schulz knew how to pull empathy from us as we rooted for Charlie Brown to win at least one baseball game. This natural born loser had children...
Making Room for the God’s Spirit
December 11 Most of us are busy, especially this time of the year. In addition to work, school, family, church, sports, the time we volunteer, and sleep, there’s parties, shopping, decorating, and lots more stress. But even then our days are not full. We might tell...
Coulrophobia Has Me in a Tizzy
I doubt I will ever play this fool again, Tizzy, my alter ego. Even before the recent insane outbreak of scary clowns that have terrorized children across the country, coulrophobia has been on the rise, mainly because of the use of clowns in a deranged way in movies,...