Blog Article Archives

First Week of Lent 2016 Out hiking on a trail, I have encountered a few surprises over the years. Deer, snakes, skunks and elk live in the woods, so I do not know why I should be surprised whenever I see them in their home. Several years ago I was quite a few miles...

There is a park alongside the river that is a convenient place for me to stop on the way home from work. While traffic hums by, there are trails winding through patches of woods, greenspace and the river itself that makes it ideal for jogging (or in my case...

That's what has occupied most of my thoughts of late ... a place to call home. Over the years Amy and I have been pretty good at nesting for ourselves places to call home - even when we knew our stay would be temporary. Our first "home" was a tiny garage apartment in...

Entering into the infancy of this new year, I am reflecting over all the changes I have experienced in the span of just a few short months. Through a period of prayerful discernment and many miles walked with my wife in the evenings as she patiently listened to me...

Kevin’s mom approached me and abruptly said, “I think Kevin is ready for baptism.” It is certainly not uncommon for me to hear from parents of twelve year old boys this type of request. But this request was anything but common.   Kevin is a child with significant...

There are many good and necessary words in my theological vocabulary. The word “love” goes without saying, but goodness knows it needs to be said nowadays. Speaking of goodness, I would add good. Mercy, justice, and steadfast are all important words. Sin too, and with...

At the tender age of 22 I had served the good folks of Unity Baptist for nearly two years. During that time I grew a beard, got engaged, married, finished college, and prepared to move to Louisville, KY to attend seminary. This church loved me through and through,...

We are living in-between addresses. I know that sounds odd, but I can find no better way to describe our living situation. Our house is now sold and belongs to another, and a new home waits in another city, so right now for these weeks stretching into the New Year, we...

The afternoon was mild and warmed with welcome fall sunshine. Ten consecutive days of rain had created a muddy mess all around the barn, but none of us gathered there minded the mud so much. I was standing with my two brothers and father on a concrete slab layered in...

There is so much in life that is not fully appreciated until it is a memory. Relationships come quickly to mind. When Amy and I were newlyweds we lived on a very meager income, rented a garage apartment that smelled of mothballs, and did not have a television for the...

Every child wants to know, and many have the courage to ask, “What does God look like?” The adult in all of us wants to quickly answer in a theologically correct way saying, “God cannot be pictured. An image is idolatrous because no one image can ever be complete.”...

Several weeks ago I was making my routine Sunday morning rounds during the Sunday School hour. It is one of my favorite parts of the day as I stick my head in classes, say “good morning,” grip and grin and maybe snag a pastry (any pastry will do) on the way out....

Since 1985 I have kept notebooks and journals to record personal thoughts, make notes, list needs to be remembered in prayer, and offer reflections on everything from the weather to a new idea picked up in a book. For the better part of a decade I have also kept a...

Last week I was in North Georgia plowing through a forest service road looking for a spot to pitch a tent and count some stars. To the uninformed and uninitiated, a forest service road is off the beaten path of the comparatively tame asphalt byways. This particular...

“Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in. I drink at it; but while I drink I see the sandy bottom and detect how shallow it is. Its thin current slides away, but eternity remains.”― Henry David Thoreau, Walden   On a morning that radiated summer heat, several of...

Last month while on vacation my boys left a couple of days before the week’s end to head back to Augusta, work, and friends. As I was hugging them bye and seeing them off, I thought about how it never seems to be “enough” with my boys who are now young men. Never...

A beach is a lovely place for me to go to escape, but this year there was no escaping some of the big events in our country. The Charleston tragedy was just over a week old on the day I left for vacation. That same day with my Jeep loaded with chairs, towels and swim...

It has been a difficult seven or so days for this country, but especially those at Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston. We all know what happened there, so there is no need in repeating what we know. We know it was horrific. We know it was...

In my hometown we still remember a man who grew up on a plantation on the east side of the county (just a couple of miles from my family’s dairy). As a boy he listened to the enslaved Africans tell folk stories that originated in West Africa and beyond. When he grew...

I have a couple of special places at home designated for reading. In the early morning (before daylight) I sit in my recliner in the living room. Beside my chair is an “end table” which was originally an old chamber pot bench (complete with chamber pot). On that small...