“Do you want to go play with those cars and trucks?” It seemed like every single morning my two-year-old Daniel stood at my side of the bed wearing flannel pajamas asking that very question. Do want to go play with those cars and trucks? He was referring to the “hot-wheels” I had bought a few weeks earlier. A purchase I obviously made without giving sufficient thought to the consequences of my actions. I had no idea it would turn into…
When I was a young man in the late ‘80’s, I longed to be a father. But If the truth be known, I had no idea what that meant. When our firstborn entered this world in the summer of ’89, I soon discovered being a father meant taking the night shift. I walked the floor with a baby that had colic. My mother told me to hold him closely, because the warmth of my body would help his little tummy…
–> –> Over the years I have made a lot of mistakes in relationships with friends and extended family alike. I can’t imagine listing all of them! I have been foolish. I have let relational wedges form. I have been impatient. I have been selfish in countless ways. And I have been judgmental. As I look back, I realize I allowed external conditions determine the course that a friendship took. When a relational firestorm occurred, the heat drove me away….
Your friend has just been diagnosed with cancer. She is facing decisions about surgery, chemotherapy, and perhaps radiation too. Her doctors are discussing lymph nodes and biopsies. References are made to oncologists that specialize in some particular aspect of cancer treatment. And the whole process is just overwhelming… And that’s when you enter the picture. You are the co-worker. This is someone you see at church regularly. Perhaps this is a close friend. What exactly what will say to this…
When I received the news, it felt like a personal affront. The school system in the town where I spent my formative years voted recently to demolish MY elementary school. How could they make such a decision? I was not consulted! My opinion was never sought after. The very idea! I learned to read within the walls of that building. I heard the tales of Brer Rabbit from my second-grade teacher in one of those classrooms. I was taught cursive…
I am tired of empty rhetoric. And I have grown particularly weary of people that possess an endless array of opinions, but seem to have a basic inability to make a difference in their world. They are all talk. How’s that for a breath of fresh air for the new year? I am actually not feeling nearly as negative as that sounds. During the course of 2017 I was blessed by several people that I would characterize as being individuals of conviction. I…
When you make the conscious choice to be generous, you really have no idea what you are doing. You think you are fulfilling an immediate need, and likely that is the case. But generosity has a way of taking on a personality all of its own once it is released by an unsparing person. Most generous people are actually clueless. Very early one morning well before dawn I was called by one of our police officers to deliver a death notification…
–> She was sitting on the back of a tailgate a few yards away from where tragedy had just unfolded. It was still a fairly chaotic scene. One of the investigating officers motioned for me to join him, as he walked toward this young woman. He told her that her relative had not survived the injuries that were sustained in an incident that had occurred a few moments before she arrived at the scene. The officer soon resumed his investigative…
Christmas is supposed to be a joyous time of year. But I find that many of my conversations with friends and acquaintances regarding this so-called joyous season are not joy-filled by any stretch of the imagination. Disappointment would be a more descriptive word. People are disappointed with their gift giving ability financially speaking. Family members are disappointed with each other in a more pronounced way this time of year. Patience runs thin. Children are disappointed with what Santa brings them….
Meaningful friendships don’t just happen. Family ties are not maintained effortlessly. Forming and maintaining relationships requires a significant investment of time and emotional energy. Am I willing to make that investment? I was invited to a Christmas party tonight. I was reluctant to go, because I knew that more Spanish than English would be spoken. Speaking and listening in Spanish is work! And my Spanish vocabulary is certainly limited. In the final analysis, I chose to go. I made new…