I recently heard an audio recording of a little 5 year old girl who called 911, because her father was experiencing shortness of breath and other tell-tale signs of a heart attack. The conversation the dispatcher had with the little girl is priceless. She was very responsible and did everything the dispatcher asked her to do. She was also a prim and proper little girl who was quite concerned that she would still be in her pajamas when the firefighters…
We all take different paths in life, but no matter where we go, we take a little of each other everywhere… It takes years to reach that conclusion. When my high school held its ten year reunion, I just had no desire to go back. Getting kicked off the debate team for disciplinary reasons was still somewhat fresh on my mind. As a new father at the time of that first reunion, I had the image of my friends still…
I don’t normally insert excerpts from sermons on my blog. I don’t view this forum as a place to do a dry run on a sermon idea, nor is it a place for instant replay from the previous Sunday! But I had an experience last night that caused me to make one notable exception today. Here is a brief selection from a sermon I delivered in Granbury on May 3rd of last year. Do you remember growing up and being…
I recently shared the following quote with my friends: Friends are those rare people who ask how we are and then wait to hear the answer. I received two insightful responses regarding this quality of friendship. The first one: and to add to that statement, they listen to the response with sincerity. That is so true! The second response…Friends also want to hear the honest answer of how you are doing also. I concur. If they are real friends, that…
I am going to be banned from uncle-hood from my own my sweet wife. She has determined that I am probably not the best influence on her two nephews and her niece as well, who range in age from 3 to 8. I don’t put limits on their cookie consumption. I nearly let them watch a movie that had, as the five year old said: shooting and fighting. And then when the little precious three year old came in…
Pick on someone your own size. That is precisely what I want to tell people who wield their criticism toward the most vulnerable among us: the youngest, the one with the least experience or in some cases the person with a truly tender heart. I recently took note of a facebook status in which a longtime friend stated this: I hate that “constructive” criticism shakes my confidence so much. It’s hard to face your shortcomings when you put so…
rr Those of us who preach nearly fifty sermons a year sometimes wonder if anyone out there is listening. In fact, there are times that I want to say: Are any of you tuned into the sermon channel at this moment? Something of great significance happened last Sunday that provided some positive confirmation. Last Sunday I preached a sermon entitled: The Taming Process that Never Ends. Scripture confirms that the tongue can never be tamed. It is very difficult for…
It is time to think about being in Mexico tomorrow, but my mind is on Willard Tate. In fact, as I think about the lectures that I will deliver on the subject of personal ethics for ministers to a group at a seminar in Mexico this week, my mind is drawn back to all those who were role models for me when I was much younger. Internships for ministry students in graduate school were not as common or as structured…
I don’t ever remember getting lost in Sears when I was a little boy. We did not have Walmart back in the day, but my mother did frequent Sears and Woolworths. I was also coerced into shopping for clothes for my sisters several times a year at the mall. I tried my best to be a royal thorn in their flesh, so I would not be invited back. It never worked. My mother continued to load me in our Plymouth…
I have been asked to speak to a group of middle school kids tomorrow at a local church. What does an old man like me say to middle school students? I actually have a 1996 male model of one of those at home, but I am still at a loss. The speaking context is a basketball tournament, so that put me on a sports track… Do I tell them about my friend who played on the National Championship University of…