Several of the most influential mentors in my life have passed away over the past several years. At age 56, you would think I would not still have so many pressing questions. At this stage in life, shouldn’t I already have all of the tools I need to navigate the complexities life presents? I find myself still needing a good word from wise people. The questions at this stage have a more difficult feel to them. I find myself feeling…
I am a people person. I tend to focus my energies on relationships and not things. On the surface, that sounds so good. But there is a downside to such inclinations. My common sense is frequently lacking. Just over ten years ago I attended a funeral service that was related to my chaplaincy work. It was a service for a precious 16-year-old girl. My mind was drawn to a family that I barely knew at that point. I wasn’t paying…
I didn’t want to go Friday. I had too much to get done. I didn’t really have time… A lady from church is hospitalized in a rehabilitation hospital in Ft. Worth. I needed to go see her Friday morning, but I had so many things in the office that needed to be completed before the end of the day. I went anyhow. When I arrived, she was not in her room. (It is a rehabilitation hospital!) I headed toward the…
You live in a house for years. You grow up in that house. And then the day comes that you never imagined as a kid. It becomes your responsibility to clean every last possession out of that house and give the keys to a realtor. Your parents are both deceased at this point. There is no need to keep the family home. And of course, the memories flood your mind. Images of bicycles piled in the front yard are vivid. …
We gathered at the table last night. It’s not just any table. It’s the Simpson table on 75thstreet in Lubbock. It’s the table where a number of my values were formed. It’s the table of my adolescence. It’s the table where I gathered with my buddies to inhale hamburgers we cooked outside during our college years. But it is also the table where I learned that members of several generations can come together and communicate meaningfully. My first…
–> –> 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…
–> 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…