Running Ahead: A Tribute to Helen Kimbro What it would it be like to be in the 5th grade again? There actually are events that occurred during my 5th grade year at Wind Point Elementary School that still stand out to me, but they are becoming fewer and fewer as the years go by. Earlier this week I had a conversation with a gentleman who is a few years my senior regarding events that took place when he was in…
Occasionally I need an attitude adjustment. OK, I will be honest…I need an attitude adjustment quite often. There are several strategies I employ to get my attitude back in line where it should be. A round of golf never hurts anything. Sometimes I enjoy playing alone, so I can just take in the beauty of nature as I chase the little white ball. A phone conversation with a close friend moves me in the right direction as well. When I…
I wrote this piece about 12 years ago. As I prepared a presentation for the Kiwanis Club today here in Granbury regarding law enforcement chaplaincy, I thought I would re-publish it. Cops and CompassionBy Chaplain John Knox, 1998Last week my nine year old said something about a “cop” in a sarcastic tone of voice. I turned to him and told him very firmly that in the future he would respectfully refer to these men and women as “police officers.” He…
I watched this academy award winning movie from 1951, A Streetcar Named Desire for the first time the other night. I was reminded once again that Vivien Leigh, who of course starred in Gone with the Wind, was a brilliant actress. In this acclaimed movie, Leigh plays the character of Blanche DuBois. In the plot, Blanche unexpectedly moves in with her sister and her brother-in-law. A very young and strapping Marlon Brando plays the character of the brother-in-law, Stanley Kawalski….
I am a little squeamish about checking my golf clubs on commercial airline flights. I have this image of my clubs ending up in Hong Kong, and it takes the airline six months to find out what happened to them. It just gives me the shivers. Several years ago I had the opportunity to play in a tournament during a conference in the Detroit area, so I broke down and checked my clubs, which were neatly packed in their canvas…
As I pointed out in a recent entry, I still like family practice. The fact of the matter is after 23 years of ministry I still like people. (Not all of my colleagues would say that!) Doing the kind of work I do can easily be compared to the role of a physician in family practice. Unfortunately I am aware of physicians who specialize in family practice that are choosing to do something else. Family practice doctors end up taking…
I still like family practice. Actually I am not a doctor. (Not that kind of doctor anyhow) But I often compare what I do in ministry for a local church to that of a physician in family practice. I am there with families when their babies are born. And I am there when there are tragic circumstances surrounding the process of childbirth too. And I baptize those same children as the family gathers. Life marches on. It is fun to…
We all have the potential to be so self- absorbed that another person’s tragedy is nothing more than an opportunity to be a selfish onlooker… The homeless man lay face down, unmoving, on the sidewalk outside an apartment building, blood from knife wounds pooling underneath his body.One person passed by in the early morning. Then another, and another…Video footage from a surveillance camera shows at least seven people going by, some turning their heads to look, others stopping to gawk….
Joe Bagby is not a big name preacher. He does not serve a mega-church. To my knowledge he has not published any popular books. I doubt if he has been invited to speak at well known conferences over the course of his career. But when I grow up I want to be like Joe Bagby. Joe serves the 4th and Elm Church of Christ in Sweetwater, Texas. I don’t know how long his tenure has spanned in Sweetwater, but it…
Why pay $2.00 for a haircut at the barber shop in the Shorecrest Shopping Center, when you can do it in the garage for next to nothing? That was dad’s philosophy of hairstyling when I was a little boy. He found some electric barber clippers in the Sears Catalog and our garage was transformed into a barbershop overnight. Never mind that I have very noticeable and obtrusive cowlicks that resemble horns after a fresh haircut. But what is a 6…