My friend and colleague in ministry, Trey Morgan, wrote this on his Facebook status earlier today regarding his son, who is doing urban mission work in Florida:Taylor got a parking ticket yesterday in Miami. He said, “I didn’t even know what that parking meter was.” Gotta to love a small town kid. I am with Trey. The relative innocence of small town kids is refreshing. I see it in our youth group in Granbury. The teens who attend Tolar, a…
I like to make up stories about people. I observe random people at the airport while I am waiting for my flight at the gate, and create stories. The man sitting across me in a dark suit talking on his blackberry is a mafia Don strategizing about impending criminal activity in Chicago. The well dressed lady in the grey suit and black high heels is a top advisor to the new CEO of General Motors. No doubt she is typing…
It is camp time. We take our children to Walmart a few days before departure. If we have boys, we purchase Axe body wash, and urge them to use it more than once during their 6 day stint away from home. There is a boy raised in my home who came home from camp when he was 9 years old beaming with pride. He had gone the entire week without a shower. So…purchase the body wash and give detailed instructions….
Camp is officially underway. Once again I have been coerced into be the Head Men’s counselor for Camp Zenith hosted on the campus of Oklahoma Christian University. I want everyone to think that I have been coerced. Those who know me well will point out that camp is actually is personal high point of the entire year. Last night when I did dorm check I was not the least bit disappointed. The boys’ dorm rooms were giving off that familiar…
I celebrated my first Father’s Day in 1990. I just barely missed the cut off in 1989. Randall did not come along until July 15th that year. I wanted the whole world to know that I was a father. I felt like I deserved a discount on my noon meal that day at some local restaurant. It was a big deal for me. I had walked the floor with my young son late at night the previous 11 months, when…
All three of my boys consider themselves to be scholars of the Apostle Paul in Scripture. That is probably a bit of a stretch, but they would be quick to tell you that they sat at the feet of a teacher who described the life and teachings of Paul, as if she were with him on the road to Damascus when he saw the bright light. Her name is Dorothy and she really is a Pauline scholar. Dorothy started teaching…
Cleverly created signs always grab my attention. I saw a great billboard on Loop 820 in Ft. Worth yesterday. The sign advertising McDonald’s Coffee stated: “I am a coffee lover and not a millionaire.” It was an obvious jab at perceived overpriced java at Starbucks. That is good marketing!There is another coffee sign that I am forced to see ever time I make the trip home from Ft. Worth that grabs my attention in a much different way. The temporary…
There have been several prominent news stories recently regarding insurance companies that lack financial solvency. If you are insured with State Farm, you don’t have a thing to worry about. I am paying them enough in car insurance premiums alone to keep them fiscally sound for decades. It is called having two male drivers under the age of 25. I think they must know that a third one is waiting in the wings, and are charging me accordingly. Actually I…
People often laugh at me when I tell them that I spent three years in Muleshoe, Texas. I think they have this image of a Jeff Foxworthy redneck paradise. That of course is the farthest thing from the truth. Muleshoe is a very prosperous agriculturally based town. I moved there after 8 wonderful years serving on the staff at the Tenth and Broad Church of Christ in Wichita Falls. Muleshoe marked my first opportunity to fly solo and be in…
Ready to go to camp? Of course I am not ready to go to camp. I am not even thinking about camp. It is the middle of January. Why would anyone in their right mind be thinking about summer church camp in the dead of winter? Jack would greet me every Sunday with that question. There was never an exception. It did not make any difference if it was January or September. Jack was ready to go to camp. Don’t…