A Word About Trees Every morning as I walk out my front door, there’s a tree in my yard that stands at attention like a sentry ready to greet me. In the spring of the year, it’s wearing lovely green leaves and pinkish-white blossoms. But by early summer those blossoms are gone, and the shade…
A Word About Generosity Early in our ministry, my wife and I served on the staff of a great church. She worked as a volunteer director of the church nursery, caring for the babies and infants while parents enjoyed a worship service. One hired assistant was needed to help in the nursery, and my wife…
A Word About Opinions In our first year of marriage, my wife and I were finishing up our educations. The old car we were driving had been a faithful mode of transportation, but it finally decided it had had enough. It was totally worn out, and began to cost more in repairs than it was…
A Word About Authenticity Her given name was Sarah, but everyone called her “Ma” Jones. She was my great-grandmother. Ma is not an uncommon title for people in the hills of Missouri’s Ozark Mountains, when referring to the senior members of a particular clan. She cooked on a wood stove in her tiny kitchen; a…
A Word About Prayer I have known for a long time about the potential for intimacy that prayer creates. Praying creates a certain kind of intimacy with the One to whom we pray. When I realize that God has allowed me to come into his presence with an open invitation to share with him whatever…
A Word About,… Obvious I had some minor surgery done last week on the top of my head. My blond hair (back when I actually had hair) and my fair skin were indicators that I would be a great candidate for developing skin cancers in my later years. Well, last week was a part…
A Word About… Third. When I was boy, and I got into a race with some of the kids in our neighborhood, I didn’t like coming in third. Of course, everyone wants to be first. But since there can only be one first place, I learned that second place wasn’t that bad. But third place?…
A Word About… Mushrooms. A simple and serious question today about what you may have noticed … about mushrooms. I have a really good friend who has an amazing eye for photography. He’s not a photographer by profession. In fact, he’s a physician. But he occasionally sends me photos he’s captured with his iPhone; a…
A Word About, … Encouragement As I sat alone eating in my favorite Thai cafe the other day, I noticed a couple having lunch, conversing, smiling, laughing. They looked married, and I supposed they were. Their interactions were animated, almost playful I think. And their lunch together seemed to make my lunch alone somehow…
A Word About Hate. There were never any bad words uttered in my family of origin when I was growing up. My momma made sure of that. Saying normal, run-of-the-mill curse words’ never even crossed my mind, because if words like that slipped out of my mind into my mouth, my mom would have…