In one, I’m late: late and lost. Everyone is expecting me, but I can’t find my way out of a maze of locked doors and dead-end hallways. In another, it is exam day. The problem? The class never made it to my schedule, so I didn’t even know that I was registered for it. Now [...]
You can’t miss it. If you travel that road, you’ll see it. Looming over the highway for all motorists to see: a billboard-sized picture of a mangled motorcycle with the ominous declaration “Death is forever.” Every time I pass it, I get the message; I never intend to read it, it is just that prominent, [...]
The METRO was packed. To the regulars, I’m sure it was normal: Washington, DC at 5 o’clock is not, after all, the most deserted place in the world. But I was a tourist from Smalltown, NC and subway trains are scary enough to me when riders all have room to spare. Slightly motion sick and [...]
“You are a child of God and God takes great delight in you. God is giving you everything you need to be the person God is calling you to be.” Guy Sayles says those words each time a new believer rises from the baptismal waters. Those of us who attend First Baptist Church of Asheville [...]
Have no idea why the formatting refuses to work here. Hopefully you get the general idea! (Blogs don’t like poetry.) It’s the Saturday before the Saturday before– Everything’s almost done. Easter dresses, matching: hemmed and hanging. Eggs, two dozen, waiting to dye. Basket treats purchased and hidden away. It’s the Saturday before– our guests are [...]
Back when the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was bombed by Timothy McVeigh, news reporters talked as much about the tragedy as they did about the heart of the Oklahoma people. Remember? It seemed like for every sorrow-filled story, the networks supplied at least one testimony of how wonderful Oklahomans are. And [...]
“And on March 9th, we’ll have a lab experience,” my professor said, “to practice baptism by immersion.” Practice baptism? Shoot, I’ve been doing that all my life. No, I’m not an ordained pastor. In fact, I’ve only been in a baptismal pool once, for my own baptism 38 years ago. But, I’m a Baptist preacher’s [...]
“It’s driving us all crazy,” I told the vet. She and I sat cross-legged on the exam room floor as my beagle paced, sniffing around for a way out. “Charlie licks the floor constantly,” I said, “And it’s not just the floor either. He licks the carpet, his bed, everything. It’s . . . well. [...]
It was January 13, 2009 and I was on my way to the college when my cell phone rang. “Where are you?” my GWU friend asked. “On the way. What’s up?” “Uhhh, nothin’, just wanted to see if you wanted to meet us for coffee.” “You’re out of class?” It was only 8:30 and they [...]
If my granddaddy had been as superhuman as I thought he was, he would have been 107 years old yesterday. In tribute to him, and in celebration of advent, here is the devotional I wrote for the divinity school’s advent book. EnJOY! Plans for Joy December 16, 2009 Gardner-Webb University Advent Devotional Jeremiah 29:11-14, 1 [...]