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 [...]
“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 [...]
“I’ve probably only got a couple of months,” George said, drawing in a quick breath and blinking at persistent tears. He lay on his couch, a warm blanket covering him and cozy pillows tucked behind his head and under his feet. “But I’m at peace with it honey, I really am.” George squeezed his eyes [...]
So there I was, sitting in Jan Davis Tire Store (time to get the tires rotated, don’t cha know), minding my own beeswax, when in walks (I kid you not) Osama Bin Laden’s nephew. Olive skinned and bearded, with a pill-box shaped hat perched on his Middle Eastern hair, he wore billowing britches, a flowing [...]
“I got the invitation to my friend’s birthday party, Mommy.” “Oh?” My 11-year-old daughter, Margaret hesitated, seeming to withhold information. “What’s up?” I asked. “Well,” she said, dragging the word into two syllables, “it’s a sleepover.” “Okay.” “And . . . ” “And what, Margaret?” “Well, it’s on a Saturday night, but I really want [...]
Over and over again last week at divinity school, I was asked how my summer had been. I was seeing folk I’d not seen since last semester and the question was more of a greeting than an inquiry. I knew that, but I stumbled every time to say something that could sum up the last [...]