Month: June 2015

A few weeks ago, a gay friend emailed me asking me to pray for the Supreme Court’s deliberations regarding same-sex marriage. He knows where I stand on the issue, but he’s been on the receiving end of some hateful rhetoric, so I think he was hoping that a favorable ruling would presage a more tolerant climate. The same day, another friend emailed a similar request, but his hopes were that the Court would rule out same-sex marriage as a constitutional right. Then came the decision. I’m certain my gay friend celebrated. I, and many of my other friends, did not. As for being … Read more…

It is folly to comment on unfolding events for the obvious reason that the events in question — and the events leading up to the events — are not fully understood. Investigations regularly uncover salient details that provide insight into what actually happened, why it happened, who was responsible and how many were involved. Too often, people react to an event they think they understand, or understand well enough, only to discover that the narrative they accepted doesn’t closely align with reality. So anything you read in this post is subject to revision as the story clarifies. Plus, I’m often wrong even when all the … Read more…

Before you are ten, he can do anything. Any thing. Beat up all the other kids’ dads. Scare monsters out of the closet. Throw a curve ball, catch a shark, slay dragons, tame wild horses, run marathons bare-footed, even fix a broken down car with one of your mom’s hair pins, a Lego piece and duct tape. He exhales excellence. He is universally competent. And he smells good doing it. After you turn ten, though, his invincibility begins to waver. His bravery comes across more like bravado. His opinions — and they are legion, for they are many — become offensive. His … Read more…

Years ago, in a restaurant parking lot, my brother-in-law rebuked a woman he didn’t even know. “Rebuke” is a real Christiany-sounding word but he’s a Christian and he did vigorously point out her error, and since that’s what rebuke means, it fits. We were walking to our cars when he abruptly stopped and began to wildly motion to a driver who was backing out of a parking space. She stopped and cracked her window just enough to hear what he was trying to say, which is a lot more than I would have done if a stranger wildly waved at me. Here’s what he … Read more…

I’m not a big fan of trigger warnings, but they seem to be all the rage these days. So if you are uncomfortable reading about death, then you should probably skip this post. Or maybe you shouldn’t. When I was a kid, the dead weren’t always carted off to a funeral home and laid out in elaborate caskets under rose-colored mood lights. Often, they were stretched out on a bed in the living room where they rested for days while family and friends confronted the undeniable fact. That’s how it was with my paternal grandfather, Belton Hayes Vickery. I was … Read more…

I’ve read it a million times, but whenever I get to the part in Matthew 16, where Peter takes Jesus aside and begins to rebuke him, I cringe. I want to reach out, grab him by the robe and say, “Mr. Simon, sir, don’t. Just don’t.” It’s not that I think I’d be any less uppity. It’s just that I know how this story turns out. We are wise to extend a measure of grace to the patron saint of putting your foot in your mouth. And wiser to humbly acknowledge that it is hardly fair for those who reflect on a well-published past, to … Read more…