Month: May 2016

Awkward moments. Everyone has them. Sometimes, they’re mild, like when you wave at someone you thought was waving at you. Except they weren’t. Or you and Celine Deon are just killin’ it. Until you notice the guy in the car next to you at the traffic light is staring. And of course there’s the left-hanging high five. But sometimes, those awkward moments are mortifying. Like when you hit “Reply All,” and “All” did not need to see that reply. It occurred to me that the Bible has a lot of moments like that. In Genesis 18, Sarah overhears a mysterious … Read more…

When I was a kid, all the stores in Buford closed at 3:00 on Wednesdays. All of them. That was because the owners and employees and even the customers needed to get home for an early dinner so that they could go to prayer meeting that night. In those days, everybody went to Wednesday night church. I played little league ball, but we never practiced on Wednesdays and never played on Sunday. In fact, on Sunday, every store and nearly every restaurant was closed. You didn’t mow your lawn or fish or play golf – or if you did you … Read more…

Many people who are not favorably disposed to Christianity, or religion in general, are fond of quoting Matthew 7:1. Do not judge, or you too will be judged. Except they usually quote it from the King James Version (Judge not that ye be not judged), because (a) that was the vogue version the last time they cracked open a Bible, or (b) they think using the KJV makes them sound more righteous. That’s important because they are usually quoting it at a Christian whom they feel is judging them. I am mildly amused that folks who otherwise do not care … Read more…

I remember my mother’s first gray hair. She was sitting one row in front of me and Barry Kingsley at the Duluth Church of Christ on a Sunday morning sometime around 1970. I don’t recall where Barry’s mother was sitting, but my guess is she was one row behind us because neither of our mothers ever got on board with that whole Your-Child-Just-Needs-A-Lot-Of-Positive-Reinforcement mumbo jumbo that was just beginning to catch on with the culture. They were into old school discipline even when that school of child-rearing wasn’t all that old. Plus, me and Barry were a handful. Anyway, sometime … Read more…