Jody Vickery

Christmas looms large on our calendars, highlighted in bright red numbers, and even larger in our minds. But Christmas was not the beginning. Before Christmas, there was Christ. John says, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Christ the Word existed before there was a world to save, before there were stars to show the way for Magi from the east, before there were sheep for shepherds to watch. The Word was with God before there were angels to herald the birth, before … Read more…

On Christmas Eve, 1941, seventeen days after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, President and Mrs. Roosevelt hosted a state dinner at the White House. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, along with his staff of 60, was the guest of honor. Presents were exchanged. A group of carolers sang Oh Little Town of Bethlehem. The world was at war, but the light of hope still shined in the darkness. That same night, on the other side of the world, Adolf Hitler sat in a log cabin in East Prussia. He had told his generals that the war would be over … Read more…

Jesus’ birth was anticipated by prophets, announced by angels and accompanied by astronomical anomalies. You would think an event that important would first be delivered to the most important people. People like Caesar Augustus, the most powerful man on the planet and in control of much of the world from his palace in Rome. But the word of the Lord did not reach him first. Herod, King of Judea, was not the first to receive the news nor was Quirinius, the ruler of Syria. Not even Caiaphas, the high priest in Jerusalem. The word of the Lord came first to … Read more…

The last thing I hear every night before I drift into sleep is my wife’s prayers. It’s a good way to end a day. Last night, she prayed this: “God, if we do not see tomorrow, you have given us more in fifty years than many people will see in an entire lifetime. We are blessed and we are grateful.” This from a woman who has walked through some deep valleys with me and is currently the primary caregiver for her aging parents – a role that puts some hard miles on a person’s soul right quickly. And yet she … Read more…

Sometime around his 45th birthday, my nearest brother called me, and there was some urgency in his voice. “Guess what I found,” he said. I honestly couldn’t tell if he was excited or anxious, but since he wanted me to play a guessing game, I quickly calculated that he had stumbled upon something good. Me: “You found Jimmy Hoffa’s body and have claimed the reward.” My brother: “No. Not yet, anyway. I found Paw Paw’s car.” Paw Paw was our mother’s father. Olive Grover Adams – O. G. for short. He holds near mythic status in our memories because of … Read more…

This past May, Lisa and I checked an item off our bucket list – visiting the Reagan National Library in Simi Valley, CA. (Okay, so yeah, we’re big Gipper fans. I mean, come on – love him or hate him, he was one of the most influential leaders of the Twentieth Century.) Anyway, one of the exhibits I was most anticipating was Air Force One – the flying White House. This particular airplane actually served seven U.S. presidents including Nixon, Carter, Ford, Bush (41), Clinton and Bush (43). We’re talking about some serious history here. Besides, it’s a plane and … Read more…

Maybe I’m not giving it enough credit, but the barrier standing between Joshua and – the Jordan River – doesn’t seem all that imposing. The oceanic obstacle that Moses faced forty years earlier – the Red Sea – now there’s a world-class, sea-sized obstruction if there ever was one. The Red Sea was an impossibility. The Jordan, even at flood stage, was an inconvenience. Which is exactly how Joshua 3:1 presents it: Then Joshua rose early in the morning and they set out from Shittim. And they came to the Jordan, he and all the people of Israel, and lodged there … Read more…

If you substituted “Clinton” for “Trump,” and “Trump” for “Clinton,” in every news story and social media post, so that everything that has been said and written about the one suddenly applied to other, would you still vote the same way? If your side gets to determine what is moral/immoral, right/wrong, will you still be terrified of people who impose their views on others? Why did treating women with disrespect disqualify a president in 1998, but does not disqualify a presidential candidate in 2016? Why does sexual impropriety disqualify a presidential candidate in 2016, if it did not disqualify a president … Read more…

My editor in chief, best friend and faithful wife blesses us again with a guest post. Like many of our peers, she is finding her way across the difficult terrain of caring for aging parents. If you know Lisa, you know she does not mince words, pull punches or play games. And if she had a tattoo (which she does not), it would likely be one word — honest. ~~~ That universally recognizable Nike, Greek goddess of victory, swoosh thing. “Just-Do-It!” Simple to speak, painful to practice. Even Paul said it in Romans, “The trouble is with me, for I am … Read more…

Well, this is just awful. The election I mean. It has a decidedly Romans 1 feel. As in, “God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not be done.” This is a terrifying truth, but God has always given us the freedom of our own choices. When Israel clamored for a king, a king is what they got. And he was awful. Despite our most earnest prayers, God does not always “defeat us in those things which are evil.” Apparently, our relationship with him is of such integrity that he lets us have our … Read more…