I recently spent some time with a man that I’ve known off and on for over sixty years. He is about a year older than I am. We weren’t “pals” during our elementary school years because we attended two different schools. When we both got to the same high school, our age difference meant that we weren’t in many (if any) classes together. As I look back, I guess that about the only time we spent much time together in an organized way was when we were both Cub Scouts. That was a long time ago and only lasted a few years. As we were talking, I mentioned that, even…

A few days ago, I observed what I consider to be one of those “life lessons” we hear about from time to time. I suppose that it would be more accurate to say that I observed something and considered it to be a life lesson. As I was making my way to see some of our members who are in a nursing home, I noticed that, some distance in front of me, there was a vehicle that was clearly identified as one that belonged to our local sheriff’s department. I don’t know if the sheriff or one of his deputies (or maybe even somebody else from his office) was driving,…

From the outset, let me say that I have been as guilty as anyone for saying what I am going to write about. I used to say it quite regularly. After some time and thought, I would still say it, but I’d feel like I had to qualify it. Now, I do my best to avoid it. And it’s because I spent some serious time thinking about Cornelius. So, what is the saying? It is when we are talking about someone who has lived a pretty good life, but has never been baptized, and we say something like this: “He wouldn’t have to change much.” Now, having been someone who…

Now that the college basketball season is over, I heard somebody describe this time of year as Talking Season. There are a variety of things going on about which most of us know very little or anything. Some of those things may make the news. The casual sports fan may know something about coaching changes, recruiting news, etc., but even a very ardent fan probably has no real idea about all that is going on behind the scenes. About all that most college basketball fans can do for the next few months is talk.  A part of the vocabulary of Major League Baseball is the term Hot Stove League. As…

For some time now, and most famously during the Super Bowl, an ad campaign has captured the attention of a lot of people. The ads feature people in various negative and hate-filled situations, but having their feet washed. The overarching message is that Jesus did not teach hate and then we see the famous tagline “He Gets Us.” To be fair, I have a certain level of appreciation for ads like these. They may not tell the entire story, but they do at least have some semblance of a message that points people to some aspect of the Christian faith. And, of course, there is no way that a few-seconds-long…

A few weeks ago I needed to return something to a company and was advised to do so at a FedEx dropbox. The instructions I was given informed me about the location of the specific dropbox which was to be used. According to those instructions, the dropbox was in the parking lot of a small shopping center with which both Donna and I are very familiar. It is not at all unusual for one of us to “make a run” to a Kroger store which is in that shopping center.  With all of that being true, neither Donna nor I could remember ever seeing a FedEx dropbox anywhere in that…

A few months ago, an entirely new and different world was opened up to me. I learned from one of our neighbors that I could “borrow” audiobooks from our local library and listen to them for free. Since then, I’ve “read” about twenty-five books. I have found this practice to be much more informative and interesting than what I did previously while I was driving, doing odd jobs around the house, etc. The time spent on listening to political commentators with whom I already basically agreed or music I’ve known for a half century or so now occupies very, very little of my time. I am particularly drawn to books…

I’ve never lived in a major metropolitan area. I grew up in a rural area outside the city limits of a town that, according to the latest census figures that I could find, has about 6,500 residents. After Donna and I married, we actually lived in that same town for the first eight years of our marriage. Since then, we have lived in (or just outside of) towns with populations of about 1,500, 8,000, and 27,000. That last figure is the population for Paducah, Kentucky, where we presently live. That figure may be a little misleading, though. That is the population for people who live within the actual city limits. There…