At the annual high school chorus concert Monday evening, I was struck with wonder, actually many times. I’m so thankful that all three of my children have had the blessing of being part of this program. The voices and talents of that many young people all working together to create beautiful music is something to behold, to say nothing of the dedication and talent of our choral director and his assistant. However, that wasn’t all of the wonder. The moment I had this thought was while listening to a solo violinist. As she played, I thought to myself how that instrument sounds like it is singing. And that’s when it…

Last weekend, storms ripped apart huge swaths of our part of the country. The town of Mayfield, Kentucky–that has been the center of attention–is only about 25 miles from our house, but many communities were impacted in terrible ways. In the aftermath of those storms, our elders decided to change our order of worship this past Sunday. We spent more time in specific prayer for the victims of the storms, for first responders and others working to help people, and for the Lord’s people as we seek to help going forward. Because of this emphasis, I changed my sermon. On Saturday, I spent some time thinking of something that was…

I am typing these words about mid morning on December 7, 2021. While I am not a “news junkie,” I do tend to gravitate toward sources for news on the television, radio, internet, etc.   So far this morning, most of what I’ve heard and read has been about political infighting, moral decay, scandals involving people who seem to be famous merely for being famous, and other subjects that the various news media seem to think are important. It is sad to me that I’ve heard only one brief mention of an event that happened eighty years ago today. The president of our nation would address a joint session of Congress…

Many years ago, when our children were younger and still living at home, we had a song we would sing when we were traveling. Back in the day you could slip a little cassette tape into a player in your car and enjoy whatever kind of music you wanted to hear. We happened to have a tape of the Hardeman Boys’ Quartet from Freed-Hardeman University, and we loved to play and sing along as we traveled. One of their songs we particularly liked was “Excuses, Excuses.” We knew every lyric and the chorus by heart. I have since learned that it was sung by the Kingston Quartet and written by…

In 1968 there were two major professional football leagues. I guess it could be said that, in actuality, there was only one major such league. It would still be a couple of years before the younger and less powerful American Football League became the American Football Conference after their merger with the National Football League. In November of that year, two of the most famous teams in the American Football League played one another. That game is now a part of football lore – especially for those old enough to remember the events of that day. Even if you are old enough (like me) to have been aware of the…

A very fun news story is making the rounds, as it does each year at this time. A group that studies economic inflation in the United States comes out with a report each holiday season sharing what it would cost to purchase the items from the twelve verses of the carol “The 12 Days of Christmas.” As with a lot of other things, the price is up. In fact, according to their analysis, if you were to purchase all the items in the song, in 2021 it would cost you $41,206. (I don’t know about you, but we don’t have quite that large of a Christmas budget, so no lords-a-leaping…