It has been several years now, but I remember it vividly. My mother, who in her declining years spent much time in the hospital, was back in a private room in Rush’s Hospital in my hometown, Meridian, Miss. She was…
Ain’t no tellin’
I know it’s not correct grammar. I know it’s a double negative. I know it calls into service that most criticized of English juxtapositions. I know it betrays me and surfaces my semi-hidden blue-collar origins. I was taught better, but…
Working and waiting with people and plants
Coming in from a quick look at the plants and grass in my backyard, just before the dark came, something occurred to me: For much of my adult life, I have been working and waiting for someone or something to…
Holy Week clean up
This morning, as I was drinking my second cup of hot, caffeine-flavored water on the back porch, Juan Pablo rounded the corner of my house, coming from the front yard with a large, black garden trash-bag. I was not surprised…
Lessons in coffin carrying
Years ago, as a pastor, I noticed when one of our ordinarily regularly attending senior adult men stopped attending his men’s Bible study class, as well as Sunday morning worship. I contacted the man I’ll call Bill and asked if…
Finding beauty in the superstore parking lot
On a sultry August morning, I backed out the convertible and headed to the grocery store to pick up some needed bakery items and a platter of watermelon slices. It seemed somehow appropriate, now that the “hottest month of the…
Traveling through life with the Scenario Family
When, upon life’s freeways, backroads and typical streets, we are called upon to travel, we never are alone. Beyond the actual passengers who travel with us, the three members of the Scenario Family always jump in the car, train, plane,…
I’ll take the fifth!
The sun is setting on another Fourth of July. The record heat, with its over 100-degree days, continues in dry, parched, sweating, Georgetown, Texas. It has been hotter than …, well, you know! At our house, we enjoyed this holiday,…
Who’ll be there at the end of your prayer?
It was late in my adolescent chapter of the Fabulous Fifties, and I was a member of the youth group in my home church — the Fifteenth Avenue Baptist Church in Meridian, Miss. Soon, the Sweetheart Banquet would be here…