I want to tell you about someone whose life’s work made a difference. Not everyone gets to see immediate results from their hard labor. In some ways, I suppose very few do. Pastors surely don’t very often. Other than a…
A Christmas lesson at BubbaDoo’s
To understand Christmas at BubbaDoo’s, you’d have to understand the setting for BubbaDoo’s itself. This large, old general store sits at a key crossroads in a small rural community. There isn’t much to the little community these days, save a…
On All Saints Day and Thanksgiving: ‘Hey, … me too!’
“Hey, me too.” That’s what a beloved church member said to me as we were leaving the sanctuary last Sunday after our All Saints Sunday observance. Having him say those words stopped me in my tracks. They made me feel…
Twister blows up a crisis in the BubbaDoo’s family
I’m used to the phone ringing at odd hours. Or at least as used to that as you get. Nothing about the sacred call upon a minister’s life for vocational work completely smooths over untimely interruptions. If the call comes…
Explaining mainliners and evangelicals at Bubba-Doo’s
If you’ve ever stepped into a place and gotten the feeling there were two or three people laying low for you, you’ll understand the vibe that met me the other day. I stopped by my favorite country store, Bubba-Doo’s. It’s…
A chat with Mickey at Bubba-Doo’s about whether I preach the gospel or not
I stop in occasionally at a store called Bubba-Doo’s. It’s about 10 miles outside the interstate on the main highway that rolls through a series of towns. They are supposedly “world famous” for their hamburgers, according to the big sign…
Why aren’t we better at differing?
Where I come from, we had colorful descriptions of people who are argumentative, or with whom it’s hard to differ. I’m sure you did, too. Here are some I remember: Why, he’s as stubborn as a mule. She’d argue with…
The gift Simone Biles gave us
“She quit on her team.” If we were playing a popular social media game called “Poorly Describe What You Do Using Five Words,” that might be how someone would answer for the young Olympic gymnast, Simone Biles. If we were…