Henry Ford’s influence on the automobile industry and, through it, much of modern history is well known. Most people probably could tell you that Ford and his employees perfected the assembly-line method of producing automobiles. It is demonstrably true that…
Bubba-Doo’s gets a new sign
In the early morning air, the trip to the hospital took on an urgency all its own. Somehow, the crispness of a breath outside at 6:30 a.m. merely punctuated the departure from normal. I was headed to the city for…
Choosing us: What we didn’t know then about marriage and how we would grow and change
“People change. Maybe you should give this some time to figure out who you are before you get married,” she said. We had flown to California for me (Gail) to introduce Brian to a few of my aunts and extended…
The dangers of being too resistant to change or too eager to change
We typically think of proverbs as sources of guidance about how to live. However, the kind of guidance you can get from a proverb is tricky, since different proverbs appear to give conflicting advice. There’s the admonition to “Look before…
I’m aiming for a kind of fresh resolve to no longer continue producing solutions for the future based on problems from the past
It isn’t at all novel to admit this to you, dear reader, but New Year’s resolutions are gratingly unbearable; even under the best conditions. But I must say that this year, there is a uniquely hollow and darkly comedic quality…
Dis-membered denominations: Forgetting who we are
In 1990, in God’s Last and Only Hope: The Fragmentation of the Southern Baptist Convention, I wrote: Growing up Southern Baptist once seemed relatively easy. Elaborate denominational programs created a surprising uniformity among an otherwise diverse and highly individualistic constituency….
The Beatles: Get Back — Returning to the root of something can be a productive, if elusive, exercise
I remember Dec. 9, 1980, like it was yesterday. I woke to the news that John Lennon had been murdered the night before as he returned home to the Dakota Apartments in New York. I was a 13-year-old Beatles fan…
‘A Change Is Gonna Come’: Ahmaud Arbery and the call to transform injustice
Sam Cooke said it best in soulful, somber song: “A Change Is Gonna Come.” Cooke wrote this song in the early 1960s as a protest to support the Civil Rights Movement. It was a volatile season for this country, as…
An ode to the exile generation
A few weeks ago, I had an epiphany. It sprang from an odd source: Episode 178 of a podcast called The Bible for Normal People, “Pete Ruins Isaiah.” Pete Enns is an Old Testament scholar determined to bridge the great…