Despite the best of intentions! “Not today, I won’t give pride any place in my thoughts,” I tell myself only to find at day’s end I missed that mark by a mile!  “I won’t let discouragement overtake faith,” I promise… Continue reading

A couple of weeks ago I visited an out of the way spot on the Arkansas-Missouri border called Mammoth Springs.   Nine million (9,000,000!) gallons of water every hour boil up out of the earth at that site becoming the headwaters… Continue reading

Whenever Sam, my Irish Setter, hurts herself- getting thorns tangled into her coat, twisting her leg during a hard run – she sulks. When I attempt to help her, she growls and snarls at me, apparently conscious only of her… Continue reading

What joy I find in looking into my wife’s face, taking in a sunrise, or watching a child play contentedly. Eyes are part of my amazing body, a gift of my Creator. Because of my age I need glasses to… Continue reading

I ask the children and teens in our church, “How are you?”  They answer, as we all do, “Good!”  “But,” I ask, “are you righteous?” Yes, it’s a preacher kind of joke and often they don’t get it.  But, my… Continue reading

Forecasts, analysts, fortune cookies, and prophets all claim to see through a window into tomorrow. Humans say that they want to know what the future holds. I wonder if that is really true? Frequently we choose to be ignorant of… Continue reading

Don’t live in the cemetery. Between hamburgers and potato salad, take time today to remember those who paid the ultimate price in defense of the nation. It might be a cliché but it’s true none the less – “Freedom isn’t… Continue reading

Any parent can tell you that there are two kinds of obedience – one is a grudging compliance, the other is wholehearted engagement.  My sons, Sean and Jay, were on the ‘lawn crew,’ when they were teens at home.  At… Continue reading

A guilty conscience? Hurts, doesn’t it? The pain of shame and guilt that follow doing wrong are as common as a cold. In a moment when our resolve is weak, we make a fateful choice. A cruel word can be… Continue reading

The Dark Ages, that time in Europe from the fall of Rome to the dawn of the Enlightenment, describes a millennium of violence. (500 to 1500 A.D.) With the disappearing of the authority of the Roman Empire, a brutal chaos… Continue reading