Pathway Journey

August 6, 2026August 6, 2026

Good Intentions

Man leaning down to shake hands with a homeless man sitting against a wall on a city sidewalk.

All genuine, good intentions are honorable. However, not every good intention is effective. Some good intentions never get beyond the intention, nothing gets done. Good intentions do not always lead to good results. We need to look a little deeper concerning our intentions.

Emotions is often the driver for our good intentions. When we do something motivated by good intentions, it makes us feel good. We all like doing something that is worthwhile and helpful. But our intentions can cause us to act without much thought about the outcome. Many of us want to help others, but we are often driven by emotions rather than logic, reason, and even God’s perfect will.

July 29, 2026July 29, 2026

Bless Your Little Pea Pickin’ Heart

“Bless Your Little Pea Pickin’ Heart” was a line popularized by the country singer Tennessee Ernie Ford. If you have never heard of him or the phrase, then you are much younger than I am.

The other afternoon I picked a mess* of peas and was sitting under a shade tree shelling a few just for the fun of it. It was one of those blistering Alabama summer evenings. I was hot and sweating when it dawned on me**, “I have air-conditioning.” So, I retreated to the house.

[*mess – Appalachian dialect for an uncertain quantity of something usually to eat; probably enough for one meal] [**dawned on me – Appalachian dialect for a sudden thought or idea.]

July 21, 2026July 21, 2026

Old Men and Their Junk

Rustic woodworking shop with various hand tools hanging on the wall and a workbench with jars and wood shavings

Old men love their stuff. It is gold to them but to others it is rust and dust. Coffee cans and peanut butter jars filled with assorted nuts, bolts, screws, and nails. A tube of hardened super glue he feels has another drop.

In the corner of his shed are several bird’s nests of bailing twine for when the world may end. On the shelf is a Dollar General yellar bag filled with strips of old Hanes t-shirts that are his go-to grease rags. There’s a row of nails with greasy baseball caps that a vagabond wouldn’t dare to wear.

June 29, 2026June 28, 2026

Fill Up the Vessels

Multiple large antique ceramic jars arranged on a stone floor inside a rustic cellar with stone walls and wooden shelves

There is a great story of provision found in the Old Testament (2 Kings 4:1-7). A woman’s husband had died. He was in the group of prophets led by the Prophet Elisha. The woman had no time to grieve over the death of her husband because he had a debt that was due. She had no money. The creditor was coming to take her two sons as slaves for the payment of the debt. The ancients lived in a very cruel and unforgiving world.

Her situation was very severe. Her husband had died. Her sons were going to be taken as slaves. She was left with no support and no family. A widow during that time with no son was destined for a life of abject poverty.

She went to Elisha for help. “So Elisha said to her, “What shall I do for you? Tell me, what do you have in the house?” And she said, “Your maidservant has nothing in the house but a jar of oil” (2 Kings 4:2 NKJV).

June 19, 2026June 20, 2026

Daddy Bought a Nissan

My daddy was born in 1914 in the ridges of Northeast Alabama. He was deserted by his father when he was a school-age boy and raised by his single mother in the midst of the Great Depression. He was raised dirt-poor.

June 10, 2026June 10, 2026

Don’t Allow Your Past to Destroy Your Future

Rusty metal chain breaking into pieces with sparks and glowing light

Many people allow their hurts, abuse, regret, sin, or disappointments to steal their joy and future. These words are not intended to downplay the difficulties you may have encountered. But we must realize there is absolutely nothing we can do to undo the past.

Too often we allow a never-ending replay loop to visit the problems of the past. At the end of the replay loop, there is no delete button. It is sad that so many people allow the past to mar their future.

All of us have choices of which we regret. “I wish I hadn’t done that!” or “I wish I would have made a better choice there!” There is nothing we can do to change the decision or the action of the past. That door is shut and cannot be opened.

Then there are so many who have suffered abuse for no fault of their own. They experience shame and guilt over something totally out of their control. It is like the enemy leaves an open sore that never seems to heal. These people need our compassion and the healing that only comes from Jesus.

May 25, 2026May 25, 2026

Lasting Sacrifice Lingers on this Memorial Day

Memorial Day is distinguished from Veteran’s Day. We honor all veterans, living and dead. Memorial Day is a day of remembrance for the ultimate sacrifice of one’s life. From what I have read, there have been over 1.1 million Americans who have died during wartime. Some from combat and others from disease.

My 4th-great-grandfather, Shadrack Whitt died at Valley Forge from disease (mostly likely smallpox). He was buried in a mass grave in May of 1778. He left behind a widow with two small boys, one was William Whitt, my 3rd-great-grandfather. Who knows the great sacrifice my long-ago grandmother and her sons endured after his death?

There was a great sacrifice of those who died in war. We honor them. There is also a continual sacrifice of the families that remain. The warriors fought and died. Their families weep and continue to grieve.

I married into the Stanley family in 1977. Robert Houston and Annie Sue Stanley blessed me with their daughter Jennie as my forever wife. They warmly embraced me as their son. This family was a Gold Star Family. By marriage covenant and love, I joined their ranks.

May 10, 2026May 9, 2026

Mother, the Heart of the Family

Family of four sitting on couch reading a book and playing with blocks

Someone said that the father is the head of the family and the mother is the heart of the family. In the beginning of Genesis, God made the man first and then made the woman from the man. God took a rib from Adam and made the woman named Eve. The rib is the skeletal protection of the heart and lungs which are some of the most vital organs of the human body.

Genesis 2:22-23 NKJV
(22) Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.
(23) And Adam said: “This is now bone of my bones And flesh of my flesh; She shall be called Woman, Because she was taken out of Man.”

Children naturally have a different relationship with their mother than their father. It is not supposed to be the same. God made the man and woman (father and mother) different because they needed to be a difference. Each have their own role to play. It doesn’t make one better than the other, it just means that one is better than the other at certain things and vice-versa.

May 1, 2026April 30, 2026

Pattern of Living

Man and child holding hands walking on a dirt path surrounded by autumn foliage

Sometimes, we hear people say, “Do as I say but don’t do as I do.” This quote is morphed from a warning of Jesus to His followers about the hypocrisy of the scribes and Pharisees, “Therefore whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do” (Matt. 23:3 NKJV).

We all have patterns of living. The habitual lifestyle of good or bad actions creates a pattern by which we are known. Others observe us subconsciously and purposefully. Those around us know us by our patterns. We are generally known by our lifestyle. It is not that people are judging us; they are only taking note of their observations.

April 17, 2026April 17, 2026

Tension: Strengthening by Two Forces

I have been thinking about the concept of tension for a few weeks. In the physical world, you need two opposing forces to have tension. Think of limp rope that is tied securely on one end to an object. It will remain limp until the other end is attached to another object and the slack pulled from the rope. In society and everyday life, people dislike tension in their lives. We gravitate to one side while despising the other end.

We grow stronger by having some tension in our lives. There is no need to look for trouble/tension because it has a way of finding us. We need to see the opportunity of becoming stronger when trouble comes.