Growing up, I lived three miles up a country road from a major four-lane highway. Traveling up Sand Valley Road as a child of ten years old, I could name every family of every home on that three-mile stretch. Fifty-seven years later, many of those homes are filled with strangers.
Continue reading “Community”Chaos of the World
There is so much that seems to be out of control. Chaos abounds in the world at levels we have not seen in many decades. We have the first sniffs of possible nuclear war since the early sixties. Eggs cost about forty percent more than a year ago. There is a determined assault on families, the foundation of ordered society. Violence against the innocent and death by drugs have increased with only nominal attention from the media and little outrage from leaders.
Continue reading “Chaos of the World”Be All You Want To Be—NOT!
Picture the scene: A slick speaker on a well-lit stage with a captivated audience hanging on every word. He gracefully paces across the stage, looking over the group when he emphatically declares, “Everyone of you can be all you want to be!”
So, anyone in the audience can be an NFL quarterback or maybe an author with a book on the New York Times bestseller list? Okay, what about a rock climber, rodeo bull rider, or maybe an astronaut?
Continue reading “Be All You Want To Be—NOT!”Goodbye Ole Okra
My old lover of hot summers is about to fade as the sunny hours grow fewer and the hot begins to turn toward cold. I am a son of the South, so I love okra, that odd vegetable that fills our summer plates and occasionally takes some space in our soups. Our Louisiana cousins put it in gumbo, and we love it too.
Our regional preferred dish is breaded and fried. I am one of the odd ones who also loves it boiled, leaving it slimy and slick. It chews easy and goes down quick.
Continue reading “Goodbye Ole Okra”Journey Update: September 2022

Our schools here in America are in full swing. Jennie and I have all five of our grandchildren in school now. They are enrolled from Pre-K all the …
Journey Update: September 2022
Something To Live For
If you look around to the craziness around you, you could easy get depressed and say, “What’s the use?” People in every era and in most lives lived could say at one point, “What’s the use?”
Throughout every point of history there have been people who have given up even though they had it relatively easier than most people around them. The difference was their lack of hope and purpose.
Continue reading “Something To Live For”Mindset of Jesus
Why do you think like that? We all have a pattern or direction of thought. Our minds are directed from something and directed to something. We all have a worldview, meaning our thinking is based on a set of principles or from a certain standpoint.
In Paul’s letter to the Philippian Church, he encouraged them to have the “mind of Christ”. If we think that having the mind of Christ is a far jump for us, consider that the Greek word in Philippians is a verb meaning to be minded in a certain way. It is like having our thinking oriented like Jesus or the direction of our thoughts and life is like Him.
Continue reading “Mindset of Jesus”When the King Moves In
Jimmy Carter was president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. He was a peanut farmer from Georgia, and he tried to be a little folksy relating to the common man. I remember a few details of his trip to California where he wanted to stay in a private home instead of a fancy hotel. [This blog is not about Jimmy Carter, please read to the end!]
Continue reading “When the King Moves In”Words With Action
The words that a person speaks does not really define who they are but what they do is a true indicator of who they are.
Many in our present culture are under the illusion they can change the world by posting a Tweet in 280 characters or a Facebook meme while sipping on a mocha latte. It takes a little more action than that!
Continue reading “Words With Action”Tag Along With Me to Jail
I have been involved in local jail ministry for the most part of thirty years. It is not glorious work. It is not scary as some might think. I have never felt threatened and most of the guys are usually respectable and appreciative.
The jail we visit is set up like a dormitory with bunks on two sides and tables in the middle. Lately, our jail ministry team has been alternating weeks and I have been going alone twice per month.
There is nothing fancy of what we do. No fanfare, no bells and whistles. Just an old buzzard of a preacher telling the story of Jesus to a bunch of jail birds.
Continue reading “Tag Along With Me to Jail”
