I have written before of the 16th century Japanese “Forgetting the Year” Party, where participants brought the past year calendars to the party and destroyed them. We sentimental folks prefer keeping our old calendars in order to look back and reflect. We gain insight as well as strength from past experiences. However, there is something…
December is a special month for me for several reasons. My grandfather Crawford’s birthday was Dec. 2. My Dad’s birthday was Dec. 19. His sister’s birthday (my Aunt) was Dec. 22. My birthday is Dec. 30. On December 7, I was in an automobile wreck and sustained a broken second vertebrae of the neck, re-directing my…
The fact that I lived in six towns and attended fourteen schools before I met my wife, prepared me for a life of transitions, but I just wasn’t sure about her. She had lived in one town and three houses all her pre-college years. Could she handle six towns, fourteen houses, plus travel to all fifty states,…
Last week, seventy students received graduation certificates from the Valley Baptist Missions Education Center in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. As their Professor, I would have ordinarily been the one to hand them their certificate, then pose for their picture with me. However, due to a covid-like sinusitis, I was stuck at home, lest…
This is American Thanksgiving week. Time for ten of my favorite Thanksgiving quotes. “We should just be thankful for being together. I think that’s what they mean by Thanksgiving, Charlie Brown.” “Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has plenty; not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.” Charles Dickens…
I watched my four-year-old great grandson disobey his mother, then run across the room to hug her neck. I never got to do that with my mother when I was four. I’ve been watching him play soccer on Saturday mornings, and now basketball. In both sports his Daddy is his coach. I never had that…
For thirty-eight years I’ve used the same bank without any issues. Last week, when I opened my monthly statement, I noticed a suspicious check. Further investigation revealed that I had written the check fifteen months ago, but it had never cleared the bank. Now, someone who had the check changed everything on it except my signature, made…
Some things you really need are hard to find, especially in a small town, but “he who seeks finds” (Matthew 7:8). A big, fast truck passed me in the other lane. As it went by its back wheel threw a rock into my front windshield. Immediately, I saw a crack moving across the window. As the crack continued…
I retired from my faculty position sixteen years ago. Recently, I began teaching again. I made acquaintance with a few first semester students and felt compelled to offer some unsolicited advice, based on my nine years on a college faculty and twenty-two years on a Seminary faculty: You are not going back to college. You are now enrolled…
This is Pastor (or Pastors or Ministers) Appreciation Month. If you ask most Pastors how you can assist them, at least one of their answers would be to pray for them. Most of the resulting prayer would be of the very general nature – “Lord, bless my pastor.” May I suggest three very specific prayers that you could…