I had a “date” with my best friend today. It was not unlike many that we have had in the past quarter century. It was not as picturesque as many of our times together — no outside table, palm trees, or gentle breeze stirring my wife’s aesthetic nature. However, it was one of those nights when we dealt with some of the hard issues we live with, day in, day out as a couple. One would think that after being…
On a trip to our ministry location in Tennessee we found some time at the end of a leadership training session for questions and answers. Since I make the trip only several times a year, the questions seemed to migrate from leadership, to ministry in general, and then to my philosophical approach for the ministry. (Philosophy comes from philos (love) plus sophia (wisdom) and therefore means love of wisdom.) Eventually, this is bound to happen when the person who initiated…
During the first few years of our marriage Tracy listened to, collected, and adored the music of Rich Mullins. There was not an album or video that hit the shelves she did not own. Even after his death we traveled as a family to Wichita to see the “Canticle of the Plains” and she took Matthew to the festival workshops the following year. I believe Rich was symbolic of something inside her that might have been lived out, had she…
Several years ago I went into a store and purchased some supplies for my house. After completing the purchase the cashier said “How are you getting along these days, Chuck?” I was startled, because as I looked intently at the woman’s face, nothing looked familiar. As I looked deeply into her eyes she said, “You don’t recognize me, do you?” No matter how hard I stretched my brain I could not avoid the flushed feeling and embarrassment that engulfed me,…
I’ve never known him to be anyone except who he is each time I see him. He’s strong in his appearance but gentle in his demeanor and soft in speaking. He will rarely look you in the eye, as he does not want to invade your “space.” He never shows up at our door without some kind of gift in his hands. The gifts are often what he has grown or caught with those same hands. If it is Christmas,…
On this day in 1521 Martin Luther addressed the assembly at the Diet of Worms and refused to recant his teachings. He took such a hard-line against wickedness in the church establishment that he almost brought about his demise. However, he stuck by his belief of the church’s need for reformation and the necessity for all men and women to have access to an understandable copy of the scriptures. It is a day forever etched in history. One man made…