GIVE ME THAT MOUNTAIN I woke up early this morning to a burning project. You know how every once in a while something pops into your beady, little brain while you are sleeping and you wake up thinking, “This is the most important thing in the world. I’ve got to get it done… Continue Reading
Happy Sucking
We sat last week in the very back of a local, quaint restaurant called Miller’s Grocery. It was years ago a one room, general store, nestled beside a railroad track and next to the Post Office in a tiny, Tennessee village. Today it has been converted into a “must eat at” tourist kind of venue… Continue Reading
Politics
I confess that I am not a political person. Oh, Doris and I vote faithfully. We watch the debates and then the debates about the debates. We are very proud of our sons who follow the political scene and voice their convictions. But for me politics has always been a necessary evil. I get no… Continue Reading
God Peeks
Jakson cheats! Well, maybe not cheats so much as he lets his unbridled enthusiasm and his wonderful curiosity get the best of him. When we play hide-and-seek he can’t keep his eyes closed. I say, “Okay Jakson, Poppy C is going to hide. Cover your eyes and count to 374”. (I cheat too.) And he… Continue Reading
The Fog
Carl Sandburg wrote the little diddy, “The fog comes on little cat’s feet and sits looking over the city on silent haunches, and then moves on.” I have no idea what that means but I do know what it is like to have the fog setting right down over me and to pray that it… Continue Reading
Healing A Diverse Community
(This is the presentation I made a few days ago to the Mental Health Association of Middle Tennessee. The topic was Healing A Diverse Community. The people before me spoke about racial inequality in Middle Tennessee and the conflict over building a new mosque.) HEALING A DIVERSE COMMUNITY My grandson is 4. His… Continue Reading
The Ministry of Presence
“More and more, the desire grows in me simply to walk around, greet people, enter their homes, sit on their doorsteps, play ball, throw water, and be known as someone who wants to live with them. It is a privilege to have the time to practice this simple ministry of presence. Still, it is not… Continue Reading
Holding On, Letting Go
It is one of the great challenges of life, how long do I hold on and when do I let go? A few years ago we were fishing and swimming and just chillin’ at the little lake on my sisters farm. The kids, including my two sons were swinging on an old rope swing and… Continue Reading
She’s There Now
Got this text conversation from my son, Josh with his 4 year old son, Jon-Mical last Tuesday, the evening my mother died. I told Jon-Mical that Nanny died. He immediately asked if she was flying now. “Flying?” I asked. “Yes. Is she flying up to heaven?” he responded. I told him she was. He… Continue Reading
God Far Away
I need God and He is far away. That desolate, desperate cry is not some philosophical, poetic metaphor from ancient literature or the pitiful plea of the fundamentally fearful. It is my testimony for right now. The words from my lips. The echo of my heart. It is the true, simple, unadorned and undeniable condition… Continue Reading