This weekend my friend Wayne and I backpacked the Fiery Gizzard Trail on the Cumberland Plateau near Monteagle, Tennessee. It is both breathtakingly beautiful and gut-wrenching brutal. We hiked 17.5 miles over the 2 days, 13.5 the first day and 4 the second. We slept (and I use that word generously) in the middle of… Continue Reading
I love my daughter-in-law but she cries a lot. Especially when it comes to watching her boys grow up. That’s okay. I usually cry with her. Last week we had a tearful moment. Jon-Mical who is 7 was having his first official sleep over at a friend’s house. He was excited all day. Packed his… Continue Reading
I have a small cabin in the woods in Dickson County, TN. It is not much, a two room shack with battery powered lights and running water borrowed by hoses (1000 feet of them) from my neighbors well. But it is a wonderful place to escape, to get away, to be quiet and let God… Continue Reading
In the beginning (No, not that beginning!) In the beginning with Chonda and me there were four of us, me, the oldest boy followed by three stair-stepped sisters, Chonda being the usually loud one in the middle. We lived pretty close to both sets of grandparents and what seemed like hundreds of cousins, many of… Continue Reading
I was asked to conduct a funeral the other day. Some “preacher” stuff is hard to get away from. Dug out my trusty black suit. Shined up my black loafers. Put on a nice, freshly pressed white shirt. (Thank you Doris.) And pulled out a nice, appropriate tie. That’s when it happened. All of a… Continue Reading