While we’re commanded to set aside a particular day— the Sabbath— to rest just as God did following God’s own work of creation, it’s interesting God doesn’t give us any further specific instructions to follow with respect to any other day of the week. We’re certainly encouraged to pray everyday, to follow high ethical standards,… More

“This is the case. There are no other cases.” Frank Galvin, The Verdict I regularly listen to a podcast called The Rewatchables which light-heartedly revisits popular movies of the past, focusing on the power they have to entertain us even, perhaps especially, on a second viewing, or third, or even a tenth. The show recently… More

To be happy at home is…the end to which every enterprise and labor tends… Dr. Samuel Johnson Not long ago, circumstances conspired such that I found myself sleeping all night on a metal bench in an airport, forsaken by all but the graveyard shift at the usually bustling terminal and a handful of other weary… More

Do you give the horse its strength or clothe its neck with a flowing mane? Job, Chapter 39:19 I’m sure there are others, but Angus Fletcher is the only person I’ve ever heard of who holds advanced degrees in both neuroscience and literature. And he utilizes both deftly in his 2021 book, Wonderworks: The Most… More

“There’s always someone in the stands…who’s seeing me play for the first time, or someone who may be seeing me for the only time or for the last time.” Joe DiMaggio Willie Mays, Bob Gibson, Tom Seaver, Johnny Bench, Hank Aaron, and my all-time favorite, Roberto Clemente—I got to see all of them at the Astrodome growing… More

The saints and poets maybe— they do some. The Stage Director in Thornton Wilder’s Our Town What if you had died yesterday, but were then today somehow granted life again. Think about it. What if you had passed away last night, but this morning were restored to the very circumstances you find yourself in right… More

“George Banks and all he stands for will be saved. Maybe not in life, but in imagination. Because that’s what we storytellers do. We restore order with imagination. We instill hope again and again and again.” Saving Mr. Banks I saw Walt Disney’s Mary Poppins as a little kid in an enormous movie house— the… More

My favorite genre of entertainment growing up was the disaster movie. The first film I recall being excited to see was The Poseidon Adventure produced by Hollywood’s Master of Disaster, Irwin Allen. I was 8. My brother was equally excited about the movie and we begged our dad to take us even though it was rated PG… More

Waymon Worsham holds a special place in my heart. A good man. The sort of man who makes the institutions he was embedded in work and thrive and last— his home, his church, the business he was a part of, his neighborhood, his country. He loved the values expressed with clarity in old American Westerns… More

I’m an Olympic enthusiast. The competition of the 1972 summer games, the first I’m old enough to remember, captured my imagination, spurring on my love for sports. More importantly, the hostage standoff in Munich’s Olympic Village and the shocking loss of 11 Israeli athletes at the hands of Palestinian terrorists during those games, infused my… More

Toward the end of last year, I felt I needed some spiritual focus, so I tried something I’d never tried before— a sensory deprivation tank. I brought my Birdwell bathing suit and went to a place offering an hour in a float tank near my home. I filled out some forms and went into a nicely appointed… More

I’m generally called upon to lead more memorial services than weddings, but recently I officiated a wedding and was reminded how crucial it is to exuberantly celebrate moments of great import in a memorable way. Extraordinary occasions deserve to be marked with extraordinary measures. Having said this, it’s often the case that big moments in… More

Emily Dickinson didn’t become known much less famous as a poet until well after her death. Dickinson asked her sister Lavinia to burn her papers when she died, but instead, when Emily passed away, Lavinia found her sister’s poems and took them to a publisher. If she had not, we would certainly never have heard… More

Bill Gates says that we typically overestimate the technological advancements that can occur in a single year, but vastly underestimate the advancements that can happen in five. When I was in middle school, we were given an assignment to describe The City of the Future in an essay, draw a picture of it, then present our predictions to the class. Mine… More

Dr. Rev. Kay Towns is a friend. I coached her son, Davis, in little league. Kay’s a licensed professional counselor and a Methodist minister who counsels patients struggling with grief, anxiety, and depression. In a conversation with her recently, she said something so profound that I felt what you feel when you hear something so… More

Amy Herndon passed away a little over two years ago. Amy had a radiant smile, a casual beauty, and unpretentious elegance about her. And, as she battled cancer, she was Joan of Arc brave. Amy held newborns in the church nursery on Sundays and taught ‘Missions’ on Wednesday nights with my wife, Kelly, for many years. Kelly… More

The first significant purchase I ever made with my own money was the baseball glove I’m holding right now. I was thirteen. It’s a Rawlings. Basket web. Wing tip. Heart of the Hide. American-made. Brooks Robinson model. It cost $112 in 1978, which represented a lot of mowed lawns for me back then. It was… More

The futility of trying to map out our future in too much granular detail is captured in former heavyweight boxing champion, Mike Tyson’s famous adage, “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Given that this past year has certainly been a real punch in the mouth, maybe it’s a good time to ask,… More

I don’t think of myself as a nervous person, but there are moments these days when I feel a tide of anxiety rising inside me. I’ve got a lot of questions about the future. I am sure you do, as well. What tends to release the pressure valve in my psychology is to remind myself… More

“The mind is its own place and in itself, can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.”— John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book I For there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.— William Shakespeare, Hamlet, act 2, scene 2 “Shut up, brain, or I’ll stab you with a Q-tip!”—… More