Said the Bad Boy Preacher to his Wife: You have always been… sweeter than my sour hotter than my cool finer than my coarse calmer than my storm more faithful than my doubt prettier than my ugly Better than my worst You have always been… my antithesis my antidote my balance my cure Thank you….
Category: Family
September 3, 1983: A day that shall live inside of me
Dateline: Friday, September 2, 1983 The day began like any other day might, if that day included your being a ministry student living in the married couples’ dorms at Baptist Bible College in Springfield, Missouri, married to your nine-months-pregnant, ready-to-pop high school sweetheart, father of a two year old toddling girl, facing five classes between…
Mom’s Song (A Life of Faith, Love and Hope)
The life of a catastrophe adjuster is uncertain. One day, you can be up to your elbows in claims and the next, the storm is being wrapped up and you wonder where you will be tomorrow. Maybe you will go home. But, if so, for how long? So, here I am on October 27, 2012,…
Planning your life is easy; living your plan is not
Planning your life is easy. Living your plan is not. We must be willing to let go of the life we’ve planned to have the life that is waiting for us” ~EM Forster I posted this quote as my Facebook status this morning. Today wasn’t the first time I had run across it. But it…
Father Along: Precious Memories of Dad Still Linger
A few days ago, my uncle Troy Henager texted me. He said, “Father’s Day is just around the corner and I was remembering some of the things your dad used to say.” You see, Troy is only three years older than me and we both worked at D&F Battery & Electric from about the age…
God Bless the Lesser Lights: The Undistinguished, Unextinguished.
Lesser Lights | An Original Poem God bless the lesser lights: Those lives lived on a small scale; Those names that never lit a neon sign, Nor graced a magazine cover, But are forever etched in stone In mostly-neglected, weed-strewn tombstone; Whose memory is faded, even to those that loved them. Their time…
12-Step Program for Making the Most of 2012
Smell that? It’s the freshy fresh freshness of a brand new year. Happy New Year, everyone! I don’t know about you, but I always approach a brand new year with the nervousness of a kid opening his “big” present on Christmas morning. You know what I mean, right? That kid braces himself for disappointment,…
The Greybeard Chronicles| Christmas, 2011: Too Soon Past
Seven months and counting. That is how long I have been away from home now, working in Mobile, Alabama, doing my thing or, what passes for “my thing” until I can really do my thing. I came in May and now it is almost January. I would ask where the time went, but a…
The Greybeard Chronicles, Thanksgiving 2011: I Have Never Journeyed Alone
Dateline: Mobile, Alabama, Thanksgiving Day, 2011 And so it was in my fiftieth year, I spent my very first Thanksgiving Day alone. Some of my fondest memories, both from childhood and adulthood, center on this day. The sweetest people I have ever known, the finest food I have ever eaten, the best football I have…
The GreyBeard Chronicles: Choices and the Men Who Make Them
I do not choose this road I take; It chooses me by the choices I make. ~Yours Truly This morning, I woke up thinking about my life. Where I am. What I’m doing. Where I should be. I thought about the difficult correlation between the sovereignty of God and the free will of a…
West Ham United, Pretty Bubbles and The Still-Hopeful, Melancholy Soul
I was thinking about Dad this morning and singing a song he often sang, just out of the blue, just to break up the silence. The song goes like this: I’m forever blowing bubbles Pretty bubbles in the air They fly so high, they reach the sky Just like my dreams, they fade and…
This Labor Day I Went Way Back When
Yesterday was nice. Donya and I spent the day with her parents and her sister (and Jimbo). It was a slow-moving, easy-going day of banging around little curio shops in Fort Worth and Grapevine…a thing I can take or leave. The nice part was the way it felt like old times, simpler times, times when…
My Double Dad Blessing: A Father’s Day Card
When it comes to dads, I have been doubly blessed. First, there is the Dad I had but never appreciated until it was too late. I wish I could wish him a happy Father’s Day as a son truly grateful for the man he is, rather than as a numb skull kid who had not…
April 5th, Granky Day: A Celebration of Life, Love, and Laughter
If everyone knew what a few of us do, April 5 would be a national holiday. We would call it “Granky Day.” Granky Day would be a celebration of all the precious women who have lived holy lives, but refused to be “holier-than-thou.” It would be a day to celebrate a woman who exuded radiant…
My Thanksgiving (All Of This and Ty)
I am thankful… For sorrows that pass me by For the cleansing of a simple sigh For Donya’s Pumpkin Pie (more almonds, please) And Ty I am thankful… For the memory of friendships past For Autumn (but it goes too fast) For my half-empty, half-full glass And Ty I am thankful… For tears I never…
The Law of the Jungle and the Law of Christ
Galatians 6:2,5 (NKJV) Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ… For each one shall bear his own load. From Rudyard Kipling’s timeless classic, The Jungle Book, comes this morsel of wisdom: “Now this is the Law of the Jungle — as old and as true as the sky; And the Wolf…
Marriage: What No One Tells You, But Everyone Should Know
Listen up, kids. Dr. Love is in the house. I am here to give you the real scoop on this thing called marriage, so pay attention. Seriously, though. Donya and I went to a movie for the first time in umpteen years last Friday night. We thought that new Vince Vaughn flick, Couples’ Retreat, would…
Pieces of Me
Tossing about in the bed last night, chasing the elusive slumber I so desperately sought, my mind wandered back to the places I have been and people I have seen the past couple of weeks. Weekend before last, Donya and I flew to Texarkana, Arkansas to spend a couple of days. There is only one…
How To Spend a Life
If love is what I get from You Then you can bet I’ll give it too Cause all I really want to do Is spend my lifetime loving you. When friends all leave or fade away And the sun still shines on another day Just know that I am here to stay And spend a…
Somewhere the Night
Somewhere the Night | D. Gene Strother Somewhere the Night Is still and quiet Somewhere the Dreamer Dreams Somewhere the Moon Shines big and bright Somewhere, not here it Seems Somewhere there’s Peace, Tranquility Somewhere the heart beats True Somewhere is where I Ought to be Somewhere, right there with You Somewhere the Night Is…