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…
Tag: Faith
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…
An Old Preacher’s Admonition: Please, Quit!
Years ago, when I was a young pastor in California, some well-meaning chowderhead gave me a book titled, Dear Preacher, Please Quit! (If you were that chowderhead, I apologize…for not telling you sooner.) The book’s author was no Rhodes’ scholar. Nor was he much of a theologian. Nor was he a writer. His name…
The GreyBeard Chronicles: “Do I Disappoint You, God?”
I was speaking with a Christian friend yesterday. She said, “I think I am such a disappointment to God.” To this, I replied, “No, you are not.” It is, I believe, impossible to disappoint God. We may displease Him, but we cannot disappoint Him. Disappointment is born of unfulfilled expectations. We anticipate a certain day…
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…
Almost is the Bitterest Pill of All
Almost is the bitterest pill of all. Just ask the Texas Rangers. If the Rangers fail to win game seven of the 2011 World Series tonight, they will go down in the long and storied history of Major League Baseball as the team that came the closest to turning “almost” into “we did it.”…
The Greybeard Chronicles: 50 Years of Sowing and Reaping
Listen up, kids! A half century goes by faster than you think. One minute, you’re doing a cannonball in the Brazos River. The next, you’re praying your wife does not put fifty candles on that carrot cake: Not just because of the potential wildfire they may ignite or the fact that you could singe…
9/11: One Moment, Please
One silent moment A thing so small To offer those Whose loss was all. One wordless prayer One teary eye One more bowed knee One last goodbye One vow that we Whose hearts beat still Have not forgot And never will One still, small voice Says, Do not fear I feel your pain And silence,…
11 New Year’s Resolutions for 2011
Another fresh new year is here . . . Another year to live! To banish worry, doubt, and fear, To love and laugh and give! This bright new year is given me To live each day with zest . . . To daily grow and try to be My highest and my best!…