I have honored the dads in my life just about every year around Father’s Day. My own father, William David Strother, died at age 51, when I was 30 and left a million memories of my childhood and a million more what-ifs behind. My wife’s father, Thomas Henry Weir, now 80 and still spry, still…
Tag: journey
18…Again – A note to my firstborn on the 18th anniversary of her 18th birthday
A few days ago, my ever-so-curious and talented son-in-law Edward Frys discovered a long-forgotten and deeply buried treasure of floppy disks bearing assorted thing I had written and saved over the years. I had not seen them or anything on them in 15 years or so. Among the digital cobwebs on these vintage computer disks…
Go with God – Morning Manna Rewind
From 1980 through 1996, I was in “full-time ministry.” I spent those years as a church staff member. From 1985 through 1996, I was a senior pastor, first in Turlock, California, then in Paris, Texas. The last few months of that period, I was pastor of a church in Arlington, Texas. This leg of my journey…
Hardship: When things don’t look good, look harder
In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly….
Leadership 101: Make no place for foolish pride
As you read the following, keep in mind: Effective leadership requires a certain vulnerability. They say confession is good for the soul. So, here goes: It is a sad fact of my flawed nature that, too often, the less certain I am on a matter, the more vociferous and vehement my argument. In other words,…
A Birthday New Year’s Resolution -or- 101 reasons to celebrate
What a week it’s been! I have 101 reasons to celebrate life right now. Last Friday, my baby girl got married to the love of her life and started that incredible journey called marriage. It was a beautiful wedding, well attended, and pulled off without a hitch. I had the privilege of preaching the charge…
It’s the Journey, Man! or, Welcome to Walley World, now go home
One of my favorite Hollywood comedies is National Lampoon’s Vacation. I love it because it is such an accurate caricature of life in the American family and because most of us who have been around a minute can identify with the characters and their misfortunes. There is this epic journey to Walley World, with mishap after…