On Sunday nights, I talk with our son and three grandsons (3,5,7) who live in another state. As you might imagine, we have some interesting conversations. The seven-year-old and I exchange bad jokes and good riddles; the five-year-old asks me what I had to eat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; and the three-year-old’s fallback isContinue reading “Three boys, a bat, and a birthday (1)”
Category Archives: Personally Speaking
Three boys, a bat, and a birthday (2)
With a blanket over my head (since the bat was still zooming around), I went and got my bat gear. Janice stayed under the covers. When I came back into the room, she said she could hear him over by the big window and sure enough there he was—tucked away in the bottom left cornerContinue reading “Three boys, a bat, and a birthday (2)”
Papa Duster
That’s the name Janice gave to a 1975 Plymouth Duster we had for parts of three decades. I had bought it brand-new for $3,300 before we met in January of 1976. Actually, it was my father who purchased the car and set up a payment plan for me. I was a freshman in college, butContinue reading “Papa Duster”
This I Believe
I would like to have known these things in the way I know them now when I was much younger—say thirty years of age. But then again, life is something we all learn along the way, isn’t it? Here’s some of the big truths I’ve learned along the way. I hope they will bless you.Continue reading “This I Believe”
A Little Debbie Christmas
It was two days before Christmas in 2020, and one of our friends was down with Covid. She is a schoolteacher, her husband and her have a little girl, and of course she had to remain isolated from both of them. It was a real bummer, but it was just one of those new realitiesContinue reading “A Little Debbie Christmas”
The Power Of Faith
I wrote this post when Zig Ziglar passed away in 2012. For those of you who don’t recognize the name, he was probably the top motivational speaker of the 80’s and 90’s. Along with Dr. Robert Schuller (of Crystal Cathedral fame), Ziglar popularized the kind of thinking that Norman Vincent Peale had written about a generation earlierContinue reading “The Power Of Faith”
Sunshine Or Storms
As I write this, Isaac has been downgraded to a tropical storm and is headed toward Mississippi and Arkansas. If you pay any attention to these storms, you come to the realization (sooner or later) that unpredictability is one of their central features. For all of our tracking and technology, our models and projections, weContinue reading “Sunshine Or Storms”
It Just Might Make A Difference
It was pick-up basketball as it was meant to be played. We were dressed in scraggly shorts and shirts that Goodwill wouldn’t want anything to do with. And our play was as ragged as our clothes. But we were having a good time, getting a workout, and blowing off some steam. Craig was one ofContinue reading “It Just Might Make A Difference”
Turning Brokenness Into Beauty
When our children were very young, my wife and I made an important economic/ascetic decision. Rather than go on vacations to places we really couldn’t afford and our kids wouldn’t appreciate, we would go to state parks instead. You could rent a cabin at just about any park for a very affordable price and withContinue reading “Turning Brokenness Into Beauty”
The Fruit of Gratitude
Humility is the fruit of gratitude. We all know the feeling when someone does something special for us or gives us something significant—we are indebted to them. The most appropriate response we can make is to say thank-you because we are touched and humbled by their generosity. That’s the way it is with our Father. As weContinue reading “The Fruit of Gratitude”
A Taste of Grace with Bruce Green 