On Church Fellowship Dinners: At least two miracles happen every time the church gets together for a “carry-in” or “covered dish” or "potluck" meal: One: there is always more than enough to eat, even if a tourist bus breaks down in front of the church precisely at lunchtime. This is a “loaves and fishes” miracle. Two: there is always a good balance of meat, vegetables, salad, and desert, even though no one really plans it that way. The Holy Spirit, most certainly, m

I moved a small brush pile the other day. We have quite a few trees, and every time the wind blows, I get to pick up downed branches. I throw them in a pile and when the pile gets big enough, I haul it off. I needed to mow following the rains we received last week, so I picked up branches. The pile was fairly big, so I took my pitch fork and loaded them in the truck. There was one small log that was crawling with ants. They came rushing out from under the bark. They

You know that you are in trouble when (multiple choice): The family dog is having conniption fits underneath your father's bed You kid brother has instantaneously vanished into thin air Your father is screaming at you from the front porch, in broad daylight, dressed only in his underwear All of the above It was Independence Day. My younger brother, Mike, and I were celebrating the Fourth of July by pouting on the front step. The neighborhood kids were lighting firecracke

Most people have read or heard the folk poem “Footprints in the Sand.” I have seen the poem hanging on the wall in a number of homes. I have read it aloud, by request, a good number of times, at funerals. “Footprints in the Sand” tells of a woman who dreamed that she saw the struggles of her life depicted in a walk beside the sea with God. Most of the time she saw that there were two sets of footprints. Yet, she noticed that during the most difficult times of her life, only o

"Cat's in the Cradle" is a 1974 folk rock song by Harry Chapin. Most of you will recall that it is about a father who was much too busy to interact with his son. The song was popular when my oldest son was a boy. Chris would simply say to me, “Cat’s in the Cradle” when he felt like I was neglecting him. I knew exactly what he meant. A preacher’s life can be a hectic life. There are many places to go, and many people to see. Weekdays are filled with hospital calls, shu

I loved summer as a kid. I associated summer with freedom: freedom from school, teacher’s, and homework. On the last day of school each year I was excited, and at the same time, anxious. I was excited to get home and get started on all of my summer plans. As I skipped home from elementary school on the last day, I would sing a celebration song: School’s out, school’s out, Teacher let the mules out. No more reading, no more books, No more teacher’s dirty looks. School’s

Adrian, now in heaven, was my friend. Like me, he loved old cars. He had a beautiful, restored 1929 Ford Model A. It was black and yellow with a ragtop, and a rumble seat. It was Adrian's baby. His granddaughter Angie was getting married. She said, “Papa, why don’t you take us to our car from the church in the rumble seat of the Model A?” She and her new husband were driving to their honeymoon destination, and they intended to hide their car from the family pranksters.

On Memorial Day we remember the heroes who have given their lives in the service of our great nation. Those who spend time in military service have an uncomfortable life. Field duty is an inescapable ordeal. No matter what branch of the military, there will be C-Rations or MREs. Time will be spent cleaning weapons, standing guard duty, and braving the harsh elements. There will also be long hours spent living in a tent. For our military men and women, a tent is frequent

We both knew that she was stealing from me. I was cementing rock to our home’s foundation, which requires quite a bit of masonry mix concrete. She was a wasp. Maybe you did not know that only female wasps build the houses their babies are hatched in. Motherhood is a tough job by any standard. This wasp is what we refer to as a “Mud Dauber.” You have seen countless thousands of their long cylindrical nests if you live in Kansas. The Lady Dauber builds her nest and then paraly

Contagious. Even the word sounds deadly. COVID. Bird flu, Mumps, Chicken Pox, and tick-borne illnesses dominate the news. Coming into contact with contagion isn’t a good thing. Even so, nearly every Christian wants to be part of a contagious church. I believe that the people of SHCC want to be characterized as people of infectious faith. You want a church that constantly experiences the joy of seeing others give their lives to Christ. The question: How do we beco

My mentor, Dr. Stephen Olford encouraged me by saying, "Pray if you feel like it! Pray if you don't feel like it! Pray until you do feel like it!" I like that. A new time of corporate prayer has been added to the SHCC schedule. "Come and Go" prayer meets on Tuesday mornings between 6:30 and 8 a.m. The coffee will be ready! Drop by on your way to work or school and pray with the body of believers for a few minutes. You can arrive and leave as you need to. Meets in Next S

In the springtime, a young man's heart turns to love. I think that old maxim is true. It was for me, anyway, during my High School years. (Yes, I do remember something about those days!) I think we should add something to the maxim, though. It would be better said, "A young man's heart turns to love as he switches off his brain." That was my experience. When I was in school, a nice car would almost guarantee an attractive girlfriend, and I needed all the help I could

There is a nice rental cabin resort south of Cassville on Highway 112. Out front there is a changeable letters billboard. Right now, the sign reads: “Spring is here! I’m so excited I could wet my plants!” The tongue-in-cheek pun is one I can relate to. I get excited about Spring. I wait for spring all Winter long. And when it finally arrives, I am rejuvenated. If you can get out of town, take a drive along some of the Ozarks twisty-curvy roads. Drive slowly enough that you c

I like Easter. I like hiding and hunting eggs. I don't like it when kids hide them so well that they cannot be found. There is nothing like running a weed-eater on a hot day in May and exploding an old Easter egg that was too well hidden. Eggs are meant to be found! So count them, and keep looking for them until they are all gathered and safely in the basket. I like Easter because I like to go to the farm store to check out the chicks. I have even picked up a few cute chicks

My wife reads my articles. Sometimes, she says, “That's dumb.” I always feel a rush of accomplishment at such a remark. I do write some dumb stuff, just for fun. There is an abundance of serious stuff in the world. At times, I want to look at things from a different perspective. I guess I need an excuse to laugh. For example, I was doing some genealogical research. I found a cemetery in Vermont that had its tombstones available for viewing. Someone had captured a p

I just moved my extension ladder to Salina. It has a warning label on it that reads: "Warning! Weight capacity 180 pounds." That label is a problem for me. It is real hard to paint a house, ten feet off the ground, balanced on one leg. My rowboat has a label that reads: "Warning! Capacity 3 adults or 350 pounds." Tom Thumb, Tinkerbelle, and Gary Coleman couldn't go fishing together in that boat! I have a choice to make. I can take my lunch, my tackle box, or my thi

When the seasons change it causes me to remember things from boyhood. I like to remember good things, and I am sure that I romanticize some events in my mind. At the same time, I worry a little bit that my children and grandchildren are missing out on some of the experiences that I enjoyed. I was fortunate to spend many weekends and summer days on my grandparents ten acre farm. Springtime helps me to remember the joy of running down a dusty country lane barefoot. But I

I was in the fourth grade. We were making Valentine’s Day card boxes out of old shoe and oatmeal boxes. It was a yearly grade school event, and we all enjoyed it. While we were working, Mrs. Lavender asked us if we like to know the origin of the holiday. She was going to tell us anyway, so we all nodded, “Yes.” I remember her lesson like it was yesterday, though many years have passed. “Three hundred years after Jesus ascended into heaven,” she began, there was a devout Chris

I was trying to get the Sunday School children to sing "Jesus Loves the Little children." I was out of my element, a stand in for their regular teacher. But everyone, everywhere, knows the words to this old favorite song. But what the kids sang in the class wasn't the version that I knew as a kid. They sand this version, loudly, climaxed with riotous laughter: Jesus loves the little children; All the children of the world! Red and ye

Here we are, deep into January. We had a hard frost early in December, and then it warmed up again. Our daffodils and lilac bushes must have felt that winter was over. They started to put out some green leaves. This week the reality of winter hit hard again. Our ornamental plants must have thought, “That was a really short year!” Aren’t all years short? We’ll be celebrating Ground Hog’s Day soon, and then the Super Bowl, and before you know it the opening of Trout season at R