Tradition suggests bronze or chili pepper roses for our 19th wedding anniversary. We certainly don’t need another bronze sculpture. You’re not one for chili peppers or flowers so chili pepper roses seemed especially uninspiring. And you’d rather get your fine jewelry from Target’s clearance rack. So, what’s a husband to do? This husband can offer what he does least worst: words. Lots of words. They may not be as hot or spicy, but I pray […]
Tradition suggests porcelain, feather flowers or chrysoberyl for our 18th wedding anniversary. We already have toilets so porcelain seemed redundant. Flowers or feathers have never sent you over-the-moon so feather flowers seemed doubly blah. Chrysoberyl (whatever it is) sounds really expensive, or toxic. You’d rather get your fine jewelry from Target’s clearance rack anyway. So, what’s a husband to do? This husband can offer what he does least worst: words. Lots […]
“Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his godly ones” (Ps 116.15). Mom died 25 years ago today. It was a remarkably Christian death. She died well. Painfully, but well. We buried her across the street from the Itta Bena cotton field in which she was born. Under the magnolia next to her dad, her sister and her infant son. It was brutally hot that day […]
Jesus wept (Jn 11.35). Dad has recently settled into an assisted living facility. None of us is particularly glad about it but we’re seeing some benefits. In three years he’s gone from 2,500 square feet to 700 to 120. It’s metaphorical, really. As we get older our world gets smaller and more temporary, more lonely. Dad has yet to call it “home” and I’m not sure he should. At best he […]
Listen, O daughter, give attention and incline your ear: Forget your people and your father’s house; then the King will desire your beauty. Because He is your Lord, bow down to Him (Ps 45:10-11). Psalm 45 was a song written for the king’s wedding. Israel’s handsome, valiant and humble king was joined to a radiant woman who “is all glorious within” (v13). In vv10-11, the the bride’s father gave her […]
“So Mephibosheth ate at David’s table as one of the king’s sons. . . . Now he was lame in both feet.” (2 Sam 9.11b, 13c) “While we were children, [we] were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son . . . so that we might receive adoption as sons. So you are no longer a slave, but a […]
“Honor widows who are widows indeed; but if any widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to practice piety in regard to their own family and to make some return to their parents; for this is acceptable in the sight of God. . . . But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is […]
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” (Jn 3.16) I was recently reading a cartooned Scripture memorization pamphlet to my 5-year-old daughter. It was a story written to help her memorize John 3.16. The pamphlet was nicely done and broke the verse down in digestible parts. As we worked on the first […]
Dean P. Johnson wrote a great column on masculinity back in 2006. It remains relevant. Men may have come out of Eden as metrosexuals, but we went in as G.I. Joes. And no matter how cute Ken dresses or shares Barbie’s hair stylist, women want to go home with Duke.
My mom (a.k.a. Mama Max) died on July 4th, 1990. This picture was taken at my 16th birthday meal at Gridley’s BBQ in Memphis. Mom wore her wig with all dignity and elegance. She would die nine months later. I’ll never forget the day. I had been watering greens at a local golf course throughout the night (Memphis summers and bentgrass greens don’t play well together). Dad was already at […]