Whatcha Gonna Do With Those Stones, Hon? My first real teaching assignment was in a Kindergarten class in rural Georgia. The first year was challenging in a number of ways, and one of the biggest challenges was a small boy who always seemed to be getting into something he was not supposed to. Once in a while, he became aggressive toward other children, though I don’t think he realized it was aggressive. Throwing things at other children while smiling... Read more
Love That Bears Fruit I believe we all want our love to bear fruit. A Little Context for Love 1 John 4:7-21 says, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might... Read more
The Daniel Fast: What? Why? How? Many churches and families make it a January tradition to participate in the Daniel Fast. The Daniel Fast is a partial fast based on Daniel 1: Daniel’s Story “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord delivered Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, along with some of the articles from the temple of God. These he... Read more
The Sacred Harp: fa-sol-la: What is this music? One very odd and amazing experience I had when I lived in Alabama involved church hymns. An elderly gentleman for whom I held much respect invited me to “a singin’” at his church, and since I enjoy music, I went. I was not prepared for what “a singin’” actually was, but after I got over the shock, I really liked it. It was one of the most transcending, worshipful services I can... Read more
This story deeply touched my heart. It was written by my son, a U.S. Army veteran diagnosed with PTSD: Perspective By Joseph Haynes From the Perspective of the 7-Year-Old Daddy is like two different people. Sometimes he’s the fun Daddy who builds forts in the living room and lets me help him fix stuff. I like that Daddy the best because he laughs, and his laugh makes me laugh too. He teaches me things, like how to hold... Read more
A Snowy Day with a Happy Ending Today school was canceled because of snow and icy roads. It sent me back to a similar day, probably 35 years ago. The roads were bad, but as always, God was good. True story: It was an unusual morning in Anniston, Alabama with steel gray clouds dumping inches of snow on top of icy roads. Getting to school wasn’t a problem because it was Sunday. I lived about three blocks from the... Read more
Another New Year In God’s Time Happy New Year! Once again, due to the season, we become (somewhat painfully, perhaps) aware of the passage of time. This is a purely human experience. God doesn’t operate within time constraints; He is eternal–no beginning or end. In fact, He is the One who created time for human beings. Time is a gift to us from Abba Father. Actually, in our modern world, people have become rather obsessed with time. Being myself,... Read more
My PostChristmas Meditation Never Enough Time Gift shopping–check Packed and mailed gifts to those who live far away–check Elementary Christmas program–check High school Christmas program–check Exams, administered, graded, posted (except for research papers to be graded over the holidays)–check Grocery shopping–check Last minute gift shopping (took my very life into my hands)–check Somehow located a last hour pizza–check Wrapped those gifts–check Christmas Eve church–check Cooked special holiday breakfast–check Gifts unwrapped–check Clean-up–check Doesn’t the Bible call Jesus the Prince of Peace?... Read more
Darkness to Light When it comes to Christmas, I’m sure every single facet has been explored over and over, dissected, examined, and studied … but the Word is alive, and it can speak to one in different ways at different times. For me this year, the focus was light. The winter solstice has just passed: December 21–the darkest day of the year. That means that even now, the days are growing lighter. The process is slow, perhaps undetectable on... Read more
The Creator vs. the created [Jesus or AI] Early in the school year I was required to attend a three hour lecture about AI and the classroom student. It is a new inconvenience that we who teach writing are attempting to deal with. About the time there is a program that will detect the use of AI, someone makes AI more undetectable. In other words, when one group invents a better mousetrap, AI becomes a better mouse. Predictive... Read more
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