One Year Later

Posted by on 10.18.06 in Personal

Today is the one-year anniversary of our move from Oak Park to Tupelo. At this moment a year ago, I was sitting in the front seat of a rented truck with Craig Hammond and his son Cuyler as we tooled down I-57. Marlene and Megan drove behind us in our car. As I look back on that morning, I realize that I didn’t feel an …

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Monday in Reno

Posted by on 10.9.06 in Churches, Personal, Shout Outs, Travel

5:21 PM Just got back from our visit to Lake Tahoe. Hard to find the right adjectives to describe the sheer, overwhelming beauty. Awe-inspiring. Our hosts for the trip were Greg Kuehn, pastor of Sierra Bible Church, his wife Debbie, and Dave Smith, executive pastor. Dave and Greg have worked together for 17 years, and they …

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Barnstormers Win It All

Posted by on 10.2.06 in Personal

Last night Jamie and Kris Mitchell took us to see the Lancaster Barnstormers play what turned out to the deciding game in the Atlantic League playoffs. Several years ago some farsighted businessmen banded together to bring minor league baseball to Lancaster. With help from the state and funding from private sources, they bu …

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The Big Five Four

Posted by on 9.26.06 in Personal

I woke up happy this morning and have stayed that way all day. This happens to be my 54th birthday. That alone is a momentous event—Josh sent me a note the other day reminding me that the “big five four” was coming up. I didn’t know there was a “big five four” until then. I take it as a good sign for the year to come …

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Stuck in Modesto

Posted by on 9.25.06 in Personal

7:14 PM I’m no longer stuck in Modesto. At the moment I’m at O’Hare Airport in Chicago (the greatest big city in America, by the way). Coming in from LA, as we descended through a light cloud bank, the sun was shining on downtown Chicago. We flew over Lake Michigan, banked hard to the right so we got a bre …

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It Was A Great Day When You Were Born

Posted by on 9.24.06 in Personal

Happy Birthday, Nick!Our youngest son celebrates his 22nd birthday today. With our family so scattered at the moment—Nick in Birmingham, Mark in China, Marlene in Nashville, Josh and Leah in Chicago, and I’m in California—this is the best way to say how happy we are that he was born.

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Sesame Honey Cashews

Posted by on 9.21.06 in Personal

Highly recommended. Sesame Honey Cashews from Trader Joe’s. Special thanks to Brittany Barreca who drove 45 minutes last weekend to find a bag, which Marlene and I shared when I got home from New Jersey.

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Encounter on the Escalator

Posted by on 9.20.06 in Devotional, Personal

On Monday I flew home from a weekend conference in Vineland, New Jersey. As sometimes happens on the back end of a trip, I was thinking about things I have to do this week and it seemed overwhelming. Frankly, I felt a bit discouraged. When I got the Atlanta airport, I was feeling tired and down and as I sat on the train tha …

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My Ten Favorite Gospel Songs

Posted by on 9.17.06 in Congregational Singing, Personal

A few weeks ago I wrote about my ten favorite hymns. Today I’m offering this list of my ten favorite gospel songs. Two quick notes are in order. First, I find it difficult to define what I mean by “gospel song” so I won’t even try, and I’m not where exactly how to demarcate between a hymn and a gospel song …

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123 Days, 2 Hours, 50 Minutes, 5 Seconds

Posted by on 9.16.06 in China, Israel, Personal

Mark has a MySpace China blog. His counter says that there are 123 days, 2 hours, 50 minutes, 5 seconds until the Holy Land tour, January 17-26, 2007. By the way, we now have 15 people signed up for the tour. We expect to have a group of 25-30 people. If you are thinking about going with us, now is the time to sign up.

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