I traveled to Mena this week to help out with the aftermath of the tornado there, and my path led me to two churches: a Catholic church and a Baptist church. There was a one-stop help center set up in St. Agnes Catholic Church for people to come by for assistance, and the church was located in a heavily damaged and poor part of town. Miraculously the church suffered little damage even though the surrounding neighborhood was devastated. The metal cross on one of the steeples was bent, and it somehow was symbolic to what happens to people’s faith after something like this – it bends but does not break and when the dust clears it is still standing, albeit different. Continue reading
Tag Archives: faith
Wrestle Mania
This past Tuesday night we watched at my house what are surely two of the stupidest shows to ever hit television. And the sad part is, we know they are stupid and we watched them anyway. No Masterpiece Theater at my house. No CNN, Bravo or the NASA channel. No Hallmark Hall of Fame. Heck, your IQ drops 10 points just by tuning in these shows. Continue reading
Too Good to be True
Have you ever had a time in which you simply could not stop laughing? Maybe a time when the harder you tried to stop laughing the worse it got? I have had those times, and unfortunately some of them have been at times when it has been inappropriate to laugh, say like at a funeral. Continue reading
Hurt
Eric (my son) recently brought home a collection of Johnny Cash songs, an anthology simply called “Cash,” and I have listened to it a lot, mainly because he forgot to take it back with him to Fayetteville. Now you must know that I grew up on Johnny Cash, but not necessarily by choice. When I was a youth and a teenager, my dad had a very large console hi-fidelity stereo in our living room, and played music on it every morning while he was getting ready for work. Now the problem was Continue reading
Hit the Road Jack
Well, I have spent some time in the last few days and weeks helping a friend get ready to move, and I am reminded of how much work it is. The packing, the getting rid of stuff, the getting the house ready to sell, the repairs, and moving your stuff miles to another state and hope it gets there with minimal losses. Dianna and I have been in the same house 17 years, and the last time we moved we moved from only two miles away and had a lot less stuff. Continue reading
The Base boards Don’t COunt
I have a reputation around my house for not finishing what I start. It is an ill-deserved reputation, for I carry out a lot of projects faithfully to completion. The problem is, I do not finish some, and that is what people seem to remember. I have been accused of not finishing the kitchen floor project. Now, it is finished mind you. The base- boards in the laundry room are a separate, non-priority project. I did 3/4 of the project immediately, but it did take a short while (not more than a year) to do the last 1/4. Continue reading
Supersize Me
We have had a flurry of new restaurants in that have opened up lately in Maumelle, particularly of the fast food variety. I really like one of the new places, called Taco Bueno, which is a chain out of Texas. It is really nothing more than a supped up Taco Bell, but it is better than Taco Bell and better than some of the Senior Tequila knock-offs that occupy strip malls everywhere in Maumelle. I went by the other night to take an order home after working late, and in doing so I bumped up against one of my personal limitations. Continue reading
My Own Personal Jesus
Thank you for sending Dianna and I to the Alliance of Baptists Convocation in New Orleans, we had a great trip. You have heard about the convocation, now for the rest of the story. The weather was fantastic, 80 degrees and sunny, the dogwoods and azaleas were in full splendor, and at least the French Quarter, the Garden District, Downtown and Uptown have recovered nicely from Katrina. However, Dianna and I drove through the 9th ward where many poor and marginalized peoples lived and things there are not so good. Continue reading
Providence Cyber Church 