Beyond Bringing Up Boys

If you’ve been to the gym to work out, you know that someone very fit in clothes very conforming to their body, will give you a free analysis. They may measure you, weigh you, tell you what percentage of weight that is fat and then tell you how much YOU should lose, then proceed to kill you by “teaching” you how to use the machines and/or free weights. When Joyce told me that according to her measurements and my height I should weigh 95 pounds, I just about croaked. I was only 98 pounds when I got married at age 22 and I have since had three kids. I wanted to grab that little clip board from her and see if there were hidden deductions…kind of like taxes where you "get" more when you have more kids. That was several years ago, while we were still in KY, and despite that fact that I worked out faithfully, my weight seemed pretty stable at 108. But over the last couple of years, I have watched the scales changing. First 110, 112, and before we left for the summer vacation, I wei...

I still have construction dust on my knees, palms and under my fingernails. Several weeks ago, our pastor began announcing that everyone should bring his or her favorite scripture verse written down on a slip of paper for this evening’s service. He intentionally gave no indication why we should do this. Our family was ready. I think Samuel’s first pick was from Exodus but David talked him into something, let’s just say, a bit more practical. Toward the close of the service, our pastor gave the instruction that as a congregation we should leave the gymnasium where we are currently worshipping and move into the new auditorium—just across the parking lot. There we would find permanent markers and that we should write our favorite verses on the concrete floor of our new sanctuary. We moved as a group of 200+ into the new building. Group by group we knelt, young and old, singles and married, and wrote our verses onto the floor. I was moved to such scriptures: 1 Corinthians 15:55 O dea...