just enough light

As the story goes, the man selected to play the part of Jesus in the small town’s Easter pageant created a stir.  The oil field worker had a reputation for a quick temper and a foul mouth.  But he was grateful for the part and practiced diligently.  Among those selected to be among the angry […]

My son is going to learn to drive a car with a manual transmission. He’s been driving for 6 years but has never driven a stick.  Now he’ll have to if he wants to inherit his sister’s car. I learned to drive a stick shift with my best friend, Randy, on a Sunday afternoon in […]

The “Born Again” article was published in the Abilene Reporter News as an opinion article.  A few days later two different people responded to the article with letters to the editor.  They each quoted scriptures liberally informing me what it really meant to be born again.  They took me behind the woodshed and scolded me […]

The term “born again” used been often during this presidential campaign season.  The term has been tossed about by the media to describe a particular demographic, usually socially conservative evangelical Christians.  Many of the candidates, while trying to garner support from a conservative Christian group, identified themselves as “born again,” using the term with the […]

For years my list of New Years resolutions looked like a self-help book table of contents.  I resolved to be a better person, a more efficient person, a healthier person, a more thrifty person.  I resolved to jog, to eat less, to read more, to meditate.  If there was something to improve, it was probably […]

We have some big decisions to make in the next couple of days.  Those decisions will be difficult, painful, and will have significant consequences for our family in the coming months.  As we lay in bed last night, doing our final hugs and a kiss, Judy said, “It’s so hard to know the right thing […]

Thanksgiving has come and gone, but some thoughts about gratitude remain along with the leftovers.  I find it easy to give thanks for a steaming, savory turkey surrounded by dressing, sweet potatoes covered with pineapple and tiny marshmallows, hot buttered rolls, and pumpkin pies.  I have more difficulty with the turkey sandwiches, sweet potato remnants, […]

“Poisonous language doesn’t soften anybody’s heart, it doesn’t change anybody’s mind.” This was Mitt Romney’s response to the verbal attack on his faith.  So what does soften someone’s heart or change someone’s mind? I was one of four people being interviewed on a radio program a few years ago.  The topic was homosexuality and the […]

Do you remember the annoying kid in class who, whenever the teacher asked a question, was always waving his arm back and forth, saying “Oh, oh, oh!”  He rarely knew the answer; he just liked the attention.  Well, I often feel like my mornings are controlled by that kid.  Now that I am self-employed, my […]

If you’ve sat through many church sermons, you’ve probably heard some challenging and stimulating ones, and you’ve heard some boring ones.  At one time or another, particularly during a boring sermon, most of us have asked ourselves the question, “How hard can it be?” My answer to that is, it all depends.  I’ve had the […]