I had it hard growing up but not as hard as my dad. He used to say he had to walk five miles to school every day — in the snow — in July — uphill both ways.
The first four chapters of Exodus detail the awesome providence of our sovereign God. Moses was a Hebrew baby born in Egypt at a time when male Hebrew babies were being killed at the order of Pharaoh. God provided a way for Moses not only to survive but to be brought up in the household of …
Even though Sarah came up with the plan for Abraham to father a child by Hagar, when Hagar gave birth to Ishmael, quite naturally Sarah became resentful. Hagar fled but after being confronted by God, she returned to the home of Abraham and Sarah. After Sarah gave birth to Isaac, she told …
Childhood will either kill you or make you stronger. Considering my age, it apparently made me stronger, ‘cause I’m still ‘akickin’ and stirring up trouble.
A few years ago, I read a restaurant survey that ranked customer’s priorities when dining out. The study listed food, service, atmosphere, and location. The results were a little surprising to me in some areas.
Abram and Sarai got impatient waiting on the promise of the Lord. Sarai sent her servant, Hagar, into Abram’s arms. Hagar conceived and quite expectedly Sarai became jealous and resentful. Hagar fled to the desert to escape mistreatment from Sarai. Hagar stopped beside a spring in the d…
Kids today don’t have a clue what we silver foxes had to come up with for entertainment. Notice, I said silver foxes, not senior citizens. Dang it. You are going to be in the same spot I’m in now — if you are lucky. The alternative sucks churchyard dirt.
A strange phenomenon occurred after I opened our first fine-dining restaurant in 1987. It’s still happening. Most people assume the chef/owner of an upscale establishment must eat upscale food all of the time. They picture a life filled with micro greens, waygu beef, caviar, and foie gras. N…
I spent an hour perusing the latest copy of a certain upscale fashion magazine.
The book of Job finds the main character, God, teaching a majestic doctrinal truth about His worthiness. Job will learn that the Creator is worthy of reverence, worship, and awe because of who He is regardless of what He does or does not do. God used the rebellion of Satan to teach this mar…
Yeah, I’m crazy — canine crazy.
Sometimes in the scriptures, God asks questions. We would be wise to pay attention to His questions. The questions God asks are certainly designed to get you and me to carefully examine our condition, motivations, attitudes and actions. Let’s consider the event that brought on His first …
Home doctorin’ comes from a long checkered history
On a recent list of the most stressful jobs of 2018, Aimee Picchi of CBS News listed (in order from least to most stressful): senior corporate executive, public relations executive, broadcaster, reporter, event coordinator, police officer, airline pilot, firefighter and enlisted military personnel.
The culinary world has evolved in many ways over the course of my lifetime. We have moved from using lard to using butter and then abandoning butter for margarine (which they told us was “better for us than butter” for a while), only to return to butter. During World War II we were sending o…
Church is really important. Christ established the Church on His identity as the promised Messiah, the Son of the Living God, the Redeemer of mankind.
What do the creator of the first thesaurus Peter Roget, Colonel Sanders the inventor of the first fried-chicken franchise and your humble columnist have in common?
Life is full of changes. From the moment we are born until the day we die, our bodies, minds, and lives are in a constant state of transformation. My trainer has always stated that humans are either adding muscle or losing muscle mass every minute of every day. There is never a static state …
So, you think you are a Christian. Well, you are, if you have a personal relationship with the One whose name you claim. You enter into relationship with Christ by agreeing with Him that you are a sinner, admitting your need for a savior and publicly confessing that He and He alone is the …
As you grow older and wiser(?) and enter the different landscapes in your journey through life, you evolve. It’s the dynamic of the universe. It happens to everybody — life changes you and your environment.
Is there any job that drags a woman down like cleaning house? Not in my world.
No matter hard you try, you can’t protect your youngsters from every bad thing in this world. The one thing that makes me madder than an “old wet hen,” is the ease of accessing internet pornography. It is absolutely horrific what you can find. It is wicked and it not only destroys the adults…
My earliest memory is of a cocktail party my parents were hosting in the living room of our small home on 22nd Avenue in Hattiesburg, Mississippi.
My country celebrates Independence Day this week. Freedom will be celebrated, and thanks will be expressed for the freedoms that we have. It is marvelous to be free to speak, free to exercise religion, free to possess weapons to defend ourselves, free to assemble, free to print things crit…
I say that cyberbullying is the coward’s way because the perpetrator will hide behind a computer or cell phone and do their bullying. They do not have to confront their target “man on man” so to speak, they can do it “from the bushes.”
I say that cyberbullying is the coward’s way because the perpetrator will hide behind a computer or cell phone and do their bullying. They do not have to confront their target “man on man” so to speak, they can do it “from the bushes.”
The headline quote above is a lie. Bold and bald-faced.
God created us as creatures of sight. We are bound by time and space. We need pictures, stories, visual aids. We need God to open our eyes to physical truth so that we can see spiritual reality. I do not believe that God created things and then later revisited those creations when He dec…
I once found a lost book in the refrigerator.
Times change, it’s inevitable. People change, it’s inescapable. The seasons don’t change. They come and go as they always have. Winters may seem a little colder, though in reality they’re basically the same as they have always been. It’s just that I get colder these days. Grown up, mature, R…
John 15 paints a beautiful portrait of God the Father as The Vinedresser. Often, we focus on Christ as The Vine and He certainly deserves all the attention we can give Him, but it seems to me that this passage is even more focused on God the Father. Here at Father’s Day, we have cause to …
I love restaurants. Restaurants are my business. They are also my hobby. When I go on vacation I plan the trip around visiting restaurants. Sometimes the vacation is restaurants.
Over twenty years ago my hometown newspaper called my office and asked if I would be interested in writing a weekly column. I begged off. They called again, and again, and again. I finally said, “yes.” It was a dubious beginning.
Isaiah is a somewhat mysterious character. We know quite a bit about him, but it is hard to get to know him. His name means Yahweh saves. The Old Testament book which bears his name is placed first in the books of the prophets. Its many insights into the character of God present a picture o…
Memorial Day is a special day. Since 1868, our country has set aside May 30 to remember the great sacrifice made by men and women who have died while in active military service. Since 1971, in classic American seeking of self, we have chosen to take a three-day weekend by taking a day off f…
The fact that the Messiah will open the eyes of the blind is a recurring theme of the book of Isaiah and the Gospels. The Bible clearly describes the person who is lost in their sin as being spiritually blind. The Bible speaks figuratively of the lost person having scales on his eyes that …
Perhaps you have this same problem that besets me. Trusting God for an outcome requires also trusting His timing. If I am impatient, anxious, nervous, worrying, edgy, irked, or fretful about the speed with which God is visibly working in my world, then I do not truly trust Him. Oh, I may s…
Our town, our state, our nation, our world needs more Godly mothers (fathers also, but that is another story for another day). Godly mothers don’t happen by accident and they do not raise godly children by accident. I heard about a mother of three very active young boys who was asked by s…
Have you ever been tired? I mean really tired, from a very long and very busy day. Chapters 3 and 4 of the gospel of Mark describe such a day for Jesus and His disciples. Jesus was out healing the sick and driving away demons. He went into a house to eat a meal but so many people crowded …
In my last devotional, I pondered what it meant for me to render unto God that which belonged to Him. You and I created in God’s image is what we are called upon to give to God. We can only do that by submitting to Christ, allowing Him to live in us. But it seems only fitting during the m…
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