OUT TO PASTOR: Retiring my insanity

  After some months of intense reflection, I have come to the conclusion that it is time for my insanity to retire. The evidence before me is so overwhelming that I’m not sure I have any other choice. And believe me, I have looked. Not that I haven’t benefited from my insanity.

FRONT-PORCH GOSPEL: ‘Students, meet grouchy people on their end of the brick wall!’

  “Coach, I like that story,” said one of the young gentlemen sitting in the back row. I didn’t fully fall for the compliment. Lavish compliments are often after something else, so some say. Of course, none of those students were in my class. My student scholars were immune to such knavery, as Mr.

OUT TO PASTOR: Just one more nap!

  Bouncing back from weeks of being sick is not as easy as it used to be when I was younger. I guess that’s the cost of getting old. Over the last six weeks, I’ve had this bug thingamajig going around. I had it for two weeks, and then it gradually went away.

FRONT-PORCH GOSPEL: What will you do when you wake up in Hickory? (part 3)

  Christianity isn’t something that you live inside a church building – maybe in a basketball gymnasium or out on a muddy football field, but not at church. The real living begins when you walk out of those Sunday-morning doors. I think every story I've ever told or written reminds us of that.

OUT TO PASTOR: Just another pain in the neck

  For some reason, the other week I thought of my maternal grandfather, who I was named after. He had a farm up in the hills of Pennsylvania, and when I would visit, my cousins and I would get together and make fun of old grandpa. I didn’t understand at the time, but I’m beginning to understand now.

FRONT-PORCH GOSPEL: What will you do when you wake up in Hickory? (part 2)

  Welcome to the “Front-Porch.

OUT TO PASTOR: Just honing my old goat skills

  I’m rather new to this getting-old stage of life. Up to now, all my life has been young and innocent. Unfortunately, those days have passed. It’s hard to get adjusted to old age because I’ve never experienced it before. I remember when I was young, all of the fun that I had.

FRONT-PORCH GOSPEL: What will you do when you wake up in Hickory? (part 1)

 Welcome to the “Front-Porch.”Buckle up. Today is quite a ride. Our minds, hearts, and words have several stops to make, some abrupt and unexpected, some bumpy, too.First stop: the book of Psalms.

OUT TO PASTOR: Hocus-pocus, my sanity has disappeared

 For over 70 years, I believed sanity was a very important part of a person’s identity.Being sane enables one to be successful in life. Who doesn’t want to be successful?Actually, it wasn’t until I met and married The Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage that I understood what sanity was all about.

FRONT-PORCH GOSPEL: A teacher’s sanctuary (Chapter 2)

 “And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them …” (Matthew 18:1)Welcome to the “Front-Porch.”I ambled slowly back to my desk in the back corner of the room.