Crazy About Them (Poop-a-geddon)

Crazy About Them (Poop-a-geddon) (Fairview Heights, Illinois circa 2013) Fridays are normally a day with the grandchildren. Melissa watches all four of them each weekday and since I take Fridays off, we are all in the house together all day. I used to sleep in every Friday, take the dog on a late walk, take

You Don’t Hear Fathers Talk About This Much

You don’t hear father’s talk about this much. This is an excerpt from my latest book: Re-Conversion (The “God is Good” Story) (Sumner, Illinois, circa 1996) Sometime in late 1992, I attended a seminar on how to do ministry with Senior Adults held in Peoria, Illinois. There was this feeble, little man who inched up

The Discipline of the Lord (Comes Swiftly and from the Left Side)

The Discipline of the Lord (Fort Worth, Texas circa 1969) Dad is a southpaw.  There are two files in my memory that verify this fact.  One concerns the fact I could never use his baseball glove.  I could catch with it but I always threw like a girl.  (These days girls throw really well, so

Love on the Wall (and Scissors in the Drawer)

I had a wonderful neighbor and a parishioner in my seminary years. She was a 90 year old widow who lived across the street from the parsonage. She often invited The House of Bishop to her larger family events and we were grateful. For the three years I served that student appointment in Georgia, she

The Adams Family and Thanksgiving

The Adams’ Family (San Antonio, Texas, circa 1973) It was the fall of 1973.  The year before dad had left the pastoral ministry and moved our family to San Antonio, Texas.  He became part of an evangelistic ministry founded by evangelist Sammy Tippit called God’s Love in Action.  They did street ministry and smuggled Bibles

Liam (the son I will never know)

Re-Conversion (Sumner, Illinois, circa 1996) Sometime in late 1992, I attended a seminar on how to do ministry with Senior Adults held in Peoria, Illinois. There was this feeble, little man who inched up to the platform (like Tim Conway used to do on the “Carol Burnett Show”) and opened the thing up by proclaiming

Early Marriage Tactical Error #2 (From Re:member)

Early Marriage Tactical Error #2 (Louisville, Illinois circa 1985) I had landed a job teaching and coaching at the Jr. High School of North Clay Unit 25 immediately upon my graduation from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.  I taught seventh and eighth grade American history and coached baseball and basketball.  My teaching job paid about

A Room (for us) in the Inn

A Room in the Inn (Fairview Heights, Illinois, circa 1997) It was our first Christmas in Fairview Heights. Late December 1997. We had run down to DuQuoin for a holiday Friday/Saturday gift exchange with my mom and dad. When we arrived at the parsonage late Saturday night, it was clear something was wrong at 9

The Would Be Game Changer (From Re:member)

A The Would-Be Game Changer (Belleville, Illinois circa 2008)   It was late November 2008.  My son Zec and I were on our way to Olney, Illinois, for the first shotgun weekend of deer season and we were excited.  There was nothing better in those days than some serious guy time with our friends Jim

Early Marriage Tactical Error #1 (From Re:member)

Early Marriage Tactical Error #1 (DuQuoin, Illinois circa 1984) Melissa and I married young.  She was nineteen going on thirty-seven and I was twenty going on twelve and a half.  Despite our despairing maturity levels, Melissa had learned little about some of the basics of living.  We were married almost a year before I discovered