Nobody uses this gate any more. But when I was a kid, it was a gateway to wonder. Just north of my grandparents’ house, across a small pasture, this gate opened the pathway to one of the most fascinating people I have ever known.
On the other side, just across the dirt road, there rested an old log cabin. And inside that log cabin lived Bob and Pearl McLean. It was years before I knew their last names. To my sister and me, they were Cousin Bob and Miss Pearl.
Pearl McLean was the slowest-talking human I have ever known. [click to continue…]
It was one of those unseen transactions, and I had the privilege of being the only seer. Even though this was a very public place, sometimes the public places are, well, too public. People are taking care of bid-ness, and moving about in their transes; I was no exception.
I expected to learn some things and be reminded of some things when I made my first trip to Thailand. I was not disappointed. To put an exclamation point on our trip, here are some things I learned along the way…
You may think you know what humidity is, but you’re wrong.
My wife had one unending childhood adventure.
Churches everywhere are made up of humans, with human needs, human potential, and human flaws.
Pastors may not speak the same language, but the leadership issues they face are the same worldwide.
It all started with an idea in the mind of a four-year-old. Cassie certainly wasn’t the first kid to set up shop as a lemonade business. But she’d read about it or seen it on some cartoon or something, and she was inspired.
We were living in Birmingham. Corner lot, pretty busy street. But that didn’t deter Miss Entrepreneur and her twin sister. They were out to make some money, and had just been given a sure-fire way to do it.
What do you say to a born dreamer, with stars in her eyes, and a plan for making her dreams come true?
“Okay.”
You say, “Okay.”
That’s what Mamma said, and she went about helping the twins prepare for their first business venture. There was a table to set up, a sign to make, and, of course, a pitcher of lemonade and cooler of ice to prepare.
And there were the pigtails. I’ll never forget the pigtails. [click to continue…]
To see in him the image of two – an increase to my place in the world;
To shelter him, and walk at his pace until he can walk at mine;
To lend my strength until he has his own;
To model a partnership of intimacy and trust;
To introduce him to an abundant world;
To teach him the ancient ways, that will live in him beyond my lifetime;
To set him free, even from my influence;
To touch eternity by the ways I touch his life…
This is the sacred trust – to forever remain the friend of a child.
Emma Thompson drops by our church from time to time. And yesterday, she prophesied.
No, not the actress. Emma and her twin sister Annie are the eight-year-old daughters of my friend and our communications pastor, Todd.
So get the scene. Our entire church foyer/fellowship area is covered with Christmas decorations. We’re getting ready for a big night of volunteers showing up to decorate the building for the holidays. The office staff is scattered out into the various rooms that have their names on the door. And in comes Todd, Emma and Annie bouncing behind.
Mary, our receptionist, is friendly territory for the twins. She often visits with them while they’re waiting for their dad to finish a meeting or project. She’s also learned that it’s good to offer them something to do to occupy them on days they don’t have homework or something.
Emma is loaded with questions. What’s all this? What are they going to do with it? When? The usual 8-year-old excited kind of stuff. Laughing and chattering away.
Mary says to Annie and her sister, “I have something y’all can do to help us.”
(Rachel Brown and her husband, Pat, are dear friends who live in Atlanta, where Pat is on staff at Buckhead Church. She’s also the daughter of Michael and June Carter, two of our dearest friends. Michael is one of our elders at TPCC, and June is our office manager. Rachel wrote the following beautiful account of an amazing experience she had in worship with her son, Ethan. I think you’ll be as touched as I was. Enjoy! Then check out the song at the bottom.)
Right now my spirit is welling up with great joy, gratitude, and praise. My mother’s heart is proud, humble, and completely blessed by my four year old son, Ethan. Over the past few weeks, I’ve tried to be more intentional with my three precious kids, teaching them about Jesus and how they can be a lover of God and worship him. Several times this week I’ve resisted the temptation to allow my kids to watch TV in the morning. Instead we decided to turn on our worship music. We have had a great time jumping around spinning and singing songs. Honestly, it’s a great break from Bunny Town songs on Disney Channel. If you have kids you will know what I’m talking about.
We are a family deeply moved by music and have a love for all different genres. My three precious kids didn’t have a choice to love music! God has created their daddy with the love of music and great musical gifts.
We were deeply moved by “How He Loves,” a song we sang at Buckhead a few Sunday’s ago. I couldn’t wait to download this song on my IPod and plug it into my ears and just worship. Pat and I both had eyes welling up with tears and hearts full of unexplainable emotions when we heard this song. For Pat it was a mixture of emotion; he has not led worship for almost two years, now, and such a great love is deeply missed. His heart was moved by the love of God; for me, a funny moment with God. I humorously asked God why I have such a heart of worship but such a horrible voice. My humorous prayer is that all the people on earth that can’t sing will be HIS most gifted singers in heaven. If I can’t sing beautifully on earth, I’d better be able to sing in heaven! I think that you get the picture. We love worship!
Take a look at this exquisite photo. It was taken by a guy in the UK named Wez Smith. I found it yesterday, and remembered again what an amazingly beautiful world is that we live in.
Know what it is?
I’ll tell you in a minute.
Don’t you love how even the seeming imperfections of each petal all come together to form a beautiful whole?
How even the “rough edges” all come together in a symphony of striking color?
How whatever that seed part in the middle is called (I’m no botanist) suggests the amazing reproducible wonder of future life? Future potential? Even more beauty?
Logan is a 13 year-old boy who lives on a ranch in a very small town in Nebraska. Logan listens to Christian Radio station 89.3FM KSBJ which broadcasts from Houston, TX. Logan called the radio station distraught because he had to take down a calf . His words have wisdom beyond his years.
Nobody uses this gate any more. But when I was a kid, it was a gateway to wonder. Just north of my grandparents’ house, across a small pasture, this gate opened the pathway to one of the most fascinating people I have ever known.
It was one of those unseen transactions, and I had the privilege of being the only seer. Even though this was a very public place, sometimes the public places are, well, too public. People are taking care of bid-ness, and moving about in their transes; I was no exception.
You may think you know what humidity is, but you’re wrong.
It’s amazing the trust you can gain with a sincere smile. 
It all started with an idea in the mind of a four-year-old. Cassie certainly wasn’t the first kid to set up shop as a lemonade business. But she’d read about it or seen it on some cartoon or something, and she was inspired.
