When I was pastoring, I tried to write a letter to each child I baptized. The letter described the day and told the child the vows that parents took for the child. On the outside of the envelop, I said: Do Not Open Until Twelve Years Old! My thought was that at the age of […]
Carolyn’s mother has a large Lantana bush that is full of flowers. When we pulled up to her house last week, we saw not one but several hummingbirds. They were having a great time of going from one bloom to another gathering nectar. Philip Yancey and Paul Brand have written a booked entitled Fearfully and […]
When Bishop Pennel was Bishop here in Virginia, he told the story about a man who never took communion. One Sunday after church, he sought out this man and asked why he never came to the altar to take communion. The man quickly told the Bishop he was too bad to take communion. Bishop Pennel […]
Last week, parts of Richmond were flooded. Classes at VCU were cancelled and cars were under water. This has been a strange year with rain. On the east coast, we’ve had some flooding and on the west coast they have been in a drought. Lake Baikal is a large lake in Siberia. It lies between […]
In several of my past appointments, we had a daycare. Mornings are interesting in a daycare because parents hate to leave their children and children often don’t want to be left. Usually parents are worse than their kids. Parents often act like they want their children to cry when they leave. Kids usually are happy […]
The Virginia United Methodist Assembly Center is a place many of us miss. For about fifty years, VUMAC was “the” place for United Methodists to gather. There was a 500 seat auditorium and over that was a full size gym and running track. The only problem was that when you had something in the auditorium, […]
When I graduated from High School, the class trip was to New York to the World’s Fair. We went to the Empire State Building, and while on the top, I put my hand in my back pocket to make sure my wallet was safe. To my surprise, there was another hand in my pocket. We […]
When Carolyn and I first met one of our neighbors, we introduced ourselves as Carolyn and Tommy Herndon. He very quickly told us his name was “Mr…”. This took us by surprise but I have meet people before who wanted to be known by their credentials – the titles they held or the things they […]
In 2005, Carolyn and I had the privilege of taking a cruise to Alaska. We cruised from Vancouver up the Inland Waterway and got off the ship in Anchorage. We spent a couple of nights there before flying home. On a day trip we took a bus tour of Denali National Park. You cannot drive […]
Con Campbell tells the story of a man walking into a convenience store in Australia. He put a $20 bill on the counter and asked for change. When the clerk opened the cash drawer, the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the register. The clerk did as he was told. […]