52 years. A lifetime and yet, in some ways, no time at all. That was the feeling I had recently in Copenhagen, when I was fortunate to have a reunion with the Danish exchange student who lived with me during my senior year in high school. Over those 52 years our...

  David Brooks' latest book, The Second Mountain - the Quest for a Moral Life, is a provocative study of how people can move from self-centeredness and hyper-individualism to joy.   Besides generating a thoughtful read, the book has implications for Christians whose...

             Mary and Martha were sisters who were friends of Jesus.  As their story is often told, one day when Jesus was a guest in their home, Mary sat at Jesus’ feet listening to him teach while Martha toiled in the kitchen preparing a meal for him and his...

Let’s talk about senior year. It’s the last year of high school (obviously, Katie), and it closes and opens a chapter of life. It closes a chapter where you discover what you want to do with your life and also a chapter where half the time you’re figuring out who you...

“. . .  God looks to see that we have practiced the generosity and inclusiveness of the kingdom in our daily social relationships."                                                                                                                      - R. Alan Culpepper...

We all know that God loves us very much.  He created us and desires a relationship with each of us whereby we love Him and worship Him. Jesus is part of the Holy Triune God so Jesus is a partner with God the Father's love.  However, Jesus was also human.  My concept...

As fatherhood quickly approaches for me, I can’t help but think about how much my son will be watching me and looking to me as he grows.  As I think about the world in which he will grow up, I see how much division exists.  Single-issue politics with quick-fix...

In continuing to write about our Baptist distinctives, I would like to address our belief in individual church autonomy and the separation of church and state. We know that the Baptist denomination was founded on the idea of individual freedom. We have fiercely held...

    It was a hot summer night in a small central Mississippi town.  The Great War was in full swing in Europe, and theater goers were flocking to see Birth of a Nation, the silent movie about the Lost Cause. Outside a tiny jail an angry crowd began to gather.  They...

  Staring at the small, mauve-colored book, I realized de-cluttering and downsizing often involve giving up some dreams. Like all the other math majors at my college, I loved our two main professors, Dr. Deere and Dr. Burnside.  So my sophomore year, when Dr. Deere,...

My name is Katie. I am 17 years old and a senior at St. George’s Independent School. I will be attending Loyola University Chicago in the fall with a major in Multimedia Journalism. And this is my first blog post. I must admit that I was a bit nervous when I was first...

When I was a teenager, I hated Valentine’s Day. My very logical parents insisted that it was just a "Hallmark holiday" that could be comfortably ignored. For them, it existed to dupe people into wasting money on things they didn’t really need. Even though I could...

In 1986, Robert Fulghum, a minister and author, published a book of short essays entitled All I Really Need To Know I Learned in Kindergarten. The title of the book is taken from the first essay in the volume and perhaps familiar to many of you, in which Fulghum lists...

On several occasions recently, due to the child's illness or closure of day care, I have had the opportunity to keep my three-year-old granddaughter, just the two of us, together, alone, overnight and throughout the following day with no distracting older brothers or...

“Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Martin Luther King, Jr. from Strength to Love As the...

In my last blog, I wrote about our Baptist denomination with its beginnings based upon religious freedom for all. In the early days of our country, many people came here to have the freedom of religious expression. They were fleeing societies where government and...

My wife and I spent time over the holidays with our two sons and their families in Jacksonville, Florida.  Actually we spent most of our time with our new granddaughter, Josephine (Josie), who is eight months old.  Josie is delightful, and her smiles light up a room. ...

The moments that shape our lives are much more likely to be small and personal, rather than huge national events.  The poet, Robert Bly, has discussed the idea of a defining moment – that instant when a small event changes one’s life. Now most of us...

Election Challenges by Neil Boggan   “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery. None but ourselves can free our minds.” - Redemption Song by Bob Marley   “The best criticism of the bad is the practice of the better.” - From the Mission and Vision statement of...

I have appreciated Stephen’s sermons on our Baptist freedoms. Since we have a tendency at times to take freedoms for granted (until we lose them!), it has been a wonderful opportunity to be reminded of these tenets which have been foundational to our distinctive...

  It is election time in Tennessee.  We are bombarded with information about the upcoming election- from our media and from our mailboxes.  Just how involved should we as Christians and Baptists be in our government?  Baptist history in the 1600s and 1700s was filled...

I  think everyone is a "planner" to some degree. When I first awaken in the morning and ascertain what day it is, I mentally run through my tentative plans for the day. Next, I have a quiet devotional time with prayer in which I commit my day to God and ask him to...

 Trust is defined in the dictionary as the “assured reliance of the character, ability, strength or truth of someone.” If we look around locally and globally today, it seems that trust is a commodity that’s in short supply. Not to attempt to glorify the past, for it...

One of the most interesting topics in our world today is the role the Internet and mobile communications play in creating community.  Much of the world is connected through these two means.  We can talk with, text, and message people around the world 24-hours a day...

It had been a frustrating morning.  My physician team at the VA was taking care of a 97-year-old man who had suffered debilitating strokes.  I was meeting with the family and the patient to discuss end-of-life issues.  The discussion was not going well.  I tried to...

I began my review on the subject of miracles by looking in the concordance of the NIV Bible.  I found two mentions of "miracles" or "miraculous" in the Old Testament and 14 listed in the New Testament.  I was surprised at how few there were.  Anyone who believes in...

  from The Stranger  by Chris Van Allsburg “But faith . . . taught me the lesson: to live in the mystery, even to love it.”        from Priestdaddy by Patricia Lockwood   This summer has allowed me to do things that I have not done in awhile: one is to read – just...

Kindness. The dictionary simply defines the word “kindness” as treating people with respect. Although some might say that kindness has become a rarity in everyday life, being kind has always been a goal of good people everywhere.  It’s no surprise that from childhood...