Like no other time of the year, Christmas sends us back over the years or across the miles to home. This was especially true for a young army chaplain in South Vietnam at Christmas time in 1965.

The train came to a stop and Riley Miller stepped off and looked around for a familiar face. It had been four years since he had seen his Uncle Clem.

Grandpa Waverly and I left Saturday morning to pick Judith up from camp. I wasn’t looking forward to that, I’ll tell ya’. It had been a great week. I had lots more room in the back seat without her elbowin’ me all the time. Friday night we had watermelon and I had it all to myself. (I missed not having anyone to spit seeds at, though). I didn’t miss her whinin’ all the time about stuff the way sisters always do. I didn’t miss her snoring in the next room …

Last weekend we drove to Ohio for a few days and enjoyed seeing the old sights and remembering things. We saw some old friends, visited my folks, preached and did a family concert in their church. After the preaching and singing we ate some ice cream on the lawn and drove home with a happy settled feeling in our souls both for the fond memories of a place we served and loved and satisfaction about where the Lord has us now.

The house is quiet. Soft instrumental music floats easily from the speakers in the dining room. Candles burn on the mantle and table. The home is filled with a pleasing aroma. The children are reading except for the second oldest boy who is concentrating on a game of chess with Dad. Mom is working with the girls on a beautiful quilt. It will be a gift for a favorite missionary couple in Alaska. Dinner was cleared away and the oldest girl is now setting the table for a very special …

How many sacraments are there? Baptists say none, only ordinances. Other groups have settled on seven. Without being too sharp in our theological distinctions, there is a sense in which there are millions of sacraments in God’s great creation. They are everywhere as far as the eye can see and they are all around you. You talk about a reason to get up in the morning!

A few years ago I was coaching baseball in Ohio. I was standing in the mouth of the first base dugout watching play when the other team sent up a little kid that had been on the bench all year. He played for a very cut-throat, competitive team and rarely got in the game. His coach was a big “win-at-all-costs guy” everybody called Chopper. Chopper was not from the “play everybody” school of baseball coaching.

Some boys dream of playing in the World Series. Some dream of building racecars or bridges or skyscrapers. Some boys dream of fighting fires or saving lives. Since I was a boy I have had a dream of having a study with bookshelves lining the walls of the room, floor to ceiling. Every shelf is laden with fascinating books.

There is a kind of social inattention that I have always found humorous. I notice it most on the few occasions when I golf with friends. Golf is not something I take very seriously. If you ever saw me golf you would know why. The more pressure on me to make a good shot, the more people watching, the more performance anxiety I have and the worse I do. So when everyone stops talking and stands watching and a group has played up behind us and they are silently watching …

I spend a lot of time waiting for my family to get in the car so we can go places. One of the things that keeps me from getting hostile about that is that I get to scare them by beeping the horn when they walk by the front of the van. It’s just one of those little ways I save money on therapy.