What are some of your favorite smells? I love the smell of steaks on the grill. I love the scent of new-mown hay on a summer evening. The breeze that billowed the curtains in the farmhouse where Lois and I played house when we were first married was hay-scented breeze. I love to drive slow […]
Three Parts of a Powerful Blessing
Yesterday was Mother’s Day. We have a tradition on Mother’s Day. After dinner and just before gifts are given each of the children gives a blessing to their mother. It’s a touching and beautiful time. Tears, tenderness, laughter, and love. Blessings are powerful and memorable. People long for blessings. Jesus spoke often of blessings. He […]
Lewis Shellenbarger’s Last Words
One evening in 1987 I got a call from a young man named Eddie Earnest who was serving as a deacon at our church in Ohio. An old friend of his was in the hospital. His name was Lewis. Lewis had been driving a cement truck when the front tire blew and he lost control […]
No Show
(Classic re-post from 2001) This weekend I spoke to a father-son retreat at a small camp. There were only a couple dozen guys there but there was a sweet spirit among them and good fellowship. A fifteen year old boy stood and lead singing with a guitar and the men sang with obvious zeal and […]
Training Sons to “Take Hold”
Here are a couple pictures of Dan and Wes, our younger sons. When I wrote the article they were a few years older than the first picture. This summer the bottom picture was taken. Photographic evidence of them “taking hold.” Have you ever had trouble training your young sons to “take hold” of a task […]
God of the Fallen Sparrow
He was a country preacher and a farmer. Early one Saturday morning he was milking his cow. His faith was at low ebb. Times were tough and things were thin and he was feeling low. Bills were due and things around the farm were in need of repair. He sat milking his cow and wondering […]