Author: Buddy McElhannon
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What This Grandfather Wants for Christmas
My adult children struggle to buy Christmas gifts for me. It’s not really as bad as it sounds. They have just run out of gift ideas for their dad. Usually, in early November, the pleading starts, “Dad, we need your list of what you want for Christmas!” I have a problem answering that question. As…
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The Tale of the Advent Log
Christmas is my favorite season of the year. The scents, the symbols, the decorations all tend to create a festive, if not reflective time when we have yet another opportunity to cherish family, our traditions, and the faith that makes life meaningful. Unfortunately, the commercialization and secularization of Christmas have distracted us from much of…
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Living Southern: Clean Old-Fashioned Hate
College football rivalries in the Southland resemble a Hatfield-McCoy feud. They are intense, long-lasting, sometimes bitter, and always passionate. Think Auburn vs. Alabama, USC vs. Clemson, Florida vs. Florida State, Ole Miss vs. Mississippi State, and, of course, my favorite, Georgia vs. Georgia Tech. It may sound like a random collection of words, but Clean…
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Manhood and Chainsaws
Followers of TheBuddyBlog.com: Years ago, a friend of mine was quoted as saying, “Some people try to turn back their odometers. Not me. I want people to know why I look this way. I’ve traveled a long way, and some of the roads were not paved.” There is a lot of truth in that statement. …
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Hell Hath No Fury Like A Kidney Stone; Man Hath No Friend Like A Loving Wife
Getting married after being a widower for six years was one of the craziest, bravest, who-da-thunk-it things I have ever done. As if a stress test was a required pre-marital experience, my body decided to give my future wife a glimpse of how her beloved handled pain. And I got a glimpse at how…
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The Ultimate Mulligan*
The term “mulligan” has become rather commonplace in our culture. In golfing parlance, it refers to a player being granted a do-over after a less than satisfactory shot. In popular culture, it simply means a person gets a second chance to get something right. I always understood that mulligans in golf were something granted by one…
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Shouldn’t Love Come with a Warning Label?
Love should come with a warning label just like everything else does these days. Except it should be in bold print and italicized in red ink. Reading the warning labels on many consumer products in these litigious times can be a source of humor. Maybe out of an abundance of caution, or just because they…
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If Jesus Were a Bartender
Author’s Note: I wrote this Reflection in early 2017 and shared it with a small group of friends. This updated version is posted for the first time on TheBuddyBlog.com If you do a web search for the phrase “A guy walked into a bar….” you will discover that bars and bartenders are one of the…
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Is Sitting with a Conservative Now Criminal Behavior?
The Twitter world had a hissy fit earlier this week. A photo showing liberal comedian and talk show host Ellen DeGeneres sitting next to President George W. Bush in the owner’s suite at a recent Dallas Cowboys football game generated a caustic response from the political Left. Apparently, it’s now a crime to sit next…
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Well Done Faithful Servant
I lost a friend last week. Lost him to pancreatic cancer. He was more than a friend – more like the big brother I never had. And that doesn’t describe him justly. He was a mentor, a role model, the kind of man whose opinion you sought, whose counsel was valued, and whose approval was…
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