Category: Faith
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The Dutch Code in Love and War
I have no idea what it is like to be separated from your wife during a time of war. My wife Kathryn Patrice and I have never spent more than three days apart. My late wife Mary and I never spent more than two weeks apart. Maybe that’s why I found a 1940’s note by…
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The Master Woodworker
You wouldn’t know it to look at him, but my friend, Dick Willits, is a Master Woodworker. Nor would he be comfortable with such an exalted moniker. Now in his 80’s and long retired, Dick took up woodworking in his later years. Not sure if it was a repressed passion of his or that his…
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Constantly Improve Your Position
Navy Seals have this well-deserved aura about them. Hearing one speak always makes me glad they are on our side. I recall watching a video a few years ago featuring Seal Commander Rorke Denver, who shared a fundamental principle by which Seals work, that to “Constantly Improve Your Position.” Rorke reminded listeners that there is…
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Living Southern: Scattered, Smothered, and Covered
If you see a Southern Baptist Church on every street corner, a Dollar General every few blocks, and a Waffle House at every major intersection, fear not, you are not lost. You are probably cruising through the great state of Georgia. Down here, you can Eat, Pray, and Shop without leaving your neighborhood. In the…
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A Spiritual Legacy
It is never easy to contemplate the end of your life when you are in the middle of living it. But long ago I realized if you love your family, you will be sure to have a current and valid will. So, when I recently updated mine, it prompted much thought about what I will…
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View from a Pew
Author’s Note: Thirty years ago, I purchased a 60-year-old fourteen-foot long church pew during a fundraising program at my church. In time I had it cut down to seven feet, re-stained and polished to become a cherished family treasure. I have often pondered what that pew has seen and heard in the decades it spent…
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Nails at Noon – Lessons from a Nail Parlor
Last week, our country celebrated its Independence Day. The 4th of July, for me, has always been filled with memories of fireworks, barbecues, and hot, sunny days at nearby Lake Oconee. In this land of the Free, we often forget the cost of that freedom or how cherished it is, especially for those who have…
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Love Lifted Me
Soon after our wedding last year, I discovered an unexpected blessing from having married a woman who can sing. Patrice serves as one of the cantors who leads our church congregation in singing. She has perfect pitch and a musical range that few possess. Yes, I am not at all objective about this, but…
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My Digory Moment
There are those among us who consider the reading of fiction to be a supreme waste of time, at best pure escapism. I am not among them. I will be the first to admit there is a lot of literature that deserves the dust it gathers. Yet reading fiction for me has never been…
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Power in the Blood
James Harrison was 14 years old and could not help but wonder, “Why me?” He had just undergone an eleven-hour-long surgery to remove a lung. He required 13 units of blood to save his life and still had to spend the next three months in a hospital. Troublesome times for an Australian teenager in 1951.…