I have a friend who is a director for a hospice service. Once he was telling me how bereaved people can become bitter with friends, churches, and caregivers. The root of bitterness comes after the funeral. Often the bereaved person feels abandoned. No one means to abandon them, it simply happens. The funeral is full of food, love, and support. Everyone is there saying things such as, “If there’s anything I can do for you, don’t hesitate to ask.”

When I taught seminary I led the preaching classes. One lecture attempted to relate Aristotle’s three aspects of rhetoric to preaching. In the Greek-speaking world there was something called logos (the word and message of the speaker), pathos (the speaker's passion when speaking) and ethos (the speaker's personal life).

Where do your former teachers go when it is all said and done? We’ve been told that all dogs go to heaven, but what about teachers? I think I’ve found the answer.

My third grade teacher always loved getting to page 100 in our textbooks. She would tell us that it meant we had accomplished something, and we were in the proverbial middle. I can’t see page 100 today without thinking of her. We are at page 100. First semester is over, and we have the second half to go. As we ponder where we’ve been, it’s good to review where we are going.

I have a dear missionary family that has consistently modeled Christ. Years ago while serving in a small town in Mexico they discovered a family that was overwhelmed. The local family already had several children. When the next child was born they simply put her in the corner of the room.

I have a dear friend who is the epitome of self-discipline. He literally never breaks his restrictive diet. It’s eggs and hamburger patties almost every day, for every meal. He fasts and only eats a few hours a day. Days like Christmas and Thanksgiving mean nothing. He likes his restrictive menu. He’s not looking for a cheat day so he can eat ice cream. Give that man fajita meat and some eggs and he’s good.

My favorite class in all of High School was French. My uncle told me to take Spanish because I would use that language in my locale, but when you looked at Spanish class it just didn’t compare. Francis McGuffie made an entire year of French a learning “experience.” We made French Talk Show videos (I was a French Arsenio Hall), had a beignet party, played soccer (because back then Mississippi didn’t have that in schools…and it was considered a European “French” football sport), and celebrated Mardi Gras.

I fondly remember our wedding day. It is special to be able to walk into the sanctuary today and recall where Amanda and I said our vows. After the ceremony as we walked to the back I will never forget our first words. Amanda looked at me and said, “Do you feel any different?” In the emotion of the event I guess we expected some huge change once we said “I do.”

What were you doing in the summer of 1981? I was at the Southaven Cinema 6 watching the new Legend of the Lone Ranger movie. I was five at the time, and I dressed up as my hero to watch the film. It helped that my sister worked there, so I suppose they overlooked the kid wearing a bandit mask and toting two revolvers. White hat, double sided guns (that would never be allowed today), red scarf and a blue shirt.

I am so thankful for the pastors who taught me preaching. As strange as it may sound, when you are a seminary student they make you practice preaching. Every time I pass the beautiful white church in Germantown (next to Methodist Hospital) I tell my wife, “That’s where I practiced my preaching.” Our seminary used to be there, and the historic little chapel was our preaching lab. My wife is never amazed when I remind her of that for the 100th time. 

When we lived in Texas a particular “pastor” was emerging on the world scene. His church was just an hour and a half from ours, and they had a Saturday night service. At the time we had only one child, not much to do, and a free Saturday night in the Lone Star state. I loaded up the little family, promised we’d get dinner somewhere, and headed to his mega-church. I wanted to see if what I watched on TV was what was done in reality. Of course, there were many behind the scenes things I observed that lessened the “magic”, but one thing was clear: this pastor preached a very generic Christianity.

Did you know that Hebert Hoover spent years of his life giving food relief aid to post-war Europe? If you’ve ever visited his presidential library, that will be the major theme (because no one wants to talk about his presidency and the Great Depression). The same is true for all the others…they choose a theme and that is what you hear about as you tour their library. The same could be said for Disney World.

There are verses of Scripture that appear on T-shirts, coffee cups, and all sorts of merchandise. They are popular verses we all love to quote and hold on to. For example, I’ve seen many different paintings, greeting cards, and coffee cups that have Jeremiah 29:11. The verse is beautiful, and when you read it as a stand alone verse, it does indeed make a good verse for special occasions. Jeremiah 29:11 says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

It is always interesting to learn how people spend their first minutes of the morning. I have heard that many people’s first inclination is to grab their phone. A recent study noted that people begin scrolling on the social media apps first thing in the morning and late at night. Advertisers know that you post early or late to get the most bang for your buck.  For the older folk, they may grab the newspaper, but that is getting rare.

When I was in college, I had to take a string of statistic classes. I learned that one of my stats professors could not teach. I say “I learned” because events would come to show it. He was hard to follow, talked a lot about his airplane flying, and referenced his gambling. I was a Baptist boy and didn’t get the card references. It wasn’t just me, before class everyone would lament of him. While we all complained, we all fruitlessly tried to follow.

A gripping movie is The Iron Lady. I begged my wife to watch it with me, and she has yet to become interested (Maybe this will encourage her). The story explores the complicated issues of aging, which discriminates for no one, not even former Prime Ministers of Great Britain. With age even the most influential will struggle to buy something at a convenience store while suffering dementia.

I once knew a man who struggled to find significance with his life. He was an executive chef at a finer restaurant. I thought that was a neat job, and I also thought that was in some sense prestigious. I certainly couldn’t cook, much less cook for a restaurant that charged good money. One day he announced that he quit his culinary career. I was shocked.

A church I pastored in Texas had foundation issues. Less than ten years old, the building was sinking. When you walked into the new sanctuary you could see cracks in the pillars that held the ceiling. If anyone wanted an excuse for not attending, not wanting to have the roof come down would have been legitimate.

The hardest class I ever had was while at the University of Mississippi. It was called Physiological Psychology, but the common name was brain science. All we learned about was the brain, neurons, neurotransmitters, and the like. The subject was not the difficult part of the class. It was the professor’s approach to testing.

I remember the night before my freshman year of high school began. I was nervous. A new campus, new teachers, and a new chapter. Something significant was about to happen, and I couldn’t sleep. Our school had a ridiculous start time of 7:10 am, so that meant the bus would be by at 6:20. That made sleep seem more evasive.