If you read my last post, this picks up where it ended. If you didn't, click here to read it. Back to the Beginning. Admitting that I had failed Him in my participation in our group brought a sting. However once I began to move past that a level of excitement started...
I am part of a men's group that is an extension of our church. We've been meeting since, wow I don't even know, probably a decade now. But lately, something hasn't been right. This band of brothers has been a rock for me over the years. We have collectively been...
Hi. My name is Jimmy, and I'm a neophobe. I'll pause for a moment while you say "Hi, Jimmy." A neophobe is someone who is afraid of anything new. I have a mild form of this disorder, where I avoid trying new things or breaking...
Christmas is just around the corner, and Santa is everywhere - television, store-front ads, tree ornaments, and even ugly sweaters. The only place you can generally expect NOT to hear him HO-HO-HO-ing is at church. So who is this character really, and where did he...
As the end of October approaches, I’ve heard a variety of opinions on Halloween. They vary from excitement about upcoming parties to dire warnings of demonic possession. Is one right? Is the other wrong? Could both possibly be correct? Maybe history can shed...
My customers are complaining about their woodworking orders. It's not the usual stuff about quality, prices, or delivery. Ironically, the complaint comes from people I know well. Usually they come from my closest friends and family. My niece challenged me about the...
As I’ve grown older, my life seasons have changed. As the seasons have changed, so have the things that occupy my time. When I was a parent of young children, most of my time was spent watching over and teaching them. As they grew up and moved out of the house,...
When I was a kid, you could buy 40-sheet spiral notebooks on sale for a ridiculous price, like 10 for $1. We always had a stack lying around the house, mostly intended for school use. I was never a fan. The spiral rings got bent, preventing the pages from turning...
It seemed that a global conspiracy had been put into place, keeping Kim and I from taking our first international vacation. We had canceled our plans for three years in a row - first for a pandemic, then a military invasion, followed by slow tourism reopenings. We had...
My grandfather. James McAfee, was a pilot in World War II and died in the sky over Berlin, Germany in 1945. Although he was survived by two sons who each had their own kids, none of us knew him. His early death snatched away our chance to spend time with him in this...
New Year's Day found me standing in the garage, looking over a huge mess. It was the remains of a busy holiday season spent building gifts for anyone who asked. In the mad dash to deliver every order, housekeeping had clearly taken a low priority. There wasn't room...
My younger brother, Preston, and I spent our wonder years in Nashville's northern suburbs. Madison was a typical mid-sized, Southern town with a heavy blue-collar influence. It was a great place to grow up. Summers were different in those days. Vacations from school...