Young men Where do we start? Boys, young men, our future—they are taking their own lives at an ever increasing rate. A seventeen year-old athlete with a scholarship to Georgia Tech stepped in front of an oncoming train to end his life last week. A boy with a future, but burdened by his family’s circumstances. The mass […]
Seeking security SECURITY…conjures up a sense of safety, a place of protection, like a refuge. It might also deliver the idea of financial well-being. We put our trust in many things, people, institutions, and as a nation, our military. Our retirement plans can provide us true or maybe false security. Things happen for which we […]
Jorge Rodriguez Mentor, model, pastor, father figure. My uncle, Jorge Rodriguez, played a very special role in my life as my mentor, model, father figure and eventually a pastor. I remember vividly how every afternoon he took time to help me with my homework and especially with school projects. Back then there was no technology […]
A doves nest Thanks for the encouraging words today on Freedom and acknowledging God’s glory, not man’s. I have been thinking about you this week and Abiding Fathers as I look out my window and see a Momma mourning dove and a Poppa dove taking care of the little ones that have recently hatched. This is about the third […]
Being a father When you have a speaker at one of the Fathers Forum events, you assume that person is an expert. You expect that the person has gone through training to become knowledgeable. But I have fallen many times as a father. I have gotten back up by the grace of our Lord, Jesus […]
Arthur and Betty ‘Cookie’ WOODPILES…are something virtually every person living is familiar with. I first experienced them as a very young boy as the young’uns were usually selected to bring in a log or two for the stove for cooking or heating. Anyone with a log-burning fireplace has one. Some are neatly stacked, while others […]
Technology vs. Paper Technological advances are impressive and surprising to me. From time to time, I stop to see the new cell phones, new computers and new tablets. But that’s it, no more than just admiration and amazement. I am one of those living beings who still insists on reading the printed book or taking […]
Friendship Recently, as I left a coffee meeting with my friend, Kevin, I thought of how grateful I am to have such a friendship, and how randomly it began. Five years ago a mutual friend in North Carolina called and told me his friend (Kevin) was moving to my neck of the woods, and asked […]
Family dysfunction Growing up was hard for me. My parents were both alcoholics and I never knew which version of them I would see when I got home from school each day. My two older sisters, Gail and Melinda, have been God’s great mercy for me. We all had to deal with the trauma of […]
A father’s love I was on vacation, sitting in a rocking chair on the porch of a lodge or restaurant somewhere with my oldest daughter, Nal, in my lap. She was 2 years old or so at the time, and had her head on my chest, awake, relaxed as we soaked in the moment. An […]