I poked my head into a colleague’s office door at Campbellsville University. Ray had known about my brother since his ALS diagnosis two years ago. I let him know Mark had passed. Ray was at his desk when I told him, mid-task, mid-day, in the ordinary flow of work. What he did next has stayed …
I recall years ago hearing a preacher say he actually enjoyed driving distances to make hospital visits to parishioners. “Alone in my car: the one place no one can get to me,” he said, ruing the fact that he felt constantly at people’s beck and call. That was before cell phones. Only in the early …
Our 16-year-old Schnauzer, Max, looked up at me from the veterinarian’s examination table. His once sparkling eyes were cloudy. That tongue that once flopped back and forth, cheek to cheek, was now listless. Where I once had to hold him tight on this examination table, so eager was he to jump down, he now rested …
The weather forecaster warned that this system would be a big one. “Remember the ice storm in Texas, February 2021, when freezing rain knocked out power for more than 4 million people for a week?” he asked rhetorically. “Well, this one could be worse,” and pointing his finger at the camera, “and it’s coming our …
The 4th-century pastor and Bishop, Gregory of Nyssa, expressed the difficulty of preaching at family members’ funerals. When eulogizing his brother, Basil the Great, Gregory noted the “burden” of honoring his life. Despite the personal strain, he viewed his oration as “good medicine” for the grieving. In addition to pointing people to Jesus Christ at a …