Blog Archive

Growing up, my father taught me that failure was not acceptable. Unfortunately, I developed a  self-sufficient mentality which resulted in trying to solve the problems of life in my own strength. Fortunately, long before I desperately began searching for a way to help Linda, The Lord had shown me a better way: “…This is what the Read more

Life-changing encounters with God do not always occur under ideal circumstances in pristine locations. In 1983, while pastoring in Athens, Georgia, late one night I was driving an old blue Dodge van on the bypass around the city. Returning home after working on the house that I was building for my family, I was tired, Read more

I ended my last blog by sharing how God allowed me to see light at the end of the tunnel. This week, I will weave the events of April 16 through October 4, 2017, into Linda’s story, my story and God’s provision. For me, it is not melodramatic to believe the words of Charles Dickens Read more

In an earlier blog, I related how in June 1963, God inspired me to establish the framework for my life, marriage and family. Over a half century later, with my dreams ripped apart, a simple question begged to be answered: What now? Amazingly, an old song, published in 1887, which I learned as a child, pointed Read more

Originally published in 1916, Robert Frost’s, “The Road Not Taken,” still has people discussing what “the road less traveled” means. Generally used to depict the life of a person acting independently, freed from conventional norms; I find a far different meaning. Early in my journey with Linda, a well-meaning physician tried to help me accept Read more

In last week’s blog, I related how the fourth stanza of Robert Frost’s, “The Road Not Taken,” pointed me toward greater freedom and joy than I had ever known:                I shall be telling this with a sigh                Somewhere ages and ages hence:                Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –                I took the one Read more

When I began this three-part series, I noted the fourth stanza of Robert Frost’s poem, despite the fact I am convinced it was not his purpose to do so, pointed me toward greater freedom and joy than I had ever known:                 I shall be telling this with a sigh                Somewhere ages and ages hence:                Two Read more

At times, caregivers to long-term dementia patients, including me, ask: Are my feelings normal? Will my suffering never end? Does God care?  David Kessler and Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, in On Grief and Grieving, provide insights which I have woven into the tapestry of my own understanding and experience. Today, as I revisit a previously covered time frame, February through Read more

When I was younger, my focus was always on trying to get to the next destination. Consequently, much of the joy of the journey was lost. I will not to repeat that mistake. The events of late May through July 2019 provided fertile soil for the growth of my faith. I experienced change in my Read more

Ninety-seven years after Robert Frost wrote Nothing Gold Can Stay, literary critics still have conflicting opinions as to his intent. It seems to me he is responding to his own grief and family tragedy, which included the loss of two of his six children: Nature’s first green is gold,  Her hardest hue to hold. Her early Read more