“When you talk about what we deserve, that rings of entitlement. It’s a big ask, and I know we have nothing coming,” said inmate Jessie Milo, who’s serving three life sentences for attempted murder.
Christianity Today reported on Milo’s story, recorded on YouTube during a frank discussion between prisoners and correctional officers.
The group debated a difficult topic: Does everyone in prison deserve a second chance regardless of the crime they committed? Continue reading
Filed under Discipleship
Christa Pike, the Tennessee woman who survived a botched execution, has regained consciousness and is speaking, according to her attorneys. They have called her recovery “medically unprecedented.”
Pike was convicted in 1996 of luring a classmate into a wooded area near Knoxville in 1995 and then torturing and brutally murdering her. She was sentenced to death, but has been on death row for the past 30 years. Continue reading
Filed under Culture, Discipleship
“The average American checks his or her cell phone 205 times a day,” said social scientist Arthur Brooks in an interview on the Today show last week.
Norma Jean and I listened with interest because we expected to hear Brooks in person at the Florida College Impact Gala two days later. Continue reading
Filed under Discipline, Discipleship, TIme
Greetings from Beverly Hills, FL
The start of the fourth quarter reminds us how quickly time marches on. Of course, retailers help remind us by already stocking both Halloween and Christmas items in stores!
Indeed, the Psalmist spoke a truth relevant to every generation: “The length of our days is seventy years—or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away” (Ps. 90:10). So, rejoice in this, say God has given us. And make it count. Continue reading
Filed under Discipleship
A farmer, Jeb, and his wife, Mabel, were driving into town in their pickup truck. Jeb stared at the road, silently thinking about the work waiting for him. Mabel sat on the other side of the cab, against the door.
It was a beautiful Fall day. The sun was shining. The leaves were changing. And Mabel began to reminisce about their younger days. How they enjoyed long drives in the country. Special time together. And the intimacy of a young couple in love. Continue reading
Filed under Discipleship
A coworker asked a recently baptized woman what it was like to be a Christian.
“Being a Christian is like being a pumpkin,” she replied. “God picks you from the patch, brings you in, and washes the dirt off. Then He scoops out the yucky stuff—the seeds of doubt, hate, greed, and lust. He carves a new smiling face and puts His light inside you to shine for all the world to see.” Continue reading
Filed under Discipleship
We were living in Spring Hill, Tennessee, when 9/11 occurred.
I was preparing to leave for my office at the Jackson Heights Church in Columbia when Norma hollered from the family room, “Come here! Something’s happened!”
She was watching the Today show, which was airing the breaking news that a plane had flown into the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Questions, concern, and speculation followed about the cause. Continue reading
Filed under Discipleship
Ralph Waldo Emerson, the 19th-century essayist, poet, and philosopher, wrote a great deal about the importance of thinking for oneself. He once lamented that “the problem with men today is that they don’t think.”
Thomas Edison echoed this sentiment when he opined, “Five percent of the people think; ten percent of the people think they think; and the other eighty-five percent would rather die than think.” Continue reading
Filed under Attitude, Discipleship
Saturday night, Norma Jean and I watched the live stream of the Grand Ole Opry, which honored the recently deceased country music legend, Dolly Parton.
Among the performers was Dolly’s niece, Jada Star. On behalf of the family, she expressed appreciation for the incredible outpouring of sympathy following Dolly’s passing. Then she shared this poignant thought: Continue reading
Filed under Discipleship
Yesterday was my weekly Rotary meeting. We began, as always, with an invocation, the Pledge of Allegiance, and the recitation of The Four-Way Test.
Created in 1932 by Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor while trying to rescue a struggling company during the Great Depression, The Four-Way Test asks four simple questions that pertain to business ethics regarding the things we think, say, or do. Continue reading
Filed under Discipleship
