CLOSET CLEANING

The day was going well.  I woke early when our cats started walking up my chest and over my head, meowing of course.  I engaged in my normal morning routine: couple cups of coffee while opening the laptop to read my daily devotional and catching up on the happenings of the day. Fox News then…

BREAD AND PEPSI

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. John 6:35 NIV I arrived at my church 15 minutes before the start of our Tuesday Morning Men’s Prayer Breakfast.  As I walked into the dining room, the first man…

A SMILE AT THE END OF THE DAY

  “He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.” Job 8:21 The small, country Methodist church sat on the banks of a clear mountain river. The parking lot was full and great laughter could be heard coming from the attached multi-purpose gathering hall. An amazing lunch, all dishes…

EMPTY CHAIR

  We embraced as we had done many times before. The six days we spent together in my old stomping grounds just didn’t seem long enough—-but my vacation was coming to an end, and I had to leave my beloved Huttonsville and my beloved dad. We’d talked, laughed, trimmed grapevines, stained a wooden entry ramp,…

ESCAPE

The red-tailed hawk soared effortlessly over the large cornfield, its eyes searching for any movement along the newly harvested rows of dried corn stalks. Cleatus watched as the magnificent bird patiently spied its prey, a sight he had observed many times in the last three years in this iconic valley in the West Virginia mountains.…

EASTER DARKNESS

Craig ‘Spider’ Ward sat on his Cabo villa balcony watching the lighthouse beacon atop the hill where the Pacific Ocean meets the Sea of Cortez. He could hear the roar of giant waves crashing against the rocky shoreline some 400’ below. The lights of a southbound cruise ship interrupted the stark ocean darkness. He smiled…

OPEN FOR TERROR

  As Southwest Flight 770 touched down at SeaTac International Airport, Craig ‘Spider’ Ward smiled and thought, Game on.  In a couple hours, he would be walking through Gate 2 beneath a sign saying, “WELCOME TO THE 115th U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP.” Nearly two years had passed since he had played this very golf course, Chambers…

ROAD FEAR

Jesus looked hard at them and said, “No chance at all if you think you can pull it off yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it.” Matthew 19:26. (The Msg) The red light changes to green. The two cars in front of us, a large blue sedan and a…

THE MENTOR

And you yourself must be an example to them by doing good deeds of every kind. Titus 2:7 I slowly walked the wide hallways of the convalescence center, not sure if I was ready for what awaited me. I had visited a good friend in another section and, as I was about to leave, he…

FEEDING THE SPIRIT

The heat of the day lingered as the sun began to set. My wife and I gathered up 20 of the 110 bags of popcorn we had just finished popping along with a small cooler packed with various fruit juices. We walked the short expanse from the dining hall to the Infant House. It was…