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For Wilshire Baptist Church

Walking around the yard, checking on things as the heat increases and the chances of rain dry up, I noticed that one of the newish utility poles on the side of our corner lot has a round aluminum tag on it. Examining it closely, I found it was stamped with various abbreviations and numbers, including 10/24/19 and Lufkin, TX.

Most every summer of my childhood we’d drive down through the East Texas Piney Woods to my grandparents’ house. Our route took us past countless acres of tall pine trees, logging trucks and sawmills, and through the city of Lufkin. It may sound silly, but seeing Lufkin stamped on that pole made me wonder if the tree it started as might have been growing in the forest near Lufkin when I was passing through as a kid.

Continue reading “Strong and Tall”

For Wilshire Baptist Church

I called a telephone hotline for the first time in my life. It was the Dallas Coyote Hotline.

It started on an early Thursday morning. I was sitting in traffic when a coyote darted across Lovers Lane and then Skillman Avenue and disappeared into an apartment complex. I tried to get my phone camera up but I wasn’t quick enough. A few hours later, I remembered that Dallas has a new coyote hotline so I gave it a call. They let you know up front that you have to leave a message, so I did with the basic time/date/place details they asked for as well as my phone number.

Continue reading “Hotlines and Lifelines”

For Wilshire Baptist Church

I try to write something new in this space every week, but with Pentecost Sunday coming this weekend, I want to share something that I’ve said before.

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As much as I love our pastor and all of those who preach, pray, and lead us in worship on Sunday mornings, the priests at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris get extra credit for doing all of that while hundreds of tourists mill around looking, talking, and taking pictures. 

Continue reading “Another Pentecost Moment”