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In which room of your house do you spend the most time? Now, in which room of your house do you spend the most time actively doing something? The room in which most people spend the most time is the bedroom. However, time spent there is just that; it is time not activity. Bedrooms are for sleeping. Unless you're a restless sleeper chances are you do very little other than dress in your bedroom. However, here is where the differences lie. The room you're most active in is dependent upon your gender and role in your family.

If you are the wife, you probably spend…  ( Click for more )

For a guy raised in a small town in south central Ohio, whose earliest recollections of sports were football with the Ohio State Buckeyes and Cleveland Browns, I had two sports shrines. One was, and still is, the Horseshoe; Ohio Stadium at Columbus on the campus of the Ohio State University. The other is no longer standing. Cleveland Municipal Stadium in Cleveland has been torn down to make way for a new shrine; the current Browns Stadium.

I was in the 'Shoe as a high school student. I was at Ohio State with a group from some academic function one spring during my Junior…  ( Click for more )

Now that the Star Wars saga is complete, what have we learned? Star Wars was a compilation of stories of lives that are interwoven like threads into a marvelous fabric of a tale. There's the story of the aging Jedi Master, Yoda, whose ability as a Jedi knight in the power of The Force was legendary. There is his protégé, Ben Kenobi, whose desire is to be like his master and train the Jedi in the mastery of The Force. In the backdrop is the struggle of a people for freedom; the Rebel Alliance against The Empire.

But we all thought Star Wars was about Luke Skywalker.…  ( Click for more )

Every now and then the odd but true catches my eye. You know, the kind of story that makes you go, "Hmmmm." The poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley was one who could not swim. In fact, most believed him to be afraid of the water. Yet, he mustered his courage one day and, acting on a whim that he would like to swim, he dove into a deep pool of water in which his friends were enjoying themselves. He nearly drowned before one of those friends pulled him to safety.

Reflecting on the event he wrote, "I always find the bottom of the well, and they say truth lies there. In another minute…  ( Click for more )

In a couple of months my home church will be celebrating her fiftieth anniversary. I am privileged to have been asked to be a part of that celebration. With that coming celebration my mind has been in a reflective mode. I was very young when I first got a taste of the fellowship of the new Church of Christ in Jeffersonville, Ohio. I was all of five years old when I stood with the others who sang while I held my mom's leg and cried. At five, church can be frightening.

I grew up in that church. Through the years there was one building that came to mean so very much to…  ( Click for more )

Every now and then something happens which heightens my appreciation for those who have certain skills. When I think of the many woodworking projects I have done over the years I am reminded by each one of the expertise of those professionals whose abilities allow them to turn woodworking projects into masterpieces. This past weekend I received a fresh dose of appreciation for another group of professionals; the men of the Professional Golfers Association.

Last Friday morning at 11:00 my son John and our friends in the ministry, Brian Gorman and Tim Gould, and I teed off on the…  ( Click for more )

Does size matter? I hadn't really thought much about that until yesterday morning. I had left at my usual time to head up to the Lock N Key, a coffee shop in downtown Georgetown. As I came out to the light at the end of Champion Way I got into the right turn lane. I was behind a couple of trucks; an SUV and a pickup that was in front. The pickup truck did not have a turn signal on and was just sitting at the light even though no traffic was approaching. I wondered if he had planned to go straight and had gotten in the wrong lane.

When the light turned green the pickup…  ( Click for more )

Ten years ago I was forty-four. My hair was dark. What am I saying? I actually had hair. I was still fairly active, playing softball for the church softball team and even doing some periodic jogging. At times I would walk a golf course and carry my bag. At that time, I remember thinking that being forty-four was getting up there. Now I am ten years closer to "up there" and, my, how things have changed! My dark hair is now gray, what's left of it. The arthritis in my knees has progressed enough that walking a golf course while carrying my bag is definitely out of the question.

Age…  ( Click for more )

The old playground. Time to choose up teams for a game of baseball. When I was very young I got used to the distinction of being rejected until the very last. Then, when I got to Johnson Bible College, near Knoxville (TN), I had to get used to it all over again. Two years later, when I had transferred to Kentucky Christian College, in Grayson, it was different. I was twenty years old and there were some guys there who already knew me and had played ball with me before. I got picked a lot more quickly.

Rejection. It's tough to deal with. Yet, everyone has, at one time…  ( Click for more )

Storms have always fascinated me. Thursday evening our eldership at the Minorsville Christian Church met to discuss some of the church's needs. During our time in the meeting the skies were angrily erupting with a light show of such immense proportions that we actually received a phone call at the church building to warn us of its ferocity. Indeed, for most of the meeting the sky was illuminated.

Following the meeting all the elders left and I prepared to lock the back door to the fellowship hall where we had met. About that time a bolt of lightning crackled some distance…  ( Click for more )

Recently, a friend and I sat down and conversed about death. It wasn't a morbid conversation but a rather light hearted one as we talked about how scary death is to so many and how welcome others view it. Then he shared a nugget of information with me that I didn't know. "Did you know that Henry Ford had a bottle in which he kept Thomas Edison's last breath?" Oddly enough, it's true. Ford and Edison were close friends. When Edison died in 1931 Ford was at his bedside and caught Edison's last breath in a bottle and then capped it. He still had it when…  ( Click for more )

Back in 1988 I had some problems seeing. One evening, while sitting in the family room of the Bellville Church of Christ parsonage, I asked my wife what time it was. She told me to look on the VCR. I told her I couldn't see the VCR. Two days later I was at the eye doctor being checked and fitted for glasses. The eye doctor kept trying to fit me with a pair of glasses that I would either have to take off or look over top of in order to see the congregation on Sunday mornings while preaching. He sighed and commented that I would have to have bifocals. "But isn't seeing…  ( Click for more )

When George Orwel wrote the novel, 1984, he coined a phrase that has stuck with American parlance. "Big Brother is watching you," has been a standard quip for government over-involvement since Rowel's novel became popular. Businesses today have security cameras in place to watch their stores and business concerns. As one owner put it, "We don't just watch the bad guys we watch our own to make sure they stay good."

Satellite technology has improved by such measures that areas of the earth can be watched from outer space and movements monitored on the other side of the…  ( Click for more )

Wouldn't it be nice to be related to someone famous? According to all the family legends and the way back ties, my family in Ireland were direct descendants of King Miletious of the Celts. Of course, they ate the people they conquered and were basically known as being well down the evolutionary ladder. However, my grandfather did tell me, on several occasions, that the famous clown, Emmet Kelly, was a distant relative. When I would ask how distant, Pawpaw would wink and say, "Way out in California, I think."

Several stars are related to each other. Actress Holly Hunter…  ( Click for more )

William Shakespeare wrote a play with the title, "Much Ado About Nothing." In our world today we have some rather glaring instances of just that. Many things are overblown and made more extravagant and important than necessary. Kind of like awards shows devised by the people who will receive the awards so they can have a televised special to give out the awards and make money doing something for themselves. And people watch.

The old Cleveland Browns franchise is one of a handful of franchises that has won the National Football League Championship four times. But all I hear…  ( Click for more )

Coincidence. It's the stuff superstition is built on. Take for instance the odd coincidence of L. Frank Baum and his famous book, "The Wizard of Oz," when it went into production as a movie. The production was lavishly done with brilliant colors since it was being filmed in color rather than black and white. As such, the Wizard had to be outfitted in elegant looking attire.

A group of coats was purchased from a second hand store in Los Angeles. The most elegant appearing one was chosen as the one to be worn by Frank Morgan, the actor cast as the Wizard. During the filming…  ( Click for more )

For as long as I can remember I have been a sports fan. My father before me was a sports fan. Being raised in the state of Ohio, my teams were, of course, the Ohio State University sports teams, the Cincinnati Redlegs, the Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Royals. You may be wondering about the Redlegs and the Royals.

The Royals were the old National Basketball Association team located in Cincinnati. They moved westward and became the Kansas City Royals (about the time that the baseball team of the same name began) and then on to the west coast to become the Sacramento…  ( Click for more )

Yesterday I witnessed one of those little life vignettes that often go unnoticed by most of us humans. As I was pulling out of the parking lot of our bank I saw three black birds standing around a piece of paper that looked to be about four inches square. The feathers around their necks were ruffled and they were seemingly challenging each other. One of the three flew away and the other two positioned themselves on opposite sides of the piece of paper.

They had evidently found the cast off remains of some sort of food product, probably a candy bar that had melted in the sun…  ( Click for more )

Some people were made to own a dog. Or should I say have a dog. The concept of ownership never really enters the true dog lover's mind. My brother-in-law, Terry Simpson, is the classic example of a person who is supposed to have a dog. Terry treats a dog with love and respect and, quite truthfully, spoils the living daylights out of them.

The first one I remember is Tootsie. Tootsie was an outside dog but Terry did everything but bring her into the house almost every day. Of course he fed her, but it's the way that Terry treats a dog. He talks to them like they…  ( Click for more )

Covington, Virginia, has long been one of my favorite places to visit. My wife was raised in that area and still has family (five brothers and a sister) in the county there. This past week it was my pleasure to return to Covington for a revival with the good folks at the Highland Chapel Christian Church. It is always good to share with them. They have proven to be a very sincere and dedicated group of people.

During the course of the four days of revival I was constantly on the go there in the area. Driving the local roads is (no pun intended) a real trip. The roads are so…  ( Click for more )

I have several friends with whom I play golf. Oddly, out of the ten or so of us you would think a couple of us swing alike. We don't. The golf swing is a lot like hitting a baseball. The object is to make contact in the best way you can. That way varies from hitter to hitter and it varies from golfer to golfer. The bottom line is not whether your swing looks like the classic fluid swing of, say, Ernie Els, but whether or not it works.

From Arnold Palmer to Ray Floyd to Lee Trevino to Jim Furyk, winning golf swings are dramatically different. Arnold slashes at the ball.…  ( Click for more )

Back in 1973 my wife and I were ministering to the White Oak Christian Church on White Oak Road in Bath County, Kentucky. One weekend we had had an extremely large amount of rainfall and the area around the church building was flooded. We were staying with Charles and Mamie Denton (Charles has since passed on) for the afternoon that Sunday. I had decided to take a nap in the afternoon. Charles, Mamie and my wife, Becky, decided to take a ride and look at the flood waters.

He was floating on a piece of wood in an area that was flooded when the little group found him that day.…  ( Click for more )

Yesterday I heard a term I hadn't heard since the last time I talked to an old friend of mine. One of our church men, Donald Clark, and I were playing golf and talking about different things as we played. He was telling me about a friend of his that had been through a few husbands that were less than stellar and had made the comment that she guessed she was just a "jerk magnet."

The first time I heard that term was years ago while talking with a high school classmate of mine who had had a couple of failed marriages and a few stormy relationships in between. She looked at…  ( Click for more )

Last evening, while my wife and I were returning from worship service, we saw a scene that brought back a reminder of gentler days.  As we turned off Sebree Road outside of Stamping Ground, Kentucky, and onto Long Lick Pike we saw a man and his daughter sitting on the bank of a pond fishing.  It was one of those postcard picture moments that you wish you had a camera to record.  With that simple vignette floods of memories came to my mind.

My dad loved to fish.  It was his favorite thing to do when he had time off.  Often were the times that I would be…  ( Click for more )