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This past weekend my wife and I took a trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. It was only the second time there for my wife. She had been there one other time with a group from a church we served back in the late 70s. As for me, I had been there a number of times before; as in, before the end of 1970. It had been thirty-eight years since I last set foot in Gatlinburg. That time I was on a date with a girlfriend from nearby Johnson Bible College where we were both students. A lot has changed since that time. I now have a wife that I love more than life itself, and Gatlinburg has become…  ( Click for more )

This past weekend one of my favorite golfers finally won a golf tournament after almost fifteen years without winning. Joey Sindelar is one of the honest-to-goodness nice guys on the Professional Golfers Association Tour. He had not won a golf tournament since 1990. The riches of the upper echelon of the tour's elite had escaped him. Yet, at age forty, he's still out there plugging away at what he loves.

Joey Sindelar is from Horseheads, New York, a community nestled in the Southern Tier of Upstate New York. His college days were spent at Ohio State University where he was…  ( Click for more )

Mothers Day is always a special time in the Kelley household. Both my wife's mother and mine are gone from this world. We devote ourselves to the two mothers who mean the most; my dear wife, Becky, of almost thirty-seven years and my daughter-in-law, Jennifer, of almost eight years. My wife gave me three wonderful children whose lives have ultimately touched a number of other lives in a positive fashion, while my daughter-in-law has given me my twin grandchildren, Patrick and Grace. Due to Jennifer's and Sean's busy schedules we don't get to see the kids quite as often as we like,…  ( Click for more )

I used to work in radio. As such, I am a fond fan of "WKRP In Cincinnati". Every now and then episodes show up on TV Land and I get to watch that whole goofy ensemble work their magic again. From Mr. Carlson, the station owner, right down to Bailey Quarters, the traffic lady, I appreciated them all. Even Herb Tarlek in his own warped way.

But my favorite had to be Les Nessman, the newsman. Les was probably the most forthright and honest of the group. He was proud of his Buckeye NewsHawk award. The one thing you noticed with Les was that he was just a tad slow on the uptake.…  ( Click for more )

Not long ago I received an email that had a curious comment in it. Along with a prayer request was the reference by the sender to "her church." Now, before you think that I am going to go through that whole rigamarole of, "it's not our church it's Christ's church, He died for it," relax. I'm not. That whole reaction is something that I feel is totally unnecessary in most instances. Christ wants us to feel as if our churches are just that...our churches. But there is a problem when we claim a church. That is what needs to be viewed here today.

I have a wife.…  ( Click for more )

When he first started out he was called a skinny crooner. His frame filled out a little over the years, but his fame grew even more. They called him, "Old Blue Eyes." He became a legend in three separate fields of the entertainment industry. He was a master stage presence in live shows in venues such as Las Vegas and New York. His recordings have been consistent in their sales over the years and he became quite an accomplished actor in both musicals and regular films.

His name was Francis Sinatra, but his friends and the world knew him as Frank. Frank Sinatra's style as…  ( Click for more )

From the "I-thought-I-had-seen-everything" category. Last evening my wife and I went to Cynthiana to participate in "The Gate", a youth program that my oldest son had a hand in beginning. He had come back from Wisconsin to lead the worship for the closing session for this school year and we decided to be there with him.

The half hour drive from the Harrison County High School back to our home in Georgetown was relatively uneventful. Until we saw two barns lit up in a way I had never seen before. Both barns were similar structures with a drive through center section and an open…  ( Click for more )

For the past three days I have been struggling with a problem. I have not been able to log onto the internet. With this column looming large and needing to be completed I was unable to get to the very place I needed to be in order to get it completed. I finally got tired of continually trying to log on and getting nowhere, so, I called our internet provider, Time Warner Cable. After punching my numbered way through the automatic dialing system I finally got a human voice that was not a recording.

The nice voice at the other end told me she would let tech service know about…  ( Click for more )

One of my favorite weeks of the year is here. Masters Week. If you're scratching your head about what exactly I mean, let me explain. The day that you receive this article is the first round of The Masters Golf Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. The very best of golf; the top money winners, past champions, winners of certain events over the past twelve months; all get together to play four rounds of golf on one of the most storied golf courses in American history.

When the very best get together the competition is intense and, usually, the cream…  ( Click for more )

This past week was a very interesting and frustrating one. March 23 was Easter. That Sunday was wonderful. Our church had its Sunrise Service which was centered on the empty tomb and the solid Rock of Jesus Christ. This was followed with a breakfast of biscuits and gravy, sausage and pancakes. Then came the morning worship and a wonderful Easter celebration focusing on the rush that Easter gives us as we rush from the darkness of death to the light of life, from dwelling on the past to rejoicing in the future, and from the appearance of religion to the reality of Christ.

Then…  ( Click for more )

Consistency. It is the one commodity that so many desire yet so many lack. Consistency in golf means the difference between making millions of dollars playing the game and, well, preaching for a living. Every time I hit a perfect drive down the middle of the fairway I think, "Why can't I do that every time?" If I could, that would be consistency. But I can't.

Consistency in the workplace is important, also. It creates a work environment that is, uh, consistent. Clean work stations, a constant temperature maintained, predictable work flow, a schedule; these all go together…  ( Click for more )

Today is March 19,2008; the day before this column is to be sent out to you, the gentle reader. This day is special for me. Not because it's Wednesday and that means that I have reached the hump in my week and am now on the supposed "coasting" time of the week; not with Easter coming in just a few days and the Easter service to get completed and ready for the bulletin. No, this day is special because it is a birthday. It is the birthday of Lisa Andrews. She and her husband, Don, used to live next to us in Cortland, New York, and worked with us in the church there. …  ( Click for more )

Golf is an interesting game. It is a game of yards, and a game of inches. It is a game of power, and a game of finesse. It is a game of ability, and a game of imagination. However, it is also a game of cliches. No, you're not seeing things. You read that right. Cliches. You know, bumper sticker stuff. The quick phrase that summarizes thousands of years of information. Cliches. If you neither play nor watch the game on TV then you may not know this. Allow me to enlighten you as to the ones that mean the most to we golfers.

Cliches are, in a way, an explanation for not…  ( Click for more )

Surviving cancer is one of those things you enjoy being around to talk about. However, it's not without its frustrations. During the months of chemo, radiation and the inability to swallow well and then the surgery and twelve days in the hospital, I lost eighty pounds. Due to the type of surgery I had, it is not likely that I will add much more than another ten to fifteen pounds. That means that the size 50L suits I wore in December of 2006, and even the size 46L suits I wore this past summer, are all too big.

I returned to the pulpit this past Sunday and bought a new suit…  ( Click for more )

Scott McCarron is an accomplished professional golfer who competes on the PGA Tour. He has had a measure of success on the Tour and, as such, is reasonably recognizable at most Tour venues. That means that when he pulls up to the gate he usually gets in without much hassle. in 2002, when the U. S. Open was played at Bethpage Black, McCarron had a small problem. That morning he had allowed his wife to use the courtesy SUV that the USGA had provided for his use. He drove the family sedan to the course. That's where it got interesting.

As he pulled up to the gate he realized…  ( Click for more )

Coincidence. That wonderful rare turn of events that both surprises and startles us. You've been caught up in them before. Events that happen in just the right way or circumstances that align too perfectly. You know; coincidence. Friday, February 15, I got to experience one of those incredible coincidences. It happened at Central Baptist Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky and it involved one of the young couples in our congregation at Minorsville. And it's a neat one.

Gina and Craig Hastings have a little girl named Ellie Morgan who was born on my wife's birthday, February…  ( Click for more )

Just recently I fought a bought with esophageal cancer. The ordeal started December of 2006 with some swallowing problems. I was diagnosed July 31 and went through radiation and chemotherapy for five weeks in late August and through September. During my treatments I was in Stamping Ground, KY, the town near our church, when a woman from a neighboring congregation approached me to ask me how I was doing. A comment that she made toward the end of our conversation caught me dead in the heart. The comment? She said, "Now you know the cross the Lord wants you to bear." …  ( Click for more )

My parents are buried in a cemetary some three hours from my current home. My wife and I try to make it to their gravesite at least twice a year to make sure that there are flowers on the stones. Every time we go I look long and hard at their tombstone. It reads, "William Nelson Kelley; February 17,1921 - March 25,1998; Dorothea Margaret Kelley; January 6,1923 - December 14,2002." I lived with my parents for the first twenty-one years of my life. I remember all the things that we did during that time period as well as all the things we did after that time period. It's…  ( Click for more )

One day, while in WalMart, I watched as a little boy not more than four accidently knocked a box of Pop Tarts from an aisle display. Before I could even wonder what would happen, the little fellow stooped over, grabbed the box of Pop Tarts and replaced it in the display being careful to make sure that it was sitting just right. I was amazed.

I have seen similar scenes in stores before. They always seem to play out the same way. The child knocks something over, the parent says for them to pick it up and the child doesn't while the parent just walks away. Later, the parent knocks…  ( Click for more )

Owning a new home is both a blessing and a cursing. The blessing is that you own it. The cursing is that you own it. No, you're not seeing things. Owning a new home is such a blessing in that you know it is yours and you can do with what you wish. However, anything that happens to it is also yours; every failed appliance, every threadbare carpet, every squeaky step, every cracked wall.

Right now the walls are what are starting to get to me. There is nothing on them. We are still trying to let them "speak" to us. That's what we were told concerning walls. Walls will tell…  ( Click for more )

James Garner, as Bret Maverick on the long running TV western, used to make the comment, "My old pappy used to say..." Evidently his old pappy was full of pithy sayings and folksy wisdom that stuck with his son as he went through life. Well, I was blessed with a very wise old pappy of my own, and a lot of what he said has stuck with me over the years.

One of the things he told me has been a constant thought with me since my days as a teenager. "Whatever you do, if it's worth doing, do it the best you can." Every song I sing, every person I visit, every relationship I enter…  ( Click for more )

There are risk takers and there are risk takers. Yesterday I met a risk taker. Or, I should say, I came close to meeting a risk taker. She was driving a black pickup truck. She thought she could pass safely with a blind hill ahead. She was right. She could pass safely, but only because I stood on my brakes when I came over the blind hill right at her. Her risk was not just hers but mine as well. Such risk takers are the ones we might deem undesirable.

I met another risk taker last week. She was "shopping" at WalMart. She removed some items from the shelf in one section,…  ( Click for more )

While we were working in Upstate New York with Empire State Evangelizing Association we had the opportunity to develop friendships with people in churches all up and down the Eastern Seaboard states. This included Pennsylvania. One couple, who ministered in a small community in Western Pennsylvania, had us come and speak to their congregation about our work in New York.

While with them, we got to know their young son. Our friends were unable to have children of their own through birth so they had adopted a beautiful little boy and were raising him in the Lord. The little fella…  ( Click for more )

Fishermen and golfers in churches have been arguing for some time concerning which group Jesus would hang out with were He here today. The biggest argument that fishermen give is that Jesus hung out with fishermen before so, it stands to reason, He would do so again today. There is a small problem with that concept of the argument.

The vast majority of fishermen today are hobbyists or sportsmen. They have a day job which pays the bills and fishing is what occupies their free time. While they are passionate about their sport, it is, nonetheless, just a sport for them. Involved…  ( Click for more )