The young dad, not yet in his mid-30s, sat unsuspectingly in the church pew on that Sunday morning, unaware that the course of his life was about to change. These days, you might think a gun was involved. But there wasn't. Instead, there was a sword. On that summer Sunday in 1994, the pastor pulled…
Has the weight of just a thought ever taken your breath away? Happened to me just this morning. Maybe it's the fact that my daughter's wedding is now less than two months away, and she was in town this past weekend for her first bridal shower. Maybe it's this fact that this afternoon, my wife…
"We're moving your daughter back to the ICU." What?!? Why? The call on my cell phone shattered our somewhat peaceful dinner at the Med Center's cafeteria with dear friends. We ran back to her hospital room as quickly as we could. We had watched her get sicker all day long, with no idea why. Extreme…
There are just two things I want to know when I start hiking a trail. Where does it go? And how hard will it be? For me, the trail is a metaphor for life. For the passage of time. For choices made and not made. I'm also fascinated by the fact that inverting just two…
What do you see in this picture? I'll tell you what I see. Centerpieces. Twenty-three of them, to be exact. To be sure, they're not ready yet to go on the tables at my daughter's wedding reception next March. But it's not something that 25 minutes and a chainsaw can't fix. If there's one thing…
Running a race. The phrase paints a lot of mental pictures, doesn't it? Men and women, all dressed in bright colors, running on the same track, in the same direction, at the same time. Someone wins, the rest lose. Then there are the marathon runners. Twenty-six-point-two miles of just you and the course. Running alone.…
Working out. Investing. In a life lived for God, they're pretty much the same thing.
Ordinarily, we want our children to obey authority, right? Well, there was one time when it almost didn't work out so well.... During a family trip to Washington DC one Spring Break many moons ago, we came to a stop on the Metro near the Smithsonian Museums, and our entire 8-person group started the processional of…
While we're on the theme of grandparents..... What does a seven-year-old like better then a ride around town with Grandpa in his pickup truck on a Saturday afternoon? Not much, especially when that drive includes a stop at Dairy Queen for ice cream or McDonald's for some fries. So it was for me on a…
Don't lie, you love to do this too. Sitting in a coffee shop on a Saturday morning writing this blog post, I'm taking in everything that's going on around me. Couples are enjoying each other's company. Young families are grabbing some breakfast before their youth sports game of choice (baseball and soccer seem to be…
Mike G. Smith 