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A stone presented a formidable problem that first resurrection morning. Massive and threatening, it blocked the entrance to Jesus’ tomb for the women needing to anoint His body. “Who will move it for us?” they puzzled–but found no answer. When they arrived at the garden, however, astonishment gripped their hearts. The stone had already been set [...] I write this on the eve of Father’s Day–my first as a grandfather and my son’s first as a father. Thus I evaluate fatherhood by my own experience, both failure and success, and offer a few characteristics of the ideal father I wish I had better exhibited: Fathers go to work when they don’t want to, [...] After its conception as a holy celebration in the second century, Easter was not always celebrated on Sunday as it is today. But when it should be celebrated has been a source of controversy and confusion that continues even until today. The current rules that determine the date of Easter originated in A.D. 325 at the [...] What connects a spool of thread, a battery, a bottle of aspirin and a small dog bone? Fabricate an interlocking story–and write it. That was the seemingly impossible assignment for the four couples at our Valentine banquet table. For what could these unrelated items have in common? Here's the masterpiece (fiction, of course) produced by the [...] Regular readers know our daughter Jenny, who died unexpectedly in October 1995. So in honor of Father’s Day, I share this brief essay about her that I prepared for a writing contest. And to that I add a few journal snippets from Father’s Days past. One question stabs many husbands with increasing intensity as the time draws near: what should I get my wife for her birthday? Not me. Every year my wife thoughtfully formulates a special request–whatever she pleases–for her birthday. Once she selflessly asked me to donate $100 to a favorite charity in her honor. Another year she desired [...] Chirrup. Chirrup. Chirrup. At precisely 4:58 p.m. each day, staccato beeps persistently interrupt my activity. Perhaps because technology has enabled them, alarms impinge upon my life more than ever before. During college, there was but one: Thunder Lizard, my alarm clock. The tone and timbre of that faithful herald of dawn suggested a bucket of bolts [...] I gaze at two differing pictures of Christmas. The first, a photograph my wife discovered tucked away in an old book, hints of the 1940s. It's Christmas morning, and five smiling children radiate the pleasure of having a few simple gifts arrayed before them, fully satisfied. Curiously, I recall but one Christmas present of my own [...] Should we pay taxes to Caesar? A group of hostile religious leaders once posed this simple question to Jesus, intending to ensnare Him into a likewise simple answer of either "yes" or "no." Calling for a common silver coin, Jesus responded with a question of His own about that coin. "Whose likeness and inscription does it [...] Flipping though the scrapbook pages of our memories just a week ago turned up images of several mothers. Page one opened at Deal Cemetery in Ladelle, Ark. Mary's mother, grandmother and great-grandmother are all buried there. And though never a mother herself, our daughter Jenny occupies a spot as well, awaiting the ultimate arrival of her mother [...] |
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Copyright 2012 James McAlister - All Rights Reserved |
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