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After 30 months of agonizing preparation, countless prayers and the support of many who stood by me and helped me, I am now in a new house. I am thrilled for the fresh start in a place untainted by difficult memories, many brought on by the death of my mate and companion of 40 years. Unlike [...] I am posting this older article today both in memory and in honor of Allen Etheridge and Paul Harrison, two of my high school classmates (Crossett High School Class of 1963) who gave their lives in Vietnam. May God bless their families today. —– We stood side-by-side, my son and I, gazing at the small photograph on [...] 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 [...] Childhood is incredibly fragile and fleeting. And though its passage can be gauged in finite increments of months and years, parents easily identify with the “first times” which punctuate their memories. Some, such as first words and first steps, are rarely forgotten. Still, a subtle exchange is underway as “first times” are seamlessly displaced by “last [...] “Now you know that Saturday morning is when we go to the lumber company, don’t you? They have gum and candy machines, so we’ll need to take our money.” Thus spoke the young man to his tiny three-day-old son–and our first grandchild. In bygone years, whenever I’d yell, “Let’s go to the lumber company,” Barrett’s response [...] A curious event in Genesis 48 demonstrates how God’s work in us is never really over. Joseph was about 56 years old, and his father, Jacob, was dying. As was the custom, Jacob called for Joseph’s two sons so he could bestow the patriarchal blessing upon them. Joseph carefully placed the young men in front of [...] “I’d like to live my life over again,” some assert, “if I could just know what I know now.” Not me! Nevertheless, I’ve purposely relived a few brief hours this past week through a number of old video tapes I’m trying to convert to more durable DVD. We loved our Jenny intensely in life, but the films [...] My dad had two fears: the nursing home and a long-winded speaker at his funeral. He avoided the first; the jury still debates the second. The call from his apartment building came unexpectedly on Thursday morning. “Your dad has passed out and has no blood pressure.” But when I got there minutes later, he had revived. [...] War’s gruesome visage snarls from flickering screens with bone-chilling horror. And with each explosion, every flash, the cost of freedom visibly manifests itself through death and destruction–right before our eyes. Not many years ago I stood in poignant reflection as a mother decorated the grave of her son killed in battle at age 18. The ever-youthful [...] |
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Copyright 2010 James McAlister - All Rights Reserved |
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