A Driveway Moment for McCain

20 07 , 2017 3 Comments

McCain

I pulled into the driveway, dropped my head to the steering wheel and wept a hurricane of tears.

I wept for Senator John McCain. I have stood in the room in Hanoi where he was imprisoned, saw the photos of the POWs of Vietnam. I’ve heard so many first-hand accounts from the men and women who served in Vietnam I could write one a day and never run out. There are terrible stories of young men crying out for their mothers as they drew their last breaths. Stories of civilians injured and dying. Collateral damage, they call it. It’s a term, instead of a story. A statistic of war, instead of someone’s daughter or son.

read more

On the Jagged Edge of Life

17 07 , 2017 No Comments

Child

Gina remembers being hungry a lot as a youngster. It’s something that sticks with a person, that desperation, even years after the hunger has been satiated. Go hungry as a child and that’s what you’ll remember of your childhood, the way you had to scrape for food.

Lots of times the only food in the house was canned goods from the food pantry. God bless those food pantries and the people who contribute to them. Sometimes those bags of groceries are the only thing keeping a child hoping for a better life one day. Otherwise, they might just give up and stop breathing.

read more

That Devil Church in Town

14 07 , 2017 No Comments

Tifton. 2017 012

 

 

“Do you know about the devil church here in town?” she asked.

“Whaaaatttt?” I replied.

“Yeah, the devil worship church. You know the one across town.”

“Uh…noooooo. I’m not familiar with any devil worshipping churches.”

“It’s over there, you know, by that school.”

“No. Where did you hear about this?”

“At school. Some of the teachers go to that church.”

“The devil-worshipping church?”

read more

Jack Hyles’s Legacy: Donald Trump

05 07 , 2017 3 Comments

Tifton. 2017 030

 

As I’ve been working on this next book – a true crime murder story – I have found myself doing some research on a church in Indiana. Perhaps you are familiar with First Baptist of Hammond, Indiana?

Oddly enough, I spent time in Hammond in the summer of 1978. I was serving as a summer missionary with the Southern Baptist Church. I have to tell you, that summer I spent in Indiana and Michigan was a discerning one. I got to see up close and personal a lot of troubling things about the business of saving souls. I met some wonderful people but I became keenly aware of how all the money funneled upwards. The closer one got to the headquarters in Indianapolis,  the bigger the expense account became.

read more

Victory Drive-In and other Sidelong Summer Jobs

03 07 , 2017 5 Comments

Victory Drive In

Fewer kids are seeking summer employment, so say the reports. According to The Atlantic there’s a good reason why fewer kids are seeking summer employment:

Education is to blame, rather than indolence. Teens are remaining in high school longer, going to college more often, and taking more summer classes. The percent of recent high-school graduates enrolled in college—both two-year and four-year—has grown by 25 percentage points. That is almost exactly the decline in the teenage labor-force participation rate.

read more