I can’t let this day close without mention of some dear good friends in the Bay Area of California. South Bay Church celebrated its first anniversary this morning, and 319 people attended.
That’s a new record for this church.
I’ve had the privilege of being part of this church during a few visits, and one of my best friends, Archie, is …

Each week I have coffee with a close friend of mine. The day varies a little from week to week, but this week that meeting was this morning.
Or at least, it was supposed to be this morning.
I went to bed last night convinced it was Tuesday night. I woke up this morning when the alarm clock went off …

Though I am a Gamecock, having graduated from the USC, which no one but its graduates know means the University of South Carolina and not the University of Southern California, I am not a particularly big USC football fan.
This is mostly because every time I try to watch a game and actually attempt to get into it, USC generally loses.  …

In 2008, the day after Labor Day wasn’t such a happy day for me.  For purely selfish reasons.
That was the day one of my closest friends, Archie, along with his amazing wife Rebekah and their great dog, Capo, left Charleston on a cross-country trek to a new home in Northern California and a new mission: to help start a new …

This week’s Monday’s Morals question asked about a scenario I found myself in several years ago.  I was essentially accused of “double booking” with two of my friends.
(Here’s the question, and if you’d like to play, it’s never too late…just click that link and leave your answer!)
“Friend A” invited me over to his house to hang out for the afternoon.  …

If you look at the reaction of some Michael Jackson fans, you’d think they lost a family member.  Or their best friend.
I find this quite peculiar.
I think Jackson was an amazing performer, even though he wasn’t my absolute favorite by any means.  I recognize that he, like many other entertainers, have extremely loyal fans, the kind who’ll hear virtually anything …

Chris, over at Signal 46, published a quote from motivational speaker Jennifer James.  This snippet nearly lept off the screen and smacked me in the face:
“If you cannot love yourself, you will not believe that you are loved. You will always think it’s a mistake or luck.”
Still feeling a little sting from that one.
In fact, I had lunch with one …

Last week, I mentioned the loss of a dear friend. It was a man who I had come to consider a “second dad.”  After his death, his wife, Linda, a columnist, political writer and novelist, whom I’ve quoted many times in the past, wrote the following column as a tribute to her husband, and after reading it, I asked her …

I received a call I was hoping wouldn’t come for some time on Wednesday afternoon.  It came from my friend Chip, one of those rare friends who is more like family.
Chip’s dad, Dennis, had passed away in his sleep early Wednesday morning.
Several years ago, Dennis suffered a massive stroke following what was supposed to be a fairly routine medical procedure.  …

Among relatively new words that have entered the language over the past few years is bromance.
It has nothing to do with homosexuality, for those of you who have managed to avoid it.  It’s all about close male friendship.
Girls almost always have a close female friend who they like to hang out with, who they feel they can trust completely and …

There are days when God is clearly trying to tell me something.  This past Sunday, the pastor, Paul, talked about our need to keep things focused on God.
Focus.
Yeah, I’m guilty of having allowed things to get a little blurry at times.  Not through too much alcohol but through too much worry.  The message really spoke to me, and I’m trying …

It’s easy to find porn on the internet.  Unfortunately, it’s a little too easy to find it when you’re not even looking for it.  Clicking on the wrong link on an otherwise-innocent looking webpage can easily transport you to a site that you didn’t mean to visit.
Under normal conditions, you can just click the little “X” and close the window …

Today, February 7, 2009, is the fifth anniversary of this blog. The very first post, “About the Owner,” made its debut on this date in 2004.
I am the first to admit that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing when I started this blog.  I had a modest little logo and a mostly light gray background.  From …

On Monday, I wrote a bit about my big trip to visit my friends Archie and Rebekah and the South Bay Church team.  I ended that post by mentioning having gotten a “required” shot during the trip.  I’m sure, considering that San Francisco was part of the trip, everyone immediately imagined which “little” landmark I was referring to.
So, here are …

If you’ve caught a few references to it over the past week, you’ll know that I’m just back from a big trip to California.  Yeah, imagine me on a plane for five hours!
The purpose of the trip was to visit my friends Archie and Rebekah and to assist them and the rest of the team at South Bay Church in …

Not that I expected anyone to actually miss me for the few days I was blog-silent, but I’m back now.  And I’m back with a valid excuse.
Last Thursday, I got on a plane, something I almost never do because I have a phobia about planes, and made my way to the opposite end of the country, to visit my friends …

“I’m fairly sure that if you took porn off the internet, there’d only be one website left and it’d be called, ‘Bring Back the Porn.’” — Dr. Perry Cox, Scrubs

So it’s time for a little honesty, even if it’s a little painful.
This may come as a shock to some of you, particularly of the female variety, but when men are …

I hope everyone had a great Christmas last week, and that you got everything you were asking for.  I had a nice holiday, using up the last two days of 2008 vaction time on Wednesday and Friday of last week, giving myself a nice 5-day weekend.
Everyone should get a five-day weekend for Christmas.  There ought to be a law.
Over the …