The Parsonal Computer

Father’s Day: A Broader Perspective

Memories of Dad

In His Shoes

What Dad’s Can’t Do

When In Trouble, Call Dad

While kayaking in southern England off the island of Wight, Mark Ashton-Smith, a 33-year-old lecturer at Cambridge University, capsized in treacherous waters.  Clinging to his craft and reaching for his cell phone, Ashton-Smith’s first inclination was to call his father. It didn’t matter to the desperate son that his dad, Alan Pimm-Smith, was at work [...]

The Joy of Forgiveness

According to an often told story, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes series, once decided to play a practical joke on twelve of his friends. To each he sent an anonymous telegram that simply read, “Flee at once . . . all is discovered.” Within twenty-four hours, all twelve had fled the [...]

Don’t Underestimate Your Gifts

 A movie I enjoy is titled, The Rookie. It is based on events in the life of Jimmy Morris, a high school teacher and baseball coach in Big Lake, Texas who became a major-league baseball pitcher. Several of the high school players who had been on the receiving end of Morris’s fastballs encouraged him to [...]

Keep Calm and Seek First

At the beginning of World War II, as the German Army was taking over all of Europe, the people of England became increasingly anxious. The British Ministry of Information issued a series of three posters. Their intent was to assure the nation and keep the nation focused and not give in to fear and panic. [...]

Supported by the Cross

Francis Scott Key wrote “The Star Spangled Banner” in 1814. The original flag measured 42 by 30 feet. It was the immense size of the flag that allowed Key to see it from his position 10 miles out to sea, following a night of gunfire. How could that large a flag fly on a pole [...]

Don’t Stop Talking About It

  Some years ago, the comic strip “Small Society” showed a man talking to his wife. He is saying, “Of course you’re my valentine. Of course I still love you. I’ve just stopped talking about it.” I believe that this is a problem in a lot of marriages today. It’s a problem because, when we [...]