Category Archives: Humor

TWO BROTHERS AND ONE MAD DOG

Christian Discipleship, History, Humor, Small Town America, Wisdom, , , , ,

I am eternally grateful for the spiritual heritage and upbringing I received from my family.  Passed down to me and to my siblings was the truth about Jesus Christ, and a solid faith in His Word.  My parents took seriously the biblical admonition from Deuteronomy 11:19: “You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

But spiritual precepts are not all that my family passed down to us.  Oral history is a part of the fabric of our family.  The following is another excerpt from a book I am presently penning about my late father, Coolidge Sims.  His last days in an assisted living center gave me a brief season to hear him again rehearse the stories of his childhood that I had heard all of my life.  One evening in June of 2012, I joined Dad for supper in the dining hall of his final residence, The Oaks.

Our conversation that memorable evening includes his version of one of my favorite family stories.  Enjoy!

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SID IN THE SPIRIT

Biblical Truth, Christian Discipleship, History, Humor, Spiritual Growth, ,

“Make no mistake about it, I believe in the supernatural– miracles, dreams and visions.  Yes, to believe in the God of the Bible is to believe in His ability to do “anything.”  But not everything that God does looks like a miraculous healing, a dream or a vision. His agenda is much deeper than that.  He is most interested in transforming lives– resurrecting the spiritually dead to new life in Christ.

Here is the question:  If God can do anything, then can He also use anyone in getting His message across?  You’d better believe it!  Have you ever read the biblical story of Balaam and his donkey?  In the Autumn of 1978  I clearly saw it first hand.  I’ll never forget the night I had a brief encounter with a bona fide “hippy” named Sid.  Here’s the story.

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SNAKE DOCTORS, AND ALL THINGS SOUTHERN

History, Humor, Small Town America, ,

Recently I found myself enjoying the company of a friendly group of millennials relaxing together outdoors on a late summer afternoon. In the middle of our light conversation a duo of iridescent dragonflies made a sudden appearance.  The brilliant green and electric blue colors were dazzling in the afternoon sunlight.  For a few seconds no one said a word.  Then, before I could catch myself, I simply uttered out loud, “Look, snake doctors….”  

 It even surprised me.  I hadn’t said the two words “snake doctor” together in as sentence since my childhood.  The young people who heard me glanced at one another telegraphing giant question marks by their facial expressions.  All I could say was, “Oh, sorry, that’s what I called dragonflies when I was a child.”   Of course, a millennial had to ask the inevitable question, “Why?”

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TRAIN TUNNEL ROULETTE

Christian Discipleship, Humor, Small Town America, Wisdom, , , ,

Have you ever heard of Russian roulette?  Russian roulette is a wicked game (usually a drinking game) to “test one’s bravery.”  If you’re lucky, nothing will happen and you get to live to see another day. If you aren’t you move immediately to the afterlife. (I’m not sure what happens if you chicken out, but most likely it’s fatal.)

Let me be clear– I’ve never played that game, nor would I ever play it.  But have I taken stupid chances?  Have I played Russian roulette with thoughtless decision-making?  You’d  better believe I have– especially when I was young and “invincible.”  What comes to my mind is a series of events that occurred during a camping trip with four teenaged friends– at a place in the Talladega National Forest we simply called “The Train Tunnel.”

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EPIC FAIL – THE REST OF THE STORY

Christian Discipleship, Humor, , , ,
  • Last week’s “Epic Fail” post got more blog site comments and Facebook shares than almost any other in the past year.  And still the whole story has not been told. Like the Happy Days TV show in the seventies, there are multiple spin-off stories surrounding our epic fail.  If you haven’t read the Epic Fail post, read it first, then this post will make sense.  If you’re one of those who are still laughing at our epic fail (and feeling sorry for poor Pastor Benny) then hold on– the ride continues.

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