I just got back from a weekend spent in Monteagle, Tennessee. Monteagle is a town located on the top (elev. 1923 ft) of the Cumberland plateau in middle Tennessee. It is a great little college town (home to Sewannee, The University of the South, an excellent small, private, Episcopal university). Right outside of town is one of the trail heads …
Presentation to Spring Station Middle School PTO
Just got back from a really enjoyable visit with the folks at Spring Station Middle School (http://www.wcs.edu/sstms/). If you haven’t seen the Summit High School/Spring Station Middle School campus, it is this new, beautiful, modern school complex out in the rolling pastures of central Tennessee! Unfortunately for me, it is WAY down south in the county while my office is …
The Heart and Soul of the Next Generation by Michael Bradley
I get really emotional thinking about people who make heroic sacrifices. It is something that maintains my hope in humanity. The odd thing is I am not talking about the heroes you read about in the news. You are not likely to hear of the ones I mean. They are quiet and unassuming. Their heroism is the ordinary, profound sort …
Home as a Spiritual Center
Sunday was my final visit with Reverend Mack and the folks at Trinity Church. Kim and I got to witness the baptism of two new members of the church and partake in the observance of the Lord’s supper. For those unfamiliar with this Christian ceremony the Lord’s Supper is a sharing of bread and grape juice (in place of wine) …
Home As A Trauma Center
Let’s see. I’m on my third visit with the folks at Trinity Church and so far I’ve sweated in terror, laughed a lot and, now, cried. (I had this terrible fear I was channeling Jimmy Swaggart from back in my neck of the woods.) Why cried you wonder? Because I talked of my beloved grandmother; my beloved DEAD grandmother. That’s …
Home As A Training Place
This was week 2 of being a part of the church service at Trinity Church (www.trinityspringhill.org). This week Mack used Proverbs 22:6 to frame the discussion of the importance of training kids to be happy, loving and responsible adults who truly know God. He focused on the importance of intentional parenting in fostering honesty; genuine, emotionally intimate relationships; benevolence and …
Home as a Safe Place
Mack Strange (with the gracious tolerance of the good folks at Trinity Church in Spring Hill, Tennessee invited me to sit in on their service over the next several weeks as Mack talks about the importance of the home as a place of safety, training, trauma recovery and spiritual growth. My role was to say some things about what parents …