When I was learning to play tennis as a young teenager, I used what most of us did back then, an aluminum racket. These were quite a bit heavier than the various ones you can get rather inexpensively today, like the graphite rackets I bought for our girls. I play with a much better material these days when I do get out to the courts, one I couldn't have been trusted with in my early days.
Ignoring Insults and Pretending to Be Rich
When I was a kid my older brothers unrelentingly teased me. Today I don't remember what they teased me about. I was a pretty normal kid. Maybe a little wimpy, but I couldn't say I made a natural target for teasing, except that I was the youngest. I would retaliate by tattling about anything and everything. When I would complain about my brothers' teasing, my mother's reply was always the same, "Just ignore them."
The Friendship and the Fear
A repeated theme in Proverbs is the personification of wisdom, how she calls out inviting the simple into understanding. We live in the information age, yet for many, wisdom is elusive. With the Internet, there are boundless opportunities for learning, but there is also the proliferation of inaccuracy. Wisdom still calls.
Oil, Honey and Eyelashes
In high school I had a serious girlfriend for about two years. As serious as a relationship can get in high school, I suppose. By the way, this relationship is one among myriad reasons for not allowing our girls to date until after high school.
Beast and the Beauty
My second annual review at my first church in Toledo was a hard one to receive. The first year, that honeymoon year, had gone quite well. The second year not as much.
