Thinking Critically . . . Acting Faithfully
Bill Jones muses about Baptists, faith, ethics, justice, politics . . . and more
(Scroll to the end for links to my previous 9 blog tributes to Joanna since her passing.) This time of year – Thanksgiving week and the days following – have had an extra-special meaning for our family through the years. This year, Travis’s birthday – November 25 – fell on Thanksgiving Day. He turned 36. Read more . . .
(Scroll down for links to my previous 8 blog tributes to Joanna since her passing.) Joanna passed away 9 months ago today on Feb. 14. Somehow, the days, weeks, and months keep moving along, and I keep half-expecting to see Joanna “reappear” around every corner I turn, even though I know that’s not going to Read more . . .
(Editor’s note: David Sallee – then president of William Jewell College in Liberty, MO, since retired – wrote this post originally, at my request, as a “Baptist Reflections” article for the Texas Baptists Committed Web site, published on October 17, 2008. It is republished here, verbatim, in its entirety. The principles that David sets forth Read more . . .
Forty years ago tonight – October 7, 1981, Joanna and I were celebrating my promotion to management as a supervisor with Mountain Bell Telephone Company in Denver. It was an exciting time, a meaningful achievement. So how did I get to that point? When I was in college, being a manager/supervisor with the phone company Read more . . .
(Scroll down for links to my previous blog tributes to Joanna since her passing.) It’s been 7 months since I lost the love of my life, and it isn’t getting any easier – for me or my kids and grandkids. Some have said that grief is a weird thing, in that it affects us in Read more . . .
(Scroll down for links to my previous blog tributes to Joanna since her passing.) September 4, 1976, 3 p.m., University Baptist Church, Shawnee, Oklahoma. Joanna and I were married 45 years ago today. We couldn’t have imagined last year, when we ate out at Sushi Marquee to celebrate our 44th anniversary, that it would be Read more . . .
(Scroll to the end for links to my previous blog tributes to Joanna since her passing.) For the past few months, our church’s parish nurse has been sending me a series of books about grief. The third in that series arrived today. In the letter accompanying it, she urged me to grieve at my own Read more . . .
On August 5, 1921 – 100 years ago today – Harold Arlin of Pittsburgh’s KDKA Radio took a box seat behind home plate in Forbes Field and became the first radio baseball broadcaster, EVER! He called play-by-play of the game between the Pirates and their cross-state rivals, the Philadelphia Phillies. To read The History Channel’s Read more . . .
(Scroll down for links to my previous blog tributes to Joanna since her passing.) Friends who have lost their longtime spouses through death tell me it eventually gets easier . . . but only with the passage of time . . . years, in some cases. Daddy lived 10 years after Mother passed away. I Read more . . .
EDITOR’S NOTE: George Mason preached this sermon on July 4, 2004, the first time Joanna and I visited Wilshire Baptist Church (we soon became members). Our previous church had given itself over completely to nationalistic fervor on patriotic holidays – America first, Jesus . . . we’ll get back to you next week. George’s sermon Read more . . .