Overhearing a colleague on campus the other day, I couldn’t help but laugh. Someone had asked her where she bought her sandwich. Her answer came quickly: “Jeff’s. It’s the Mad Shepp!” The reply was immediate and teasing: “I didn’t know they let women in there.” After the laughter subsided—and the tears from laughing so hard …
Category: Habits
For Good
On a drive through south-central Kentucky, it’s not uncommon to lose a radio signal while passing through a holler tucked between rocky cliffs. Yes, I still sometimes listen to that now-archaic format of music sent across the airwaves. And for younger generations, losing a radio signal often means losing a cellphone signal too. For that …
Grit and Grace
As a longtime fan of crime procedurals, I’ve watched more than my fair share of Law & Order (and its many spin‑offs) over the past twenty‑five years. I’ve often found myself quoting that iconic opening narration: “In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups… These are their …
Wasted Sports
I’ve been thinking a lot about aging lately. Not in a dramatic, mid‑life‑crisis sort of way—more like a quiet realization that sneaks up on you when you’re not paying attention. It happens in ordinary moments. A familiar ache in the knee. A student calling the 1990s “the olden days.” Or, most recently, the startling awareness …
Flourish Together
How do you know when you are trusting God’s timing and not your own? If hindsight were equal to foresight, the answer might come easily. But if I could see the future, there would be no need for faith—no need to rely on God. This Paradoxical Life often rattles my thinking and leaves me confused. …
Third Verse
Imagine this scenario from the perspective of someone who would rather be behind the stage than on it—anything to avoid being the person in front. It’s commencement day. Excitement hums through the air as graduates celebrate this milestone. Faculty in full regalia line up, ready to enter the chapel. Our main concern? That the sweet …
Me-First Attitude
If you pose a question like, “What are your thoughts on the current college transfer rules?” you’re almost guaranteed to spark a lively debate about the state of intercollegiate athletics—especially on a campus where nearly 80 percent of students are athletes. Teach in a sport-related discipline, and the intensity rises: not only are most students …
Rag Drawer
Perhaps you call it something else—the place where worn-out shirts and frayed washcloths go to linger in a kind of suspended animation until summoned for duty as a dust rag or a soft cloth for waxing the car. Maybe it lives near your Junk Drawer or in some other tucked-away spot, but it serves a …
Not an Expert
Yazoo, Mississippi—If reading those words fails to bring to your mind a rich southern drawl sharing the stories of Marcel Ledbetter and coon hunting, then you did not have the same rich childhood that I did growing up in the 1970s. But guess what? You do not have to miss out, because you can Just …
Appreciative Examen
Are you a math person or a language person? Perhaps, like me, you might rate yourself somewhere in between, similar to what is described in a previous post about being a Lark, Owl or Third Bird. Providing information in a numerical format seems easier for me to remember, but words also matter. Ask me to …
Flourishing @ Life 