“His moral authority was apparently stuck, like an oil-soaked T-shirt down in the sump pump, and this made it hard to control the flooding in this elder-meeting basement of his” (Evangellyfish, p. 145).
Mature Authority
“The problem is not that right-handed, straight-line authority is evil — it is most necessary for Congress, judges, soldiers, policemen, and parents teaching toddlers. But it is not the most mature expression of authority, and to believe that it is the only kind of authority for both mature and immature means that one is a …
A Country Song or Two
“His many late hours spent in acquiring this valuable profit-and-loss expertise were a large part of the reason that his wife Mary was currently spending assorted hours in the arms of another man. A country song or two has been written about this kind of thing, and the Arkansas poet who wrote them knows whereof …
Something That Happens Sometimes
“For example, many women push their husbands to make a decision, and then they push some more. After pushing a little more after that, the husband finally — in an ‘all right, all right’ kind of way — makes a decision to go in that direction. The wife knows that he is only doing this …
Garish and Overdone
“But of course the black eye would make him look that way whether he was or not. It was a garish, overdone display, about a quarter of an acre, with deep magenta and black and a few isolated blue stripes. That is what had happened when Pastor John Mitchell had extended the right hand of …
Where He Is Supposed to Go
“Many a wife desperately wants her husband to be a ‘spiritual leader,’ but only to the extent that he leads where she thinks he should be going” (For a Glory and a Covering, p. 75).
A Blinking Fuel Gauge
“Finally, after repeating several phrases unnecessarily (the sermonic equivalent of a blinking fuel gauge), John decided that he had to wrap up. He didn’t feel any better. He felt like he had just tried to give a tar baby a bath in vegetable oil. Lester didn’t look any cleaner, and John just felt gunked” (Evangellyfish, …
Crossfodder
“The way we live reflects whether or not we know that God has been gracious to us in Christ. We live by grace or we live by works. We live by grace married or we live by works married. If the former, the result is gratitude for the ongoing kindness of God. If the latter, …
Like Everybody Ought to be Doing
“He wasn’t thinking three chess moves ahead like a man in his position really ought to be doing” (Evangellyfish, p. 138).
It Shouldn’t Rinse Off
“Helping is not effeminate. If a man’s masculinity washes off in dishwater, then it was a pretty superficial masculinity” (For a Glory and a Covering, p. 73).