A lesson from a waiter who saved a man’s life

Categories: Loving Your Neighbor

The other day, a friend and I went to lunch at the State Farmer’s Market Restaurant, and when I stepped inside, I noticed a sign taped to the wall. On it was a picture of waiter Brian Stewart, and it said something about him being a hero for saving a customer’s life. I didn’t get a chance to read it, but I wasn’t going to leave without hearing the story. Brian is hard to miss in the sea of customers eating country cooking and sipping sweet tea. He’s tall and lanky, with long braids that complement his long arms. (There’s…

Looking for God outside the in-crowd

Categories: Loving Your NeighborTags:

In seventh grade, the worst 15 minutes of my day were the first 15 minutes. It was the moment when I got off the school bus and faced the challenge of finding a group of boys to hang out with until the bell rang. It was a high stakes game of fitting in and I was usually losing. Outside the building were circles of kids standing around talking, reflecting their places in the social hierarchy. There was the popular crew, the druggies, the “trashy” kids, the smart girls, the “band nerds,” and the handful of African American kids in our…

A racially tinged comment about my wife — a lesson in forgiveness

Categories: Loving Your NeighborTags: · ·

I was at a holiday party talking with a friend when I overheard a woman behind me say the name of my wife in a conversation. I naturally started listening in and then realized that the woman, a friendly acquaintance, was talking about Raquel’s ethnicity. “I’ll tell you what,” said the woman snidely with a laugh, “she looks like a Mexican if you ask me!” (Raquel is Puerto Rican).

Jesus appeared in two courtrooms — one in Mississippi, one in Texas

Categories: Loving Your Neighbor

On the night of February 7, 2003, Coco and David Treppendahl got the news that no parent ever wants to hear: their 19-year-old daughter, Laura Treppendahl, had been killed by a drunk driver as she drove home from a Bible study. The driver, one of Laura’s fellow students at the University of Mississippi, had just driven away from a bar in an SUV with eight passengers inside. Within minutes of leaving, he sideswiped one car and then ran head-on into Laura, who died at the scene of the accident.

What happened when I finally confronted my sixth-grade teacher after 28 years

Categories: Loving Your NeighborTags: ·

The sky was dark outside of Petal Middle School because of a torrential rainstorm that was bearing down on our small town. All of the students were rushing to avoid the rain – all of them except me. I stopped by the gutter where water was gushing over the edges, put my head under the waterfall, drenched my hair, and then slicked it back. I thought it was hilarious. My teacher did not. When I walked into class, my teacher saw my soaking wet hair and loudly ordered me to get out of the room. I walked across the hallway…

I went on a search for my fifth-grade teacher (here’s what I found)

Categories: Loving Your NeighborTags: · · ·

As I clicked “publish” on my blog post, I had a faint hope that I would find my fifth-grade English teacher, Ms. Saucier. The blog post was titled “If Jesus were a fifth-grade teacher.” I had lost touch with Ms. Saucier several years before and despite online searches, I had come up with nothing. The blog post was both a tribute and a last-ditch effort to find her.

Feeling drained by a relationship? Try this.

Categories: Loving Your NeighborTags: · · ·

Several years ago, I made friends with a guy who volunteered at the same organization as me. He seemed like he wanted to be good friends, but he didn’t act like much of one. Sometimes he passive aggressively insulted me; other times he flattered me. He could be aloof, and then he could be clingy. But I stuck around because we had known each other for a while, and I felt like I owed it to him.

Lessons learned from running through the airport with a Christmas ham

Categories: Loving Your NeighborTags: · · ·

It was Christmas Day of 2002 and I boarded a flight to Milwaukee with a ham as a carry-on. The ham was a gift from my mom to my ham-loving brother. The ham was in a box, which I put in the overhead compartment next to my bag, and then waited to take off. Unfortunately, though, we sat on the tarmac for 45 minutes, raising the risk of me missing my connecting flight in Detroit.

What happened when I said “thank you” to an unpopular cop

Categories: Loving Your NeighborTags: · · · · · ·

One time, I met a D.C. traffic-directing cop in the line at the mall and I remarked how dangerous her job was. “I mean, people in D.C. drive so crazy,” I said. “You could get killed.” “Oh no,” she said, “don’t feel sorry for me. Feel sorry for the people in parking enforcement. They get screamed at, spat on, cursed out – you name it. It’s horrible.”