Whispers of Truth

A few weeks ago one of my former students met with me for coffee and some conversation to catch up on what’s happened since I last saw her at her high school graduation. The meeting stemmed from her asking for some advice/help with one of her papers, an offer I had left open for my students whenever they had a need or a question while in college. Honestly, most don’t take me up on it, but a few have along the way. Sometimes their confidence just needs a boost, a reminding of the things they already know but have forgotten. College assignments can quickly become overwhelming, very similar to the life for which college is preparing them in their chosen fields.  My sweet student gifted me with a beautiful book that she had signed, dated, and embossed. Then she excitedly told me what it said and that the embosser was mine. An embosser is often a very small press that through pressure creates a raised design or a seal onto a piece of paper. This type of seal validates the authenticity of a

Southerners are known for their long goodbyes.   This isn’t news. We love to visit at length with our friends, whether it be at church, in the yard, at a chance meeting in town, or at a restaurant over a meal. Letting the conversation go, leaving the ones we love, involves separation. During the pandemic that has spanned more than a year-and-a-half, the rare chances we have to spend together are even more precious to us and the leaving even harder to come by when we have them because the reality of not being sure of our next chance to be together in person, much less our next breath, is even more real. Jesus’ leaving took time too.  His disciples didn’t really have their feet under them yet . . . three and one-half years isn’t enough time to understand what He was trying to teach them—it would take their lifetimes to begin scratching beneath the surface of what He had planted in them. He had to leave to accomplish His purpose; He had to say goodbye for them to be able to understand an