Author: Jeff Hampton

Second Thursday of Advent

From Wilshire Advent Devotions 2017

There we were, faces red, nose-to-nose:

“They haven’t tested the soil and I know it’s contaminated,” he said.

“Yes they have. He showed us the 500-page report,” I answered.

“And I’m going to read it.”

“Then read it and see for yourself and quit saying they haven’t done it.”

If I wasn’t shouting those last words, I was at least talking in a sharp staccato that anyone nearby could have heard. But few people were listening because most were leaving the meeting. They’d had enough.

Continue reading “Be Still and Listen”

Second Wednesday of Advent

Originally posted Friday, December 11, 2009

I went to a production of Dicken’s “A Christmas Carol” at the Dallas Theater Center. It’s a wonderful presentation of the classic tale with a flawless cast, imaginative set design, musical numbers sparingly used at just the right moments, and heart-pounding special effects. But still, it’s the story and words that touched me most.

Continue reading “Christmas Ghosts”

Second Tuesday of Advent

Forty years ago today, John Lennon was shot and killed outside his apartment building in Manhattan. It was a shocking event that took the life of a young husband and father of just 40 years old and changed the course of music history. I was 21 at the time, and for many in my generation and older, it was a “day the music died” along the lines of that day in 1959 when Buddy Holly died.

Continue reading “One True Light”