Jeff Hampton – Page 46 – Jeff Hampton, Writer

January 18, 2024

Box Seats and City Streets

For Wilshire Baptist Church

Coming home from the Dallas Symphony on Friday night, we were in the dark on Kingsley Road just east of I-635 when we came upon a man in a wheelchair in the middle of the street. We slowed down to let him cross but stopped completely when we found he wasn’t crossing at all but was purposefully blocking traffic. What’s more, he was taunting and provoking us, wagging a finger at our car and the others beside and behind us as if calling us out for some undefined crime. To my knowledge, the only crime we had committed was living our lives.

January 11, 2024

Happy Prayerful New Year

For Wilshire Baptist Church

Okay, I’ve broken one of the unwritten laws of blogging: I haven’t said anything about the new year. We’re 11 days into 2024 and I’ve not talked about resolutions. I’ve not talked about the year just ended and my hopes for the new year. I’ve not even written “Happy New Year.” So, I better fulfill my obligations.

January 4, 2024

Preparing Room

For Wilshire Baptist Church

“It looks like home again.” That’s the comment one of us made last weekend after we put much of Christmas away while watching bowl games on TV. The latter was made all the easier after I took down the garland swags that were crowding the TV cabinet above the fireplace.

Not that we don’t love the decorations of Christmas. We do, and we go all out compared to some. In the carol “Joy to the World,” we sing “prepare Him room,” and we do that in every room of our house and outside as well, which means there is a lot to pack up and put away when Christmas is over.