Blog – Jeff Hampton, Writer

A few weeks ago on Sunday morning, Wilshire’s Nova ensemble sang a rousing rendition of the old gospel song “Unclouded Day.” We know from the opening line that it’s about heaven, and I’m glad to know that because I’m not so keen on unclouded days, at least not where I live right now. I’ll gladly take partly cloudy days.

I do love the crisp, often-cloudless, deep blue skies of winter, but here in late July and early August in North Texas, the cloudless skies are a sickly pale yellow produced by the heat dome that sits over our region this time of year. It’s as if the sun has gotten so close to the earth that its corona of heat and radiation has bled over into our atmosphere. It’s ugly to look at, and the intense heat is dangerous to just about every living creature.

July 23, 2026

The Man on the Curb

For Wilshire Baptist Church

On a recent Saturday evening, we went to Office Depot to replenish LeAnn’s supply of name tags for her preschool Sunday school class. The tags are a common style with a color border and plenty of white space to write a child’s first name. They’re perfect for the children’s friends, teachers and worship-hour volunteers to know who they are and call them by name.

My little job on Sunday mornings – before I go to the third floor to play with the grownups – is to tape the name tags at a kid’s-eye level on both sides of the door frame in alphabetical order. That way they get to find their own name tag and proudly identify themselves when they enter the room.

July 16, 2026

Come on Morning

For Wilshire Baptist Church

We’re surrounded by clocks at our house. They help us keep track of where we are in our daily schedules, and they remind us how much there is still to be done. They also keep us on our toes, because while some clocks keep perfect time, some not so much.

We have three antique clocks, each with its own peculiarities. The oldest, a mid-19th century portico clock, keeps great time but something happened and the chimes don’t stay in sync. We have it in our bedroom, and if I woke in the night I could count the gentle “tings” and know how much more time I had to sleep. Now, chiming 10:00 when it’s only 3:00 isn’t any help.