Blog – Page 105 – Jeff Hampton, Writer

August 18, 2020

2020*

For Wilshire Baptist Church

Well finally, most of the collegiate athletic conferences have decided whether or not they’ll play football this fall, given the uncertainties of COVID-19. Meanwhile, all the major pro sports leagues except football have returned to live action but without fans, and the NFL plans to kick off in September. But when the history of their bubble-wrapped seasons is written, there likely will be an asterisk next to the year 2020*. What’s more, for every team and individual player, there will be additional asterisks indicating that hits and runs, touchdowns and tackles, field goals and free throws were fewer than usual due to the shortened season and perhaps even the absence of fans and all the energy and motivation they contribute.

August 11, 2020

Give a Little

For Wilshire Baptist Church

With nothing happening on-site at church lately, we’ve been trying to patch some things together that look and feel like church. That has included Zoom Sunday school and committee meetings, YouTube worship, virtual Wilshire Winds performances, preparing meals for a shelter that our class supports, other things like that. I’ve missed our quarterly church blood drives, so I made an appointment at our local Carter BloodCare donation center and gave a unit of the red stuff.

August 4, 2020

Morning Walk

For Wilshire Baptist Church

It’s a quirk of the calendar that the two times I most want to walk the labyrinth are just 11 days apart and during the hottest time of the year. I go to the labyrinth and columbarium at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Richardson because my late wife Debra was a parishioner there and the labyrinth ministry was one of her favorite outlets for prayer and service. I go in late July to mark her passing, and in mid-August to remember her birth and life. It would be better if the dates were reversed, better if they were months apart, and better yet if they were at a cooler time of the year because the labyrinth can be as hot as a frying pan in the summer sun.