Blog – Page 122 – Jeff Hampton, Writer

July 30, 2019

The Best Intentions

For Wilshire Baptist Church

Ever hear something for years and then find out that you’ve been hearing it wrong and then you feel so stupid? The fun examples are misheard song lyircs, such as Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “there’s a bad moon on the rise,” which has been hilariously misheard by some as, “there’s a bathroom on the right.” But I was flat out embarrassed recently when we were talking about taking communion to homebound church members and I discovered that I’ve been hearing the word “intention” all these years when actually it is “intinction.”

July 23, 2019

The Man in the Trailer

For Wilshire Baptist Church

So here we are, recalling the marvel and magic of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon 50 years ago. I don’t know what it means, if anything, to anyone born after that event, but to me it was and still is a huge cosmic event. And yet, the strongest memory I have of those days is driving out across the coastal plains with my grandparents in search of the man in the trailer.

July 16, 2019

Safe and Secure

For Wilshire Baptist Church

I’d never experienced it before and nobody else I talked to who was there had either: a fire alarm at a memorial service.

We’d sung hymns, heard the eulogy and family memories, and the minister was halfway through his message when a bright white emergency light began blinking on the wall near the door. After a half-dozen blinks there was the familiar sound of a fire alarm, and then a recorded message instructing us to exit the building immediately. Knowing that it might be a false alarm, the minister kept speaking over the alarm while the senior pastor went to check the situation. A short while later he came back and said, “I apologize but this is a real alarm and we do need to leave.”