If I Had a Hammer

For Wilshire Baptist Church

Did your cell phone screech or buzz at 1:20 p.m. on Wednesday? Of course it did, unless it was turned off or in airplane mode, because that was the only way to not receive the test signal of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. Apparently, everyone with a cell phone in the United States got the same screeching sound and screen message at the same time. Estimates of recipients have been stated simply as hundreds of millions, but one report says that in a country of 332 million people, there are 327 million cell phones. 

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Learning to Share

For Wilshire Baptist Church

Child One: “Let’s take turns.”

LeAnn: “Hmm . . . so what would that look like to take turns?”

Child Two: “It would look like we were sharing.”

That was the conversation in worship care Sunday morning at Wilshire. I was sweeping cracker crumbs from under the tables while LeAnn was sitting on the floor with the seven four-year-olds who had decided it was dress-up time. Some were sorting through superhero capes and other costumes, while some were looking at a pair of fancy shoes. The problem was there were not enough shoes for each child to wear a complete pair at the same time. After LeAnn prompted them to testify about sharing, the conundrum they faced was how best to share: Does each child get a turn at wearing both shoes, or do they each get one shoe at the same time?

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Back to the Lake

For Wilshire Baptist Church

Driving to downtown Dallas earlier this week, I was diverted from my usual route by road closures and traffic and found myself at the top of the hill where Peavy crosses Buckner, becomes Mockingbird Lane, and swoops down across White Rock Lake. In that moment as I came down off the hill and across the water, I felt a tug of grief. I realized it had been months, perhaps even a year, since I had even seen the lake.

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