PlainSpeech Messages | Find YOUR way to GRACE.
I recently read a message I’d given in 1984 and felt a mixture of embarrassment and surprise. Embarrassed because it seems inadequate now, and surprised by how much my worldview has changed. Twenty-five years from now, I might read these messages and have a similar reaction. I offer no guarantee that my work or words will endure the eroding effects of time. I can only assure you these thoughts have been helpful to me, and perhaps a few others, today. With that qualification, I offer them to you.
~ Philip
NEW!
Things I Learned at Fairfield
It’s good to be here this morning with you. I spent the week alone. Joan was at Fort Campbell, helping Sam and Kelsea pack for their move to Alaska. I stayed home to help Spencer with Madeline, who got braces this week, so I cooked her pasta for dinner, and she said...
You Might Be a Quaker If…
In 1975, Lee and Mary Lee Comer moved in next door to our family and within a few months invited me to attend the Quaker youth group they led. Their invitation came at an opportune moment since I was growing disenchanted with the Roman Catholic Church. Our longtime...
What Faith Is and Isn’t
Joan and I went this past Tuesday afternoon over to Mill Creek Friends Meeting graveyard southwest of Danville to meet with the cemetery trustee to pick out our gravesites. We’re not hoping to fill them anytime soon, but we intend to engage in riotous living after we...
Who I Want to Be
I ran into an old friend last week who I hadn’t seen in a while, so we were updating one another on our lives, showing each other pictures of our grandchildren, discussing our medical ailments, the usual conversation of anyone over 65. I have added bursitis to my...
Why War Is Not the Answer (7)
A family friend is getting married this week, and I’m officiating. When I met with he and his fiancée to discuss the wedding, I asked where they were going on their honeymoon. “The beach,” they said. Then he asked where we had gone on ours. I told him we had driven to...
Why War Is Not the Answer (6)
Joan and I were down at the farm last Saturday and a van pulled up to the house and a well-dressed young man carrying a large Bible emerged. Joan said under her breath, “Uh, oh, this is going to be about religion.” That’s like red meat to me, like throwing a dog a...
Why War Is Not the Answer (5)
Listen to the song Homeward Bound, written by Marta Keen Thompson, and sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Here’s the LINK Our granddaughter Madeline has a smart phone that can play any song in the world anytime she wants to hear it. Kids today have it so easy. Why,...
Why War Is Not the Answer (4)
I was in an antique store recently and came across a book called The Best of Life. It was a book of photography, published in 1973, containing the most significant pictures of the 20th century, even though the century still had 27 years left in it. The book was free...
Why War Is Not the Answer (3)
I drove down to the farm last Monday to mow and had to stop at Walmart to buy groceries. There was a woman in there with a little boy who looked to be about three-years-old, not quite ready for pre-school. The boy, like most children of that age, was active, but the...
Why War Is Not the Answer (2)
Many years ago, a husband and wife came to me for marital counseling. Before you consider doing that, I should tell you it’s not my strong suit. Should you need a marital counselor, we have one right down the hall. She’s there every Monday and Tuesday and I advise you...