Till Death Do Us Part?

A co-worker and I drove through a cemetery today and saw a gentleman trimming shrubbery at his family plot. We stopped to visit with him.

Although there are plenty of maintenance workers in the cemetery, he insists on taking care of his own landscaping on the property he owns. He told me he has been coming to the cemetery every day since his wife died.

He began to cry.

As he was speaking, I looked at the death date on the memorial. I was expecting to see that his wife had died recently.

She died in 1982.

For you that do not have a calculator handy, that would be 27 years ago.

I also discovered the nice gentleman had the same death date on his memorial. “When she died,” he explained, “I died with her.” I believed him.

But I had to find out more.

He married her when he was 23 and she was 20. She worked while he got his college degree. They moved out west and then later moved back to Louisiana. They started a business that turned out to be a very successful one. She was his business partner and office manager.

She died of cancer in the prime of their marriage when she was 48 years old. Because he couldn’t go back to that business without his wife, he sold the thriving business soon after her death and retired at age 53.

He said he visits her grave every day – rain or shine. Sometimes he visits twice a day. That would be more than 10,000 visits in case you are counting.

Most would say his behavior is not healthy and he should have gone on with his life. And I certainly understand that thinking.

But in a time when married couples are leaving each other on a whim for almost any reason or even no reason at all, I couldn’t help but be impressed.

Many years ago this man met the love of his life and told her he loved her. I couldn’t help but wonder if she knew just how much he really did love her.

Fifty five years ago he looked at his bride and said, “Till death do us part.”

I can tell you he wasn't paying one bit of attention to that statement today.

Real Proud

Last Friday afternoon I left my office early and headed over to Wesleyan College in Macon to attend a Phi Kappa Phi induction ceremony.

It was not just any ole induction ceremony either. Drew Watkins (shown here with her mom) was being inducted in this elite honor society. The membership is by invitation only to the upper 7.5 percent of last-term juniors (which applies to Drew) and the upper 10 percent of seniors.

Drew has made an A in every single course she has taken since she has been enrolled in college. I don’t think she had any trouble making the top 7.5 percent.

It should be noted that Drew never attended a public or private school in her life until she entered Wesleyan. She was homeschooled by her mom. I couldn’t help but notice that Drew’s mom, Melanie, had a tear in her eye as she watched Drew receive this honor.

That would be a tear of pride – not sadness.

I didn’t ask but I’m sure a few times during Drew’s first 12 years of education, Drew’s parents took some criticism for homeschooling their daughter. I’m sure they were told Drew would miss interaction with other kids and would end up lacking in social skills. And she would be behind academically when she went to college.

Well, she obviously is not behind in college. I also happen to know she has more social skills of any 20 year old I have ever known. And she can talk intelligently about any subject you can name. She studied dance and I have seen her perform on stage doing ballet, tap and modern dance. (She even taught me how to do the electric slide a few years ago – which may be her greatest accomplishment). Drew is also an accomplished pianist.

For all those folks out there who say homeschooling does not work – Drew Watkins is proof it can work. In fact in can work beyond one's wildest dreams.

Somehow by the goodness and grace of God this incredible young lady will become my daughter in law in less than five months.

I’m proud Mark and Melanie didn’t listen to the folks who said it wouldn’t work.

Real proud.

This Journey Goes On Forever

Yesterday afternoon I was driving on US Highway 49 in Mississippi between Mendenhall and Jackson, when I came upon an obviously evangelistically covered wagon trotting down the highway being pulled by four tired looking mules. I pulled off the road and waited for the wagon to catch up.

I had my camera in my hand.

And I had a few questions formulating in my head.

The guy at the reins, who turned out to be Randy Boehmer from Arizona, wasn’t very nice at first. I asked him what he was doing. He sarcastically responded, “What does it look like I’m doing?” I said something along the lines that I travel a good bit and I don’t normally see a covered wagon with four mules with Jesus Saves signs trotting down the highways of America.

He began to warm up to me.

It turns out Randy has been on the road with his four mules and two dogs (Shep and Proverb) for over a year. He started in Indiana on April 1, 2008 and he travels about 4 miles per hour.

His mission is to crisscross the United States in his wagon to tell people about God.

Boehmer was a taxidermist for most of his life. When his parents died in 1991, he and his siblings were cleaning out their parent’s house and his sister made the comment that whatever they didn’t want they could take to the dump.


He then realized all the possession his parents worked for all their lives meant nothing in the end.

He was reminded of a man he had met a year or so earlier who was driving down the road in a covered wagon. Boehmer said to him that day that he bet he didn’t have many worries. “The only worries I have,” the man said, “are to make sure my horses get water every day.”

When Boehmer’s wife died of cancer in 1998, he started reading his Bible. And he was reminded of the lessons he had learned about possessions.

For the record, this man’s worldly possessions are now in the back of his wagon - which includes a wood stove and a solar panel on the top to power lights, his TV, his DVD player and to charge his cell phone.

Before he left on this journey, Boehmer did some preparation work. He worked with a horse shoer for seven months to learn to take care of his mules. (He is pulling a feed and water wagon behind the bigger covered wagon). He also spent a great deal of time with an Amish group who taught him how to take care of himself on the road.

I asked him if he stops in different towns to preach.

“I don’t need to,” he said. “All I need to say is written in very large letters on the sides of my wagon.”

How long does he plan on doing this?

“It’s a journey, not a trip,” he says. “A trip ends. A journey goes on forever.”

And all he has to worry about on his forever journey is to make sure his mule's get water.

Not so bad of a journey when you think about it.

Wine into Water

When I was in college, Dirk Howell and Tony Brown – a couple of college students, entertained at the local bars. “Dirk and Tony” were very talented and were in much in demand performing beach music in the Athens GA music scene.

I just read that Dirk Howell (35 years later) is still performing. If you are in the market for a band for a wedding or a special occasion, although I have never heard this group, I've heard Dirk enough to guarantee that you will not go wrong by booking The Dirk Howell Band.

Tony Brown spent a lot of time at the Lambda Chi Fraternity house during my college years. His younger brother, Danny, was a member of our fraternity. His good friend ,Bruce Burch, was also one my fraternity brothers. I have written about Bruce here before.

Tony move to Nashville in 1982. He was the singing voice of all those Taco Bell (Run for the Border) television ads. He also sang jingles for corporations like Disney, McDonalds and Budweiser.


You probably know Tony by his professional name. T. Graham Brown, the country music star who always had a bottle of Jack Daniels on the stage with him, has produced 13 Albums and 20 singles on Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. Three of his songs reached number one. Eight more of them reached the top ten.

His T-Ness has done pretty good for himself.

But his success came with a price.

T. Graham Brown’s 1998 hit song, Wine into Water, which was co-written by my friend Bruce Burch, was inspired by Brown’s personal struggle with alcoholism.

I am quite sure there are many folks reading this who can relate to the words of his song – whether from your own personal struggle with addiction or the struggle of someone close to you.

The waiting lists are getting longer and longer at most addiction rehabilitation facilities these days. And you can ride by any growing church and you will see a sign somewhere on the property advertising that particular church’s addiction recovery program. There are large crowds attending those programs and the crowds keep growing.

More and more good people are discovering, as hard as they may try, they cannot beat this disease by themselves. And like T. Graham Brown did in 1998, they are falling on their knees asking for help.

As T. Graham sings, the abuse of alcohol and drugs takes a person as low as they can go. And they drag a lot of innocent folks down with them.

If you are struggling with addiction, there is hope.

The first step is to admit you have a problem. And maybe the next step is to take T. Graham’s lead and ask God to turn the wine back into water.

Just maybe He is your best chance.

Watch this video.

To Our Younger Selves

As some of you know, the last few weekends I have been working on converting old VHS movies to a digital file that can be uploaded on the internet. I have posted a couple of those videos here but most have been uploaded to YouTube. If you are like me, there is a splendid chance your very valuable old 8MM or VHS footage that was shot years ago is in a cabinet or attic somewhere slowing ruining. So to keep that from happening, I decided to begin the process of uploading them to the internet.

Anyway, I was converting a video last weekend that was taken just 7 years ago and I think it is worth sharing with you and the story behind it.

Growing up in Reynolds, GA, as you might suspect, I attended Reynolds Elementary School. I started in the first grade in 1960 with a group of folks who would become my lifelong friends. There were about 30 of us and most of us went through 8 grades together. Reynolds High School consolidated with Butler High in 1966 and the high school in Reynolds was closed. There were some people in Reynolds (my daddy being one of them) who were very upset when Reynolds lost the high school. Consequently there was a fairly large contingent of kids from Reynolds who went to nearby Fort Valley to high school.

The point being, when our class graduated from the 8th grade in Reynolds, we went to at least two different high schools. Additionally, a couple of years later, the integration law was passed - and private schools began to pop up. So now our close knit class was scattered to the four winds.

In 2002 a group of us from the Reynolds Elementary School Class of 1968 decided to have a reunion. What started as just a good idea started building steam mainly due to the power of the internet. We had a website where classmates and former teachers and others could post their memories. We all shared memories of a wonderful time in our life that was long gone.

And we were all reminded those years were the most formative years of our lives.

To be honest, as the time for the reunion got closer, I began to have second thoughts. We were about to have 20-25 folks (and their spouses), most of which had not seen each other in almost 35 years. There would be people from all walks of life and I began to wonder if the group could find things to talk about. It seemed like a great idea but would it really work?

Our 6th grade teacher, Mrs. Ruth Jones, came to the reunion with her old grade book with all our names and grades in it. We began the program by having her call the roll.

Hearing each individual answer her roll call with “here” or “present” was more than amusing. It was like we were all back in school.

Each classmate came to the podium and talked. Each told a little about their life and special memories they had at Reynolds Elementary School. Some told some great stories and a few told stories that had never been told.

There was a lot of laughter and more than a few tears before we were done.

It was a once in a lifetime event I will never forget.

We were reunited for one incredible evening and we relived our shared past. We were keenly aware everything that happened at Reynolds Elementary School played a part in shaping us.

Dear friends, lift your glasses with me – to our younger selves -their activities, their plans, their promise. May we always remember with gratitude their part in making us who we are today.

(For you local folks who are interested - I have posted below the video we watched that night. Total time is about 15 minutes – and due to YouTube constraints I had to upload on two videos). Enjoy.

Let 'em Sing it To Ya

After watching this fun LukeandDrew video below, I am sure every one of you will want to go to their online store and purchase the newly released LukeandDrew CD, "Our Own Little World."

Their music is fun. The lyrics will make you smile.

Disclaimer: All proceeds from the sale of "Our Own Little World" will go to financially help a young couple who is getting married on September 19 of this year.

OK - the young couple getting married is Luke and Drew. And Luke is my youngest son. But they are having the time of their lives.

And what they are doing sure beats government assistance.

So let 'em sing it to ya. You'll be glad you did.

Watch video and then click here to order your CD today!



Let Me Sing It to Ya from Luke and Drew on Vimeo.

I Believe in Miracles

We were right across the street from the gates of Augusta National last Wednesday when we noticed two large buses advertising John Daly merchandise. We decided to wait until we came out to stop by and check out the merchandise.

Not to our surprise, when we returned late in the afternoon, Mr. Longshot himself was selling his merchandise. I donated to his cause by purchasing a flag from him. I also got his autograph on the flag and had my picture taken with him.

For you non golfers, John Daly knows what it’s like to be on top. He has won 19 professional golf events, including five PGA events . Two of those five PGA events were majors. His endorsers have included some of the biggest companies in sports.

He drew crowds and increased attendance wherever he played not only because he hit the ball further than everybody else but he never fit the persona of a professional golfer. People related to him.

To say his life has resembled a train wreck off the course would be an understatement.


When Daly was 23 years of age, he says he drank a fifth of Jack Daniels every day. Last fall he was arrested in North Carolina for public intoxication. (See mug shot). He has been in and out of alcohol rehab facilities and has lost between 50-60 million dollars on his gambling problem. Daly has been through four wives, charged with domestic violence and earlier this year his $1.6m home was sold on the courthouse steps.

He has picked up his ball and walked off the course in the middle of a golf tournament and seemingly purposely hit numerous balls in the water at the end of a round that had gone bad.

Late last year he was suspended from the PGA tour for six months.

My question is why in the world would a man with this much God given talent throw it all away? How could a man who was at the top of his sport with more money than he could possibly spend be forced to be standing outside of an event like the Masters peddling golf merchandise to survive?

The truth is it happens every day.

Life is a series of choices. We can choose to walk down the right path or we can choose to walk down the wrong path. There are consequeces when we choose the wrong path.

Sometimes the bad choices we make take us further than we meant to go, keep us longer than we meant to stay and cost us more than we meant to pay.


And it can happen to any of us.

For the record, I am pulling and praying for John Daly. I refuse to kick a man when he is down. He is not drinking now and has lost 40 pounds. His PGA golf suspension ends at the end of May.

Here’s hoping John Daly comes back to the PGA tour a new man.

I'm serious.

It’s Easter Sunday. I believe in miracles.

The Message of Easter - We Win!

This Sunday morning churches all over will be packed. The old saying, “You don’t build a church for Easter Sunday” is really true. This is the day you get out the folding chairs and people park on the grass.

Little girls will be wearing their Easter dresses and little boys will be wearing their brand spanking new shoes. Where they still dress up to go to church, this is the day they wear their best suit. For those who normally dress more casual on Sundays, they will wear the nicer shirt….or blouse.

Easter is a special day.

If you are in the Christian church business, business doesn’t get any better than Easter Sunday.

This is the day we as Christians celebrate the basis of our faith – the resurrection of Jesus Christ. We believe just as He was raised from the dead, we will one day be raised with him and live eternally with him.

I think my understanding of the Easter story was taken to a new level in the 1990’s when I was a part of a passion play put on every Easter by the First Baptist Church of Butler, Ga. Our church was small by most standards but this was a large production. The last days of Jesus were depicted in colorful drama, as was His excruciating death and His exhilarating resurrection.

Most everybody in the church had a part in the play in one way or another that was held each year in the high school auditorium. I played the role as John and narrated the play. It was my job to introduce each scene from the perspective of Jesus’ best friend. I memorized a ton of lines but in the process I began to see the life, death and resurrection of Jesus in a different light.

It was life changing for me.

Our production, by the way, did not end with the resurrection as many Passion play’s do. Our play ended with Jesus on His throne in heaven. And each and every production, the play ended with everyone in the audience on their feet.

As the last scene (shown below) of that Easter play depicts, the message of Easter for Christians is simple.

No matter what we are going through or what we are facing or what keeps us up at night - we know the end of the story. We've read the end of the Book.

In fact, I’ve memorized the end of the book.

We win!

Happy Easter.

Scenes from Augusta

I spent the day Wednesday with some old friends at an old golf course. I’m not sure if there is a better place on earth to spend a day with old friends than at Augusta National Golf Club. (L-R me, Jimmy Childre, Jr, Lisa Parker, Howard Catron)



I have had the privilege to attend a lot of Masters over the past 40 something years and I have a ton of mental images of my visits. But I have never recorded any of those images because I have never roamed those hallowed grounds with a camera.

Until yesterday.

In case you don’t know, a camera is not allowed on the course during the actual golf tournament. But since I was attending on a practice day, I took a few pictures. To be exact, I took 157 pictures.

I will share only a few of them with you.

This is the famous scoreboard down the hill from #1 tee. I cannot even remember how many times I’ve walked on this course with others and said, “Meet me at the big scoreboard at 6PM.”



I don’t know who these two guys are but it is easy to see they are very serious about being dressed for the occasion.



This is Jim Furyk’s wife, Tabitha, with their two children. I don’t know which is more fun – watching the golfers or watching the golfer’s wives. These guys have great looking ladies. But more importantly, it was obvious these two kids are just as famous to their dad and he is to the rest of us.



These three guys were playing together during the Par 3 Contest on Wednesday. They are not getting any younger and I don’t know if I will ever have the opportunity to see Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player playing golf together again. I’m having some of these pictures framed. By the way, these three guys, known as golf’s Big Three, have won 159 PGA tour victories and 34 Majors between them. Not too shabby.





On second thought and if you are interested, you can view all 159 of my scenes from Augusta by clicking here. Hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I did taking them.

68 Years Ago Today

I suppose it doesn’t matter at this point how they met. I know a young Ed Goddard met Naia Gonzales in her hometown of Fort Myers Florida. Naia worked for the local newspaper and Ed had moved to Fort Myers with a hardware company. They met when Ed walked in the Fort Myers News Press office one morning and the beautiful young Naia was sitting at the desk. I think it was love at first sight. But again, at this point, it really doesn’t matter.

I know Naia’s mother, Mabel, was none too excited about this tall, dashing, muscular Georgia boy with whom her daughter fell in love. And she was not excited at all when he later took her daughter back to the “God forsaken” little town of Reynolds, Ga. Mabel eventually worshiped the ground Ed Goddard walked on but at first she wanted nothing to do with him. But at this point, what Mabel Gonzales thought almost 70 years ago doesn’t matter either.

What does matter is they built a home in Reynolds Georgia. I’m not talking about a house of brick and mortar, though they built one of those too. But I’m talking a home - as in a family. And the four folks pictured above were the beneficiaries of their architectural prowess.

When I look back, I’m not sure what they did to build such a home.

I know a lot of family time took place around the table where we all took our time eating together. And we would move from the table to the den and the conversation would continue. I’m not sure many folks do that sort of mundane stuff very often anymore.

I know we could get only three channels on the television and two of those were fuzzy. So we didn’t spend a lot of time in silence watching such things as reality shows on TV. Our reality show was happening real time every day with each other.

I know the kids spent a lot of time in the yard playing with each other and with other kids. And a lot of life-long relationships were built in the process. I also know my parents had close friends who came over often. And there was always a lot of laughter.

I also know this couple had family devotions at night before everybody went to bed. The kids would gather in their bedroom. Someone would read something out of the Bible and everybody would pray. I’m sure we learned a lot at Sunday school and church - where we were every time the doors were open. But we all learned to pray in our parent’s bedroom. And when I look back I think that is probably the best place to learn.

And I also know these parents were not perfect and the neat thing is they never pretended to be. They were transparent and real at home, at church, at work, in their place of service in the community and wherever else you might find them.

Thank God you don’t have to be perfect parents to build a home. But because of what my parents taught me by their lives, I happen to think being “real” is a good place to start.

This past Saturday Kathy and I went to an Easter Egg hunt with our little grandbaby girl. I couldn’t help but think about my parents and my siblings and a few Easter Egg hunts of our own in our backyard many moons ago.

The first part of this little family video clip below was filmed Easter Sunday 1955. About halfway it moves into 1957 footage. I am the baby - the youngest of four. At one point in the video you will notice my brother George kissing me.

He hasn't kissed me since.

But I post it with a grateful heart - and in memory of Ed and Naia Goddard, who were married exactly 68 years ago today.

Fun Stuff!

Our grandbaby, Taylor, enjoying her first Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday.

Fun stuff!!

We Need More Tyler Stovalls

My little article I wrote on Tyler Stovall the other day has resulted in much more information. Tyler’s sister, Katie, saw the blog and helped me out.

Just in case you didn’t read the comments that were added from the original blog, I will sum up some of the things I have learned about the incredible Tyler Stovall with 13 rather simple comments.

1. Tyler’s excels in much more than baseball.

2. Last year he had signed more than 10,000 autographs for young kids. I don’t know how many he is up to now. His jersey number throughout his career has always been #13. He always signs his name and under it writes Phillipians 4:13. That’s 10,000 4:13’s. He never included what that verse said because he wanted the kids to go home and look it up. In his honor, I’ll let you do the same here.

3. He also mentions that he wears #13 because there were 12 guys and “one more” in history that are very important to him. He likes for kids to ask him about the “other person.” In case you don’t know about “the other” person, make sure to go to church on Easter Sunday.

4. His dad also wore that number. As did his uncle, cousin, brother and sister Katie.

5. Tyler is a fierce competitor. Although he was playing two sports his senior year in addition to having to do his school work, he somehow edged out his friend and became Valedictorian of his graduating class.

6. Representatives from all thirty major league baseball teams visited Tyler’s home before he graduated from high school.

7. Against everybody’s advice and their concern that he could have an injury and ruin a great career, Tyler opted to play football his senior year anyway. Why? Because his friends were playing and he didn’t want to let the team down.

8. Tyler didn’t play basketball his senior year because that sport overlapped with baseball season. But he was in the stands and even painted his face in Hoke’s Bluff green to cheer for his team.

9. Tyler loves Auburn University (bless his heart) and signed a letter of intent with them to play baseball. Both Auburn and Tyler knew he would not be playing college baseball. He signed with Auburn simply “to show his love for the school.”

10. Although he had absolutely no control on which professional team would draft him, he always dreamed of playing for the Atlanta Braves.

11. Tyler Stovall was the second person drafted by the Atlanta Braves last year.

12. Brian and Holly Stovall are rightfully very proud of their son. Dad says, “Tyler is the most determined human being I have ever met.” Mom says, “I couldn’t have placed an order for a kid and have him come out any better."

That's 12 comments.

And now...one more.

I ordered a pack of autographed “Tyler Stovall” baseball cards from Ebay today because they will be worth something one day. If he ends up in 1A Rome this year, I plan to show up to watch him pitch. And if not, I’ll still be cheering for him all the way to the top. And he will make it to the top of the game of baseball.

In case you are wondering why I am writing all this about someone I never knew even existed until I passed through his home town last week…..it’s simple.

I believe we need more “Tyler Stovalls” at the top.

Life Ain't Fair

I left my office Tuesday afternoon for a 3 ½ hour drive to Montgomery, AL. That drive takes me right through my hometown of Reynolds, GA. I always have this strong urge to stop when I go through Reynolds. When I am not in a hurry, I will stop in and visit some folks. I never call ahead. I just show up.

You can do that sort of thing in places like Reynolds, GA.

But sometimes, when I am in a hurry, I just stop at a convenience store. And that is exactly what I did on Tuesday afternoon. I saw a very familiar face at the gas pump. Although it was raining, I had to get out and speak to him.

And take his picture.

When God made James Windham, He threw away the mold. I saw James from time to time the fifty or so years I lived in Reynolds but not very often. We never hung out together. I never even had a meal with him. In fact every time I think of him, my mind goes back forty something years ago when we were in elementary school. In fact all my memories of James took place within a 3 iron of where I took this picture.

In elementary school, James was a man among boys. He was held back a time or two and was older than most of the other boys in his class. But he was strong as an ox. He had real muscles and he was one bad hombre. Nobody messed with James Windham.

One afternoon M.L. Crook, the bus driver, stopped the bus before it pulled out of the school parking lot to make James get off the bus. There was no telling what James was doing on the bus but apparently it was bad enough that M.L wanted him off. James refused to get off the bus. Mr. Helms , the principal, was called to help with the situation. Mr. Helms couldn’t get him off the bus either..

Mr. Helms finally told M. L. to take James home and “please don’t bring him back.”

I could never forget the day we were in PE class and somebody came running in the gym to tell Mr. Helms that James was beating up Mr. Hogan (a teacher). We all ran out of the gym to the playground to watch the fight. James had Mr. Hogan in a bear hug and was kneeing him in the butt. And Mr. Hogan was coming up in the air with every knee.

I never saw anything like it.

James was expelled the day he beat up Mr. Hogan. He never went to school again and never finished the 8th grade.

I asked James on Tuesday if he remembered that day. His quick response and I quote, “Hell yeah I remember it. I had been out of school sick with pneumonia and had just come back to school. Mr. Hogan was trying to make me run and I told him I was not going to run.”

James then looked at me in the eye and quietly said, “I didn’t run.”

I smiled.

But I noticed James didn’t smile.

Interestingly, I remember the fight and the expulsion well but I never knew the rest of the story.

James fought his way through life as a young boy. When my response to the running would have probably been, “please call my parents or let me get a doctor's excuse,” James’ response was to go nose to nose with the teacher and refuse to run. Mr. Hogan probably had no idea that James had been sick with pneumonia.

And he certainly didn't know James was about to kick his butt.

The truth is - James' response was the only response he knew.

As a result, James never got an education and has had more than a few struggles in life.

When I was a kid, I was scared to death of him.

Yesterday, as a grown man, I looked into the somewhat empty eyes of a 57 year old man and wondered what he could have become if he had the opportunities I had.

Life ain’t fair.

But God never promised it would be.