Deer teach lesson about best-laid plans
Years ago, when I was a young pastor going to seminary at Vandy and trying to live off the land (I was too broke to do much else), I built, with my own sweat,  a small log home between Bellevue and Kingston Springs.
Down in the bottom of my five acres running along a normally dry creek bed, I planted my garden. ... My plan was to eat what was fresh and then can and freeze the rest for the winter.
But you know what they say about the best-laid plans.

Art to passing the baton, and accepting it
There is a scene in Remember the Titans (one of, if not tied for the best-all-time football movie with Rudy) where a young man playing for his high school football team in the state championship game, goes to his coach and asks to be replaced. He actually wants his buddy on the bench to take his spot on the field. Unheard of! What kind of athlete asks to sit when there is so much riding on the outcome of that game?
Well, in this case, it was an incredibly bright and selfless young man.

Fleas help teach important leadership lesson
Now, deep into the unboxing, sorting and pitching process of the move, I ran across some notes from a leadership conference I attended with John Maxwell years ago. Curious to see if the information was still relevant, I scanned through some of it. To my delight, it was as point on today as it was six or eight years ago. (At least some things are not changing overnight!)
The content got me thinking and remembering a story I heard and often used when I taught. It goes like this…

Move teaches lesson of sentimental attachments
What you do know is that we are in the midst of moving, but what you may not know is that even though the house is the same size, because it is configured differently, there is substantially less storage.
That can be a good thing, but it can also be a troubling wind on the waters as Malicia and I don’t always agree on what should stay and what should go. The interesting discovery, however, is that Gabe, one of our twin sons heading off to college for the first time this year, would actually keep less than I would keep.

'Flexibility' can make even the craziest of times OK
It has been an extremely busy summer this year. Most summers do end up a little crazy from time to time, but this summer has already taken the cake. Why, you ask? Well, let me share a little of what has and is taking place this summer.