Monthly Archives: November 2016

BAH, HUMBUG

scroogeThe annual Thanksgiving Day celebration has passed, and my attention naturally turns to the next event on my calendar– The Gospel According to Scrooge.  This year celebrates Kingwood Church’s twenty-ninth edition of the annual Christmas production.  I have been honored to play the part of old Ebenezer Scrooge in all but two of those years, and still look forward to it like a schoolboy just waiting’ for Father Christmas.  So it’s time for me to rehearse my lines and polish my British accent, which I won’t lose until well into January.  Once it takes over my brain, it’s difficult to simply switch it off after the final performance.

Whether you’ve ever seen the performance or not, you’re probably familiar with the 1843 novella by Charles Dickens on which our adaptation is based.  When one hears the name Ebenezer Scrooge, the first thing that comes to mind is usually– “Bah, Humbug.”  If you’ll indulge me, let me give you some history behind the 173 year-old Dickens story, the Scrooge character, and his obnoxious trademark phrase.

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DOC

dr-1Our family is preparing to celebrate the 94h birthday of a true pioneer of world missions– my father-in-law Bill Skinner.  Already a member of the Greatest Generation by virtue of growing up during the Great Depression and then serving in the Navy during World War 2, he spent the next 39 years in the heart of South America as a medical missionary.  “Great” is an understatement.

The end of the war marked the beginning of the most profound missionary movement in history– sometimes called the “golden age of evangelical missions.”  He was not just a foot soldier in that movement– he was a pioneer, a pacesetter, and a role model.

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THROWBACK 1966 (Part 2)

Last week’s blog post began our throwback adventure to year 1966.  We looked at life through the eyes of a 10-year old boy– going to the movies, dreaming about toys, watching TV commercials, and going to school.  We also looked at how real life crashes in on a 10-year old when coming face-to-face with the real world. (Don’t miss Part 1 if you haven’t read it yet.)  Let’s keep looking at what life was like 50 years ago.  How about this for starters:

Anyone remember this?  I remember kids doing it in the school hallways.  A Teacher’s nightmare!!

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THROWBACK 1966 (Part 1)

mini-skirtI’m all about history.  It was one of my college majors; I taught it in school for almost a decade; I own multiple bookcases of history books (and have read most all of them);  and like Mark Twain once reflected about history, “We seem to have more of it now than we ever have.”  I love to study kings and queens, presidents and generals, war and peace, revolutions and revivals, and even (sigh) campaigns and elections.

But my FAVORITE is oral history.  I like to talk to people about their memories and experiences from the past.  I especially enjoy conversing with people who share the same memories as I do.  So, I have decided to throw out a random year from the past and see what my readers might remember together with me.  Perhaps those of you who are too young to remember the year will at least be entertained by our magical flashback.  So here goes.  Our first THROWBACK YEAR will be: 1966.  (Whoa!  That was a half-century ago!)

Continue reading THROWBACK 1966 (Part 1)