Well, they’re over. The 28th edition of the Southside Lectures has gone the way of the previous twenty-seven. And this one just may go down as the best one yet.

I always have mixed emotions about seeing the lectures come to an end. My body is weary. My mind can hardly concentrate. But my heart is full.

The Southside Lectures originated in 1980 as an effort to give special emphasis to some subjects which the Elders here thought would be of benefit to our members. The Lectures were well received—right from the beginning.

Oliver Goldsmith, the Irish-born British writer, once said, “As I take my shoes form the shoemaker, and my coat from the tailor, so I take my religion from the priest.”

Evil is everywhere. It is all around us. It’s in the workplace and in the school houses. It’s in the neighborhoods and in the media. It’s even in the church buildings and in the home. It is, indeed, a very clear and present danger.

[For several issues of Christianity Magazine, Dee Bowman ran a series of articles entitled “I Am Fred.” This piece is taken from the February 1989 issue. It’s truths are just as relevant and practical today.]

I guess you’re beginning to see by now that Fred is fairly complicated. Even though he is not famous and hasn’t done anything to distinguish himself, he’s still a fairly intricate fellow.

I am a Law and Order fan. A few evenings ago I made the comment to Janet, “I know these stories are not based on actual criminal cases, but they obviously get their materials from real life goings-on!” It’s hard for me to imagine the difficulty people get themselves into that lead to violent acts against their spouses, children, other family members, co-workers, or the total stranger. They call these programs “TV drama” and that’s exactly what they are—programs where people act out what is actually taking place beyond the four walls of the televisi

Everybody’s going somewhere. The kids are going to school. Mom’s going to the grocery store, Dad’s going to work. Uncle Zeke’s going to the dentist, Grandma’s going to the doctor.

The fullback’s going toward the goal, the baseball player’s headed for home. The point guard’s shooting toward the basket, the tennis star’s hitting toward the line.

Everybody’s going somewhere. No matter who you are, you’re going somewhere.

Where are you going?

We’re getting close. In spite of the recent cold front that took our minds back to winter, summertime is not too far ahead. And that can only mean that the 28th annual Southside Lectures are just over the horizon.

I attended the funeral for W.R. Jones last week. Though it sounds strange to say that a funeral service was enjoyable, this one truly was the celebration of a good preacher and an even better man. Judging by the standing-room-only crowd gathered to pay their last respects, it was evident that he touched the lives of multiple generations of people. For me, it brought back some special memories of why I loved him and love him still.

The Minor Prophets are not minor because they are less important, but only because of their smaller size. Their importance is not negated by their size, either. They are descriptive in a special sort of way, in that they tend to graphically describe our present time, though they were written thousands of years ago.