Author Archives: chappelltemple

(The following appeared in this blog on September 11, 2018. I have updated it and share it again as we mark the twentieth anniversary of a solemn day indeed.) I suspect that all of us over the age of 25 … Continue reading →

It was a Selection Sunday like none before it.  For in addition to the sixty-four college basketball teams that were chosen on March 14 to compete in the championship tournament, four additional teams were tapped by the NCAA to serve … Continue reading →

Like the spring that is quickly coming to South Texas, it’s a welcome sign indeed.  For when the official announcement was made earlier this week of the formation of a new Wesleyan denomination, the Global Methodist Church, it signaled all kinds … Continue reading →

It wasn’t exactly how we planned.  But then again, few things have been in this decade so far.  Just within the past few years, for instance, we’ve had numerous “hundred year” floods, a once-in-a-century pandemic, and just since Sunday, we’ve had record … Continue reading →

As the dawn unfolded this morning, a silence descended on the western steps of the building, almost like the Capitol itself was catching its breath after the chaos that ensued there yesterday.  For though it was not unprecedented–nor even entirely unpredictable, … Continue reading →

I suspect she learned it growing up on the family farm near Hillsboro.  For from the 1840’s on, in the rural South it became a Christmas tradition for many such families such as hers, most of whom likewise had limited resources … Continue reading →

“Suppose there was a king who loved a humble maiden.”  So began the story once told by the Danish theologian Soren Kierkegaard.  For in his tale, the king was the most powerful man of his time, one with the strength to crush … Continue reading →

The authors of the book behind the concept will tell you that it all came from a family tradition started by Carol Aebersold for her twin daughters, Chanda and Christa, when the girls were growing up in Georgia in the … Continue reading →

By now you no doubt have heard about it:  if you look to the southwest night skies this evening just after sunset, you’ll see a heavenly display that no one on earth has viewed since 1226. Scientists call it the Great … Continue reading →