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Robert Grisham Posts

Dad’s Eulogy

Published by on May 12, 2026

It’s been almost three months since Dad passed away. I’ve had ups and downs during that time. It’s taken some time just to recalibrate and recover from the last six months of his life. I had been running on fumes for much of that, but I feel pretty good now.

I think about Dad a lot. I’ve placed around me lots of things that remind me of him. In my office is one of his plants as well as his Howard Miller mantle clock. I have quite a few of his CD’s, which I’ve been working my way through. I’ve been wearing one of caps when I’m out. And every time I drive the 4Runner, which went from him to Evan, back to him, then to Adam, then Micah, and now to me, I remember him.

It’s still such a weird feeling that he’s gone. There have been several times when I have thought about calling him to share something that was going on. He was at Micah’s soccer game a year ago when Crosstown won the City Championship. I was sad that he wasn’t there this year when they did it again.

The day of the funeral was such a whirlwind. I was happy to see so many friends and family members. It did my heart good to hear stories and to reconnect around his life. I’m glad that I volunteered to give the eulogy. It’s something I had never done before, but I felt strongly that I wanted to share.

And now that it’s been a little while, I felt like sharing it here.

When Dad started declining I told Taylor that I would like to speak at the funeral. For those of you who don’t know, I was a pastor for a little over a decade. Our congregation was on the young side, so I thankfully never had to conduct a funeral. So I’ve never done this before. And I’ve certainly never done this for a parent. So what were you thinking Robert!

Well, honestly, I was thinking about you all. I felt like I wanted to connect these last few months for those of you who love Dad. See, this time that we’ve had has been filled with ups and downs. There was ugliness, as that is the only word that can describe the brain tumor that seemingly came out of nowhere. But there was also so much beauty. And it’s those moments of beauty that I want to share with you.

Dad was 78 years old when he passed, but I’m going to limit my story today to his last six months. But as we’ve been together this last hour, I’ve heard lots of other stories, some I’d heard before and some I hadn’t. So I encourage you to continue telling stories.

As many of you know, we all thought that Dad had a stroke last summer. After some prodding by Uncle Jack, he decided to go to the ER, and the diagnosis was stroke. I don’t fault the medical staff there. It just shows you how quickly this tumor grew in his brain.

Taylor and I were with him at his initial appointment with the neurosurgeon, Dr. Boucher. He was the one who told him he had a grade IV brain tumor. We were all pretty shocked. I knew it was a mass, but I also knew that a lot of masses were not cancer. After Dr. Boucher left the room, Dad turned to us and asked if we were ok. It’s supposed to be the other way around, right. We asked if he wanted to fight it. His response: “I don’t know why I wouldn’t.” And thus his fight began.

A long surgery on September 19 was soon followed by 30 days of radiation and oral chemotherapy. Taylor and I took him to some of those radiation appointments, but so did Aunt Patti. And so did several of you. It takes a community to go through something like this, and that’s exactly what we had.

One of the most beautiful things that has come from this is that I am so much closer to everyone involved. It starts with Taylor. When you go through something tough together, that’s what happens. I can’t imagine going through this without her. And the same goes for Aunt Patti. She was there every step of the way for her big brother. And for her niece and nephew. We’re grateful to her for that. I met Dad’s friends as a result of this. I heard stories of deep friendship that I knew nothing about. But with every one of them my heart swelled with pride and gratitude.

And then there was the relationship with Dad. We spent a lot of time together over the past six months. And we grew closer.

Now those of us closest to him also had moments when Dad was angry with us. If you know…you know. And that was really difficult. But we knew that it was due to the trauma that his brain had gone through: a tumor, a surgery, and radiation and chemo. So as best as we could, we stood with him.

Because for every moment of difficulty and challenge, there were those moments of that beauty that I referenced earlier. He began to appreciate things in a new way. There were times when he didn’t have much appetite, but when he did, boy did he enjoy it. I took him to McDonald’s after one of his last appointments at West Clinic. He got a cheeseburger meal. He said he would eat one cheeseburger now and save one for dinner. You would have thought he was a little kid, or someone from another country who knew nothing about McDonald’s. I bet he said ten times how good that little cheeseburger was. And as those of you who went out to eat with him knew, he was kind of loud when he said these things. But it was joy. And gratitude. And so all I could do was smile. Though I also felt like somebody should be here filming a commercial. This was gold.

He finished that first round of radiation and chemo right after Thanksgiving, and we were told he would have a month off before starting round 2 of chemo. On his 78th birthday, my family and Taylor’s family spent the afternoon with him. We went to the Botanic Gardens and took photos, including this one here, and then we took him out to eat. We all went around the table, and everyone, including his grandchildren, toasted him. Music came up a lot in those toasts. It was a great day.

We all thought the rest of December was going to be great, but there were complications with his meds. And it was a really frustrating time for him.

He began round two of chemo in January. This time it was a heavier dose. And after three or four days he had had enough. He was so afraid that Taylor and I would be disappointed with him for stopping. We weren’t. We supported all of his decisions. When I told him that, there was this deep breath. He was so relieved. That broke my heart a little. A couple of days later we went to see his doctor. I think he was once again a little worried that he would try to talk him out of it; encourage him to keep fighting. He didn’t. He supported Dad. And Dad was happy. He had made a courageous decision, and he felt fully supported.

That meant that we were moving from treatment to hospice. No more fighting. We wanted to make the time he had left as comfortable as possible. I don’t think I have to tell you that a lot of improvement is needed when it comes to the healthcare system in this country, but I quickly learned that we do it right when it comes to helping people die with dignity. I was so impressed with Hospice, whether it was the nurse and social worker who came to his apartment, or the team at the Baptist Reynolds Hospice House, where he spent his last few days.

It was just a bit over a week ago that Taylor and I had breakfast with him. Although it feels a lot longer than that. He was doing great. Feeling quite good, and in good spirits. He was excited to go down to Louisiana with Patti and Thomas for his high school reunion, which would have been this past weekend. I was so hopeful he would be able to do that.

Later that afternoon he texted. I couldn’t understand the text, so I called him. He said his elbow hurt, and it was the worst pain he’d ever felt. This led to the hospice nurse coming over, followed by a trip to the ER. His body just started shutting down. The next morning the hospice nurse told us that he was transitioning. We had been told that the decline would be fast, but we were still shocked.

Taylor, Patti and I went to his room. We told him what was going on. He knew it. I’m sure there were all kinds of emotions, but mostly he was ok. He said he was ready.

Those of you who know Dad know that he had a complicated relationship with God. He and I have had more talks about that over the past few months than ever before. And I know a lot of other people talked with him. He was more open than he had previously been. So I don’t think he’ll mind me talking about God for a moment.

I have to tell you that I saw God’s work all around us. Throughout the majority of this cancer journey I felt like I was out over my skis. I felt overwhelmed most days. I needed help. And I received help. Every step of the way God sent people to help us.

One thing I’ve learned in my life is that when we are needy, when we are dependent, God meets us.

One of my favorite passages of Scripture is from 2 Corinthians 12. Paul is writing to a church that he had started a few years before. He tells them about his thorn in the flesh. We don’t know what it is, but it’s so painful or frustrating that he’s prayed three times, asking God to take it away. For whatever reason, God chose not to take it away. But he didn’t leave Paul alone. He drew closer. And here’s what he said to Paul…

“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Paul’s response to this was, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

What I’ve been reminded throughout this journey is that God comes near when we need him.

Boy did we need him. And boy did he come near.

That last week so much was going on. That Friday night I was on the phone with his hospice nurse Omar. It just so happened that he was the one on call that night, so Dad got to see a familiar face. He called to say that it took Dad a few minutes to get from his chair to the door to let him in. Omar said that Dad didn’t need to be by himself.

So Taylor and I started scrambling. My first thought was that Dad valued his independence so much, and now he was about to possibly need care throughout the day. He was not going to like that.

So the next morning, when this nurse Leigh Ann told us that his body was starting to transition, as shocked and as sad as I was, I also felt that it was a mercy from God. I knew that once he started to decline, he wanted it to be over.

Dad had earlier told Taylor and I that he would like his last days to be spent at the Baptist Reynolds Hospice House. He had a friend who passed away there, and he felt that it was a beautiful and peaceful place.

So last Saturday morning when Leigh Ann told us what was going on, we asked if we could get him moved there. There was no available room, but we were first on the waiting list. She called her friend T. She said that T was the best caregiver she knew, and if she was available to come over, Dad would be in good hands. We didn’t know T, and we had just met Leigh Ann about an hour earlier. But in that moment we trusted her.

Before I left on Saturday night, the cafeteria worker who brought Dad his meal every night stopped by to drop off his food. She was a little surprised when I came to the door. She asked if everything was ok. I told her what was going on, and then she asked if she could go in to see Dad. I followed her in. She gave him a kiss. She told him she loved him. They talked. He smiled. It was absolutely precious. I had never met this woman before. I didn’t know she existed. But I received such relief knowing that so many people loved and cared for Dad.

T took care of Dad last Saturday night. I would come to find out that she has been taking care of the dying since she was young. Her parents did the same thing. On Sunday morning she called to say that Dad had done well in the night. She also told me that a room at the hospice house had opened up. I was so thankful.

Taylor and I got to the Hospice House a little before the ambulance arrived with Dad. They wheeled him into the lobby, where his new nurse Julie was waiting for him. The first words out of his mouth were, “I just love you. And this place is so wonderful.” Mind you he had never met Nurse Julie before. And also mind you that he was on morphine. But it was joy. And gratitude. And peace.

That day was such a good day. He got to see family members and friends. A couple of gentlemen came to his room and sang some songs, which you know he loved. He was doing great. The next day he was still trying to talk, but I could no longer understand anything. From there until the end he mostly slept. Thursday was the hardest day for me. At 4:30 that morning I was on the phone with his nurse, who told me that Dad had moved from “days left” to “hours left.” Taylor and I got there around 6am, Patti a few hours later. It seemed like the only time he was ever in any pain those last few days was when they moved him. He didn’t like that because his elbow still hurt. But other than that, it was peaceful. I was gone when he passed around 5pm that day, but I’m grateful that Taylor and Patti were right by his side.

As people have asked how I’m doing, how I’m feeling, I’ve pretty much said the same thing…I’m sad. It’s such a weird feeling that he’s gone. We had a crazy day on Friday, and I realized that I would have normally shared it with him. But I couldn’t. And that was an odd realization. But I’ve also told people that I’m relieved that his suffering is over.

Dad didn’t ask for this tumor. He didn’t deserve this tumor. But he handled it throughout with grace and courage. And I’ll remember that as I face times of trouble. I’m honored that I was able to go through these last six months with my father. I’m grateful for his life, and now, in his death, I remember and honor him. Whether you are a sibling, a child, a niece or nephew, a cousin, a friend…I’m so glad that you were able to join us. Dad’s life touched many, and we are so glad all of his children and family can be part of this legacy today.

My Real Estate Journey Pt.4 (2021-2026)

Published by on April 22, 2026

In 2021 I wrote a three part series on my real estate journey. Since it’s been five years I thought it could be a good idea to write a fourth post since things have changed quite a bit since that last post.

First, a recap of the first three parts of the real estate journey.

Part 1 centered on the years 2004-2010. This was the time when I bought my first rental properties. It was also the time when I first got into flipping houses. I was reminded as I read back over this post that the show Flip This House had premiered in the summer of 2005. To say that I was intrigued would be a major understatement. During these years I had a lot of excitement. But I was also very naive. By the end of this time period I owned five rentals (all at 50% ownership).

Part 2 centered on the years 2010-2016. These were the difficult years. It was the years where my naivety led me to some bad decisions, and it took place during those most crucial years when we had little ones. There was so much stress. But I learned how to work hard. Not always smart, as that would come later, but definitely hard. It was also during this time that I began building my real estate agent business. By the end of this time period I owned seven rentals (three at 50% ownership and four at 100% ownership).

Part 3 centered on the years 2016-2021. I made it through the difficult years and entered a season of growth. Along with my partner, I bought, renovated and sold 12 houses during these years. And halfway through this time we switched from flipping to holding. We saw it as moving from making income to building wealth. It was also during this time that I retired from vocational ministry and was able to put more time into the business. By the end of this time period I owned nineteen rentals (fourteen at 50% and five at 100%).

During this time the goal was growth. I had gotten good at identifying properties with potential, I had a great team of subs, and I was able to access capital. But I never stopped to ask, “What does enough look like?” It was common in real estate investing circles to be asked the question, “How many doors do you have?” I rarely ever heard anyone question whether more truly equaled better. Success seemed to be equated entirely with growth.

Around this time I began thinking and writing about Life Design. I began asking a lot of questions about what I truly wanted in life. And then I started trying to build my business around those goals. I recognized that I had previously been building a business without ever asking what the end goal was.

I ended that post by talking about the events that led me to start thinking about what it would mean to have a few paid off rental properties producing monthly cash flow for us. I then started a debt snowball to begin that process.

And that brings me to part 4. These are the years 2021 through today.

I am really happy with where things stand today, but it was all due to the fact that I paused the building for long enough to ask some really deep and meaningful questions. I began listening to contrarian voices, and I had some great conversations with Mandy and with my business partner.

I’ve come to believe that clarity is a powerful thing. Like wisdom, it’s meant to be pursued. Whether it’s an open or closed door, it takes an option off the table. And that’s important since so many of us suffer from a paralysis of analysis. Gaining clarity around vision led to decisions that brought a lot of fruit.

I started the debt snowball in January, 2021, and I paid off the first property in December, 2023. It was a great feeling to be sure. I felt a sense of freedom. This past year I was able to accelerate things. I sold several properties, and all of our vacant lots, and this enabled me to pay off all but two of those 100% owned properties.

As of today I still own nineteen rental properties ( fourteen at 50% and five at 100%). That is more than I want to have, and I plan to sell more in the coming years. But I have simplified things in a lot of ways. A year ago I was managing over twenty properties. I got pretty burned out, and so last fall I turned almost all of those over to a management company. I now manage the five properties that I own 100%. I really enjoy the current pace of life and work.

One of the big aha moments over the past few years came when I realized that just a handful of paid off rental properties can supplement retirement income in powerful ways. Through the help of our financial planner at Creative Planning I figured out that five paid off rental properties would yield around $60k per year. That’s not enough to retire on, but what it means is that as long as I own these, I will need to dip less into our retirement funds, which means that they will have more time to compound.

I’m grateful for the role that real estate has played in my life. It’s been something that I’ve enjoyed doing these last two decades, and it’s been a powerful vehicle in moving us towards financial independence.

The Subversive Nature of Love

Published by on February 9, 2026

There’s a lot of controversy going around right now about the two Super Bowl halftime acts last night. Bad Bunny performed at the actual Super Bowl and drew 135 million viewers, while the ministry/political organization Turning Point USA had an alternative halftime show that featured Kid Rock and drew 6.1 million viewers.

Rather than continuing the back and forth on why people chose what they chose, I thought I would share something that I was thinking about throughout the day.

Yesterday morning I read a New York Times article by David French called “A Movie about America Broke My Heart.” (Note that you may or may not be able to read the article with a free account). The movie he watched was called The Testament of Ann Lee, and it’s about the founder of the American Shakers.

French’s takeaway from his experience watching the film was that our country has always fought against those who were different from us or whom we simply didn’t understand. It doesn’t sound like that surprised him. What surprised him was the response that the Shaker community, and Ann Lee in particular, had towards this fear, hatred and persecution.

She called on people to love. She believed that love for neighbor was the highest call.

French then references the “Already and not yet” aspects of the Kingdom of God. This is a teaching that has played a prominent role in my life. All around us we see ways that the kingdom is breaking through. It’s already. We can be grateful for that and continue to play our role in pointing it out. But it’s also not yet. This is why Jesus taught us to pray, “Let your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.” This is what fuels our love…if we will allow it.

French then mentions Micah 4:4, which says, “Everyone will sit under their own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid.” I don’t know when I first heard this verse, but it became prominent for a lot of us when we heard the song “One Last Time”, sung by George Washington in the musical Hamilton. This verse must have been very important to George Washington, because French points out that he referenced the verse close to 50 times in his correspondence.

Go here if you’d like to read all of Micah 4. That was where I headed next. It’s such a beautiful chapter.

A short time after reading this article I was at church, and Jamin Carter gave a great sermon called Covenant as a Subversive Act of Love. So much of it carried this same theme. Towards the end of the sermon he made a statement that stuck with me. He said, “The whole task of Scripture is us learning how to love one another as God has loved us.” The word “whole” is a big word. This is everything. God wants to transform our hearts so that we would be capable of love. I’m also drawn to the word “learning”. Yes, it’s transformation, but transformation does not mean overnight. It takes learning. It takes effort.

So much in our lives is working against us becoming the kinds of people who can love others as God has loved us, but it’s possible. That’s where subversion comes in. I like that.

French ends his article by referencing one of the times George Washington referenced Micah 4:4. It was a letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Newport, R.I. Washington said, “May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other Inhabitants; while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.”

Here’s what French says about it…

What a beautiful expression of American pluralism and religious tolerance. Our nation is not a place – it never will be a place – where we all agree with one another, much less look like one another, or even come from a common culture. But we can live together as neighbors so long as we recognize one another’s inherent dignity and worth.

Choosing the tangible act of love through word and deed is the only way that this will happen.

20 Years in Memphis

Published by on February 2, 2026

Today is a special day for Mandy and I. We have now been Memphians for 20 years. For the past few weeks I’ve been reflecting on our time here. We moved here when Adam was six months old. We had a dream of planting our lives and at some point a church, as well as a desire to be closer to family. 

We wanted stability. We wanted to raise a family. And we wanted the opportunity to buy a home. That was much more of a reality in Memphis than it was in the SF Bay Area, where we had lived for the previous six years. 

Our first six months were spent reconnecting with family after being away for so many years. After a couple of months renting a townhouse across the street from Overton Park, we bought a house in Cooper-Young.

After moving we slowly but surely began getting involved in the neighborhood. We started attending events put on by the Cooper-Young Community Association, and we began meeting neighbors, especially those with little ones. It’s funny how you’re just drawn to one another when you’re at stage of life and parenting. 

We quickly saw that over the past few decades people had moved out of the urban core of Memphis, but now people were moving back. When we moved into Cooper-Young there were not a lot of teenagers. But boy were there a lot of babies and toddlers. 

Mandy came to the conclusion that one of the things that she should be engaged in was education advocacy. The question that was on the forefront of minds was, “Where are we going to send our kids for school?” 

Mandy started the Cooper-Young Parents Network when Adam was two, and as he got closer to kindergarten we began gathering others together to explore attending our neighborhood school together. And that’s what we did.

We spent several years investing in Peabody Elementary School. We raised money through Chili Cookoffs and Support Drives. We received a grant from Kaboom for a new playground. The dads took turns in the mornings as Watchdogs getting kids from their cars into the building. Classmates played rec league soccer and basketball. Our kids were close. And so were the parents.

And through this we started a church. I remember when we were toying around with the name Neighborhood Church, a friend pointed out that the mission was in the name. That was it.

There were ups and downs throughout it all. There was a lot of activism and life change. And definitely a lot of fun. There was also relational loss and disappointment. I’m grateful for the work that God did during those years, and I’m grateful for the relationships that have lasted through the years.

Mandy has invested years of her time as both an educator in the classroom and a volunteer parent leader. When Adam was a second grader, she organized midtown parents around the campaign to start a new middle school. After a lot of sweat equity, Maxine Smith STEAM Academy was started and Mandy continued to serve as PTO President while Adam attended. Then during his middle school years, she served on the XQ team that eventually created Crosstown High, which is where Micah is now a junior. The public education landscape has greatly changed in these last two decades, and we are grateful for all of the initiatives and investment that has brought improvements. 

These 20 years in Memphis have been the season of raising a family. As I write this our boys are 20 and 17. One of the sweetest experiences we’ve had in Memphis is seeing these boys create lifelong friendships, something Mandy and I did not have growing up. We threw a toddler Halloween party in 2006 to meet other young families in Cooper Young, and the Spicklers came with their little cow, Walt. Adam was a duck. They hit it off and hardly ever missed another Halloween together. They are still best friends. And the little brothers who came along a few years later call each other their Day 1’s and hang out or play soccer daily. Their circle of bros has widened as they’ve gotten older, and we are proud of the way they show up for their friends. We’ve spent countless hours watching them play soccer and basketball. I even coached basketball for many rec league seasons! The boys’ fan club rolled deep with all the grandparents, aunts and uncles we have in Shelby County. We never took that for granted. 

Our family has been a part of two churches during our time in Memphis. I was the founding pastor of Neighborhood Church for that first decade or so. After I retired from vocational ministry we settled our family at Christ City Church. It was a nice time of recovery and rest. But a few years later, in quite the surprise, Mandy was offered the job of Executive Pastor. She has been in that role for the last four and a half years, and she does her job so well. Her latest initiative was helping to lead our transition from renters to owners, as Central Christian Church gifted their building to Christ City Church.

In August I marked 16 years as a licensed realtor. In that time I’ve had almost $40 million in real estate transactions and helped over 100 families buy or sell their home. I’ve also flipped over 30 homes. Breathing life into classic midtown homes was not always easy, but it was always rewarding. And in the last year I’ve had the privilege of mentoring Adam in the business after he decided to get his real estate license. 

Mandy and I met in college choir as music majors, so singing together is a fun hobby for us.  We are so fortunate to be involved in Memphis Choral Arts. I joined the Men’s Chorale in 2012 and Mandy was a founding member of the Women’s Chorale in 2014. She even served as Executive Director from 2022-2025. One of our favorite Memphis experiences is singing in the annual Christmas concert at St. Peter Catholic Church downtown. And one of the sweetest memories was when Micah had the boy soprano solo in one of our Christmas songs when he was a founding member of the Memphis Children’s Chorale. 

The boys had amazing musical experiences growing up in Memphis. Their school music programs were outstanding, including Micah learning in Mandy’s music classroom for six years. They took private piano lessons from Dr. Patricia Gray for seven years, with precious recitals at the Beethoven Club. Micah played keys for his school pop ensembles for several years. And during Covid, Adam taught himself electric guitar. And we all still play or sing in the church worship band. Growing up in Memphis meant countless shows at the Orpheum and Levitt Shell.

After our 8 year stint living in Cooper Young, we moved to the Annesdale-Snowden neighborhood for 12 years. It was a beautiful place to raise a family, and our block had so many kids to play with our guys. We rescued Bella after she was found by a friend in the parking lot of Stax. And a few years ago, we welcomed 9 pound Sophie to the mix.  And now, for the first time since I left for college, I live in a more rural area. You can read more about that here.

I think it’s fitting that I place the final touches on this article as I sit at Otherlands with Micah, enjoying a cup of coffee and a bagel. I remember the first time I stepped foot into Otherlands. It was a year or so before we moved. I was in Memphis visiting family, and my dad, brother and I went to Otherlands. As I looked at the bulletin boards I felt like I was in San Francisco. It was in that moment that I began to imagine myself living in Memphis. Before that, I didn’t think I would ever fit back in the Bible Belt. Discovering Midtown through that visit to Otherlands opened me up to new possibilities, and I’m grateful for that.

I am who I am because of our 20 years in Memphis. There’s something really good about navigating the good and the hard of a place. About discovering blessing in places you least expected. About changing in ways you definitely never expected. And about being open to the things of God all around you. I’m proud of the work we’ve done and the lives that we’ve lived, and I’m grateful for the ways that we’ve been shaped.

And now, I’ll leave you with a gallery. Twenty photos to mark twenty years in Memphis. Enjoy!

Our New Life in the Country

Published by on January 14, 2026

“Wow. This is a big shift from Midtown!”

I’ve heard this line from several friends over the past couple of months. And yes, I was surprised as anyone when I felt my heart being drawn to a different type of home and a different type of life.

Mandy and I have been urban dwellers for our entire marriage. A year in Nashville, five and a half in the SF Bay Area, and now 20 in Memphis.

We love Midtown, and we absolutely loved our home and neighbors in Annesdale-Snowden. For the past couple of years we have discussed off and on what we wanted to do after Micah went off to college. We had looked at other cities, but for several reasons felt like we should stay in the Memphis area.

So then we started looking at other parts of Memphis. Nothing ever felt right though.

Then, on August 16, I decided to listen to my own advice. I had told several real estate clients over the previous few months that now was a great time to buy a home. So that afternoon I decided to see what was out there.

I set up a few search parameters. It was a pretty wide search, so there were about 100 properties that fit the criteria. Most were discarded quickly, but a few I pushed to the side to come back to.

And then I came upon a house on Benjestown Rd. It was in Shelby Forest, an area that we have always loved spending time in. It was a little smaller than our current house, which we liked. It was on one level, which we also liked. It had 2 acres, way more than what we currently had but still manageable. And it was 84 years younger than our current home.

As much as I love older homes, it’s been really nice to be in a newer home. It lacks some of the charm, but it makes up for it in insulation and proper wiring!

The home was 25 years old, but just about everything had been updated over the past few years.

I showed it to Mandy, not knowing what she would think. She was intrigued, so I made an appointment and we went to look at it. We both loved everything about it, but we wondered if perhaps this was too fast.

We went back to see it two days later, and then took Micah to see it that evening. By this point we were imagining ourselves there, but we wanted buy in from Micah. Again, we had assumed that we would make a move after he had moved out. A possible move was not something that we had even brought up to him, so we knew it would be a surprise.

Between the three of us and also Adam, Micah was the most torn. It would involve a bit more driving to school and to see friends. And it was a big change. But he also thought we should pursue it.

We made an offer the next day, and had it under contract the next. We moved in the middle of October, which means that we’ve been here for three months.

There is a quietness here that I love but that honestly took me a bit of time to get used to. But it’s good. I love the beauty. I love looking up into the sky at night and seeing the brightness of the stars. I love that we are just three miles from the south entrance to Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park. I’ve already taken many bike rides to and through the park.

When I take bike rides through beautiful places something good happens to my soul. And now to live this close is a good thing!

One day not long ago I was riding in the park and rode by a disc golf course. It turns out that the park has three courses. When I got back home I told Mandy that I had figured out what we were doing in retirement. We were going to become disc golf people! I imagined us riding our bikes there, playing a round, and then going to the Shelby Forest General Store for lunch. That’s a good day.

Mandy and I both have such gratitude. We know that this was God granting a desire of our heart that we didn’t even know we had. I love when that happens!

Remembering 2024

Published by on December 31, 2024

It’s the last day of the year. I love this time of year. It’s time to bring some things to an end, and it’s time to dream and plan about new ventures. 2024 was a good year for our family. Mandy and I celebrated 25 years of marriage and I celebrated my 50th birthday.

Mandy is now in her fourth year as the Executive Pastor at Christ City Church. She has a lot on her plate, but she does her work with such grace, patience and precision. I love watching her lead. She also continues to serve as Executive Director for Memphis Choral Arts.

Adam began his sophomore year at UT Knoxville in August. He got his real estate license in the fall, and he’s decided to take a leave of absence this semester so he can learn the real estate business. I continue to be impressed by his work ethic and decisiveness.

Micah began his sophomore year at Crosstown High in August. He played club soccer and water polo in the fall, and this spring he’ll once again be playing soccer for his school. He also plays keys in one of the bands at school. He works hard on his studies and has a great group of friends. I love Micah’s thoughtfulness and creativity.

After having my worst year as a real estate agent in 2023, I had my third best in 2024 ($3.7 million in sales). The market has been tough, but I’m looking forward to helping my clients this year as they buy or sell a home. And as I enter 2025 I’m now managing 23 rental properties. There are days when property management is tough, but I enjoy working with my tenants and clients.

Travel is something that our family prioritizes. This year we spent a few days in March with friends in Waynesville, NC. In the summer we went to Banff National Park in Canada. Over fall break we went to Chattanooga. And in December Mandy and I got to spend 10 days in Germany and Austria celebrating our 25th anniversary!

Finally, some of my favorite things…

Favorite musical experience – Jacob Collier concert in Nashville

Favorite new music discovery – Lawrence

Top 3 books I read – How to Stay Married, by Harrison Scott Key, Die With Zero, by Bill Perkins, and The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory, by Tim Alberta.

Reflection for December 31

Published by on December 31, 2024

It’s time for my last post. It’s been almost two and a half months, and in that time I’ve written 75 reflections totaling just under 35,000 words. I thought I’d share some overall reflections on what this practice has meant to me.

First, I’m glad I got through it. It was a lot of reading, and a lot of writing. Writing on this blog gave me the accountability I needed to finish, which I’m grateful for. Writing is something that I enjoy once I really get into it. When I first began this blog in 2020 I wrote a lot. There were certain things that I wanted to share. Then I stopped after the summer of 2023. This practice has reawakened some things inside of me, and I want to use this as a jump start to continue writing.

Second, even though I’ve been around the Bible for my entire life, reading the entire New Testament in a short period of time helped me to better understand the context and the overall story. I was reminded of my love for this story. As I read the story of Jesus I found myself coming back to certain themes that were emphasized in his life and teaching. Years ago I fell in love with the story of the early church. Coming back to that was a lot of fun.

Third, I was reminded over and over again that at the end of the day, our primary responsibility as children of God is to love. Love is at the center of every message and from every writer.

Finally, I was reminded why I still believe. This story of Jesus changed my life once upon a time. And that story continues to be the dominant story in my life, the one that most shapes and guides me. I’m grateful for that.

I’ll end my reflection with one last passage from John.

Stay with what you heard from the beginning, the original message. Let it sink into your life. If what you heard from the beginning lives deeply in you, you will live deeply in both Son and Father. This is exactly what Christ promised: eternal life, real life!
1 John 2:24-25, The Message

Reflection for December 30

Published by on December 30, 2024

Yesterday I shared how the book of Revelation went from being the main book I wanted to study while a senior in high school to becoming something I totally neglected because I no longer lined up with the theology I had when I first came to it.

Since yesterday I’ve read the entire book of Revelation. I’ve also listened to this interview with Scot McKnight. I first came across Scot McKnight close to twenty years ago when his book (and blog of the same name) Jesus Creed came out. Since that time I’ve turned to him often. In 2023 his book Revelation for the Rest of Us came out. I have not read it, but I’ve read some reviews since yesterday’s post, and I’ve also listed to the interview referenced above.

In an excerpt from the book on McKnight’s site, he quotes from Phillip Gorski’s book American Covenant and says that when we take a speculative, dispensational approach to this book, we are reading the Bible…

  1. Predictively, as an encoded message about future events that can be decoded by modern-day prophets
  2. Literally, such that the mythical creatures of the text are understood as material realities
  3. Premillennially, with the Second Coming of Christ understood to precede the earthly ‘millennium’ of God’s thousand-year reign on earth; and
  4. Vindictively, with the punishment of the godless occurring in the most gruesome and violent forms imaginable

I SO resonate with all of this. This is how I once read the book of Revelation, and it’s now the reasons I’ve dismissed it. So after reading this I was anxious to know more of his conclusions so that I could then read the book through a different lens. Revelation for the Rest of Us is less of a commentary and more of a hermeneutic (a way of reading) of Revelation.

So here are some closing reflections…

John is writing to seven churches throughout Asia Minor. These churches are experiencing an extreme amount of persecution. He wants to both encourage and challenge them. But he also wants to tell them a story. It’s a story about how we interact with powers. Whether it was the Jews in exile in Babylon or those churches facing persecution in Rome or even us today, we are all under the authority of powers, and it’s our job to go along with things until it attempts to silence the Lamb. Then we must speak up.

This book teaches us to be dissident disciples who resist Babylon in the public sector and who resist Babylon creep into the local church.

This book also teaches us that the Lamb is the victor, but the way of victory is the cross. What this does is to flip everything upside down.

Finally, because the Lamb is the victor, justice too wins. All of the powers that work against justice will be defeated.

McKnight says that we need to be people of wisdom so that we can recognize Babylon and discern it’s presence. We need to be witnesses of Jesus who know him and tell our story. And we need to be worshipers of the Lamb. The book of Revelation continues to come back to worship. Worship is how we see Babylon for what it truly is. This is how we prevent blindness.

Finally, as much as I have ignored the book of Revelation, I have often been returned to its last two beautiful and hopeful chapters. In this last part of the story we see heaven coming down to earth. We see God wiping away every tear. We see the redemption and restoration of everything that had been lost and broken. And we see the good, loving and just King reigning over everything.

That’s a great ending to our story!

Reflection for December 29

Published by on December 29, 2024

We now arrive at Revelation. One of my biggest apprehensions about taking on this project was what I was going to do once I got to this final book of the Bible. There are five days of readings in the Bible I was using. I’m down to three days because I’ve inserted a couple of other reflections. And I plan for my last reflection to an overall reflection on this practice. But still, two days of Revelation…

Let me first share my background on this book. During my senior year of high school my friend Dax and I asked my pastor, Bro. Phil, if he would do a Bible study with us one day each week after school. He agreed, and then asked what book we’d like to study. Without hesitation we said “Revelation.” Bro. Phil loved teaching the Bible, and we felt that with his help, we’d uncover all of the mysteries found in this book. And I remember loving every second of it. Those afternoons were a highlight of my senior year, and God used them to ingrain in me a love for Scripture.

A couple of years later I got into the Left Behind series, by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. This series of novels gave a fictionalized account of what happened after the rapture.

In the years after this my beliefs changed greatly, and as a result, I didn’t have a lot of use for Revelation. During my years as a pastor I never preached from it, other than using a verse or two from chapter 2 or chapter 21.

All this to say, it’s really easy to dismiss this last book of the Bible. But one of the good things about this practice, and about the accountability of writing each day, is that I will encounter Revelation once again.

Today I wanted to share my history with this book. Now I’m am going to read it. And then tomorrow I’ll share more reflection.

Reflection for December 28

Published by on December 28, 2024

Today’s reading is from the three short letters from the apostle John.

According to church history John was the only member of the 12 disciples to reach old age. He’s also the only one who died of natural causes. The rest were killed for their faith.

At some point John went to help lead the church in Ephesus. It was there that he most likely wrote these three short letters. Similar to Peter’s letters, they were not written to a single church or individual. He writes to remind all believers of the essentials of their faith. It’s about loving God and loving others. It’s about showing that you love God by obeying him. He says…

Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world – wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important – has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out – but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.
1 John 2:15-17 (The Message)

John does a great job summarizing the message when he says…

My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everything who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God IS love – so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about – not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they don’t to our relationship with God.
1 John 4:7-10, (The Message)

Finally, John states his purpose for writing…

My purpose in writing is simply this: that you who believe in God’s Son will know beyond the shadow of a doubt that you have eternal life, the reality and not the illusion. And how bold and free we then become in his presence, freely asking according to his will, sure that he’s listening. And if we’re confident that he’s listening, we know that what we’ve asked for is as good as ours.
1 John 5:13-15, (The Message)

As someone who had followed Jesus for many years, at the end of the day what he wanted most for his fellow followers of Jesus was that they would have confidence that they were loved by God, and that God was actively working in their lives.