Rainey Blogs on Some Days

Middle-aged men in summer have one thing on their minds: barbecue grills. Women in bathing suits are no match for a man's thrill at firing up his barbecue grill. The primal instincts of the hunter-gatherer can only find fulfillment in the sizzle and pop of a flank steak lined with the grid of the grill after each flip of the grill-master. The smoke rises as the warrior-king sends smoke signals into the sky to indicate another conquest as imagined in a bygone primal century. I recently had trouble with my grill, which would only heat up to about 200 degrees even though I had tried two full propane tanks, neither of which would work. This bout of grill impotence was unnerving because men measure their summer manhood by their barbecue-ability. It lasted about two months over summer and even stretched into September. Time after time I returned to the house with half-cooked morsels of meat as I was unable to finish the job. I took the grill apart, cleaned it, and put it back toge...

An article in this month's Poets & Writers magazine entitled “The Art of Brand Naming” by Margaret Wolfson tells the story of Ivory soap. (The article is only available to subscribers of the magazine.) Originally, it was called “White Soap” by Procter and Gamble's James Gamble. His partner, Harley Procter, felt they needed a better name for the new soap. Procter found inspiration for a new name at his church while he was listening to a recitation of Psalm 45: All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad (Psalm 45:8). White Soap or Ivory ? Sometimes a name can make all the difference!

On the first day of the week we came together to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight. There were many lamps in the upstairs room where we were meeting. Seated in a window was a young man named Eutychus, who was sinking into a deep sleep as Paul talked on and on. When he was sound asleep, he fell to the ground from the third story and was picked up dead. Paul went down, threw himself on the young man and put his arms around him. “Don’t be alarmed,” he said. “He’s alive!” Then he went upstairs again and broke bread and ate. After talking until daylight, he left. The people took the young man home alive and were greatly comforted. (Acts 20:7-12, NIV Bible). I made a serious effort not to fall asleep today in our church service, even though the text above shows that you might receive a miracle if you fall asleep. Not falling asleep is especially important for me since I am a volunteer assistant pastor at ou...