Phil Gulley-Last Saturday morning, I woke up early to take my Mom to the airport and stopped by Hardees for biscuits and gravy on my way over to my parent's house.  Joan thinks that kind of food is bad for me, and doesn’t want me eating it.  Southern Baptists have to sneak to drink a beer.  I have to sneak to eat biscuits and gravy.  So I walked into Hardees and it was just packed with men, all of whom looked guilty, like they'd been caught doing something bad, and there were some Amish guys there.  Four of them—an older man, two younger men, and a boy.  They looked ill at ease, like they didn't belong, strangers in a strange land, Israelites in the land of Egypt.  

Phil Gulley-This has always been one of my favorite stories in the Bible, but as I was reading it again this week, I noticed a pair of brackets around it I had never noticed before, and a footnote directing me to a note at the bottom of the page which read, "The most ancient manuscripts omit this story." I did a little more digging and discovered some Biblical scholars believe this story didn't make its way into the Bible until around 900 A.D., and because of its dubious origins some newer translations of the Bible leave this story out altogether.

Jim Mulholland-When I was twelve years old, our family moved from a house in town to a farm in the country. It was the first move of my life and I was thrilled. I was especially excited because we were having a yard sale on the weekend before we moved. My family had never had a yard sale.

Phi Gulley-When I was eighteen and undecided what to do with my life, my mother urged me to become a lawyer. She said, "You love to argue. You might as well get paid for it." Many of our family friends were attorneys and I enjoyed their company, so for awhile I gave it serious thought. I even spoke with some attorneys, all of whom urged me to consider other vocations. The lawyer I knew best was John Vandivier, who owned a boat, drove a blue Lincoln Town Car, and loved nothing more than a spirited ethical or theological discussion. I'd met him when I became his paper boy at the age of twelve, and we clicked. When John died, I did his funeral and had the distinct impression he wanted to rise up out of his coffin and have one last conversation.