I Wasn’t Expecting to Hear His Voice I laughed first. Then I teared up. I had been working through another of my dad’s old Sunday School lessons, carefully reading the pages he gave me years ago as a Christmas gift. The lesson was dated April 28, 2002, and titled “Promise of Restoration.” Its Scripture came…
The Stories You Gave Me
Grandaddy’s Fishing Pole: How Ordinary Objects Preserve Family Stories
From The Stories You Gave Me My father was not a fisherman. He made that perfectly clear to his Sunday School class one Sunday morning in August of 1999. “I am not a fisherman,” he told them, before admitting that he owned a small amount of fishing tackle that seldom got used. But that morning,…
Before I Could Write About Hope, I Had to Need It
What My Dad Taught Me About Depression, Hope, and the God Who Stays One of the greatest gifts my dad ever gave me wasn’t the ability to answer every question. It was the freedom to admit that sometimes we don’t have the strength to. There was a season not very long ago when I understood…
Why Should I Be Involved in Church?
Scripture: 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 Dad’s Lesson Date: July 18, 1999 (If you have not read the explanation behind the devotional series, “The Stories You Gave Me”, click here for the back story.) Roger Hamrick (my dad) had a gift for taking everyday objects and turning them into life lessons. A baseball glove. A hammer. A…
Preparing the Way
May 21, 2000 | 1 Chronicles 21-22 Several years ago, my dad asked me what I wanted for Christmas. My answer surprised him. I didn’t ask for jewelry, a gift card, or something wrapped in festive paper. Instead, I asked for something that had been quietly accumulating over decades—his Sunday School lessons. For years, Dad…