Ferrell Foster

In retirement, I have more reading time, and I’m so very thankful. I read nothing else each day until I have read from Scripture. I have done that now since, I think, COVID interrupted life. It’s not a brag; it’s a recognition that I need a God-centered lifeline before I get rolling each day. I need to tug on my anchor and know that it holds. Right now, I’m reading the Psalms — not my favorite…

My soul has been revived of late. Since we joined Central Baptist Church in Springfield, Illinois, I feel renewed, encouraged, and hopeful. This is not an outwardly dynamic church destined for mega status; it is a diverse congregation of fellow strugglers coming together to try and do life in a more flourishing manner. The building looks very traditional, but the church itself, the people, are…

I have spent a delightful morning today going over my highlights from two novels—A Tree Grows in Brooklyn and East of Eden. It creates a powerful mental experience to re-experience your favorite parts of a book. One thing I’ve learned recently from reading more novels is that what I like is a story that captures things that seem to be true in life. Both of those books conveyed such things, and I…

Our culture sends signals, such as: This person is smart. That person is not so smart. Parents sometimes send these signals more as a means of motivation or condemnation: “You’re so smart,” comes from good parents. “You dummy,” comes from bad ones. Schools send these signals by rewarding certain kinds of intelligence and undervaluing others. Societies send the signals by valuing more certain…

Jon Meacham’s And There Was Light is a remarkable book. Even if you’ve read a lot about Abraham Lincoln, you will probably learn things from this book. I especially liked how Meacham connected these historic events with Lincoln’s and other’s views of God and religion. Also, there are parallels here with our own times as heated polarized extremes battle for the future of America.  I also like how…

Daily writing promptIf you had a freeway billboard, what would it say?View all responses In college (1976), I bought Boston’s first album as soon as it came out. “More Than A Feeling” led off the A side, and I can still hear it in my head — helped by the fact that I have purchased the album in LP, CD, and digital form. That song title leads me to what I would say on freeway billboard if I had…

In a time when literacy is waning, here’s a good word from Rabbi Eli L. Garfinkel: “On at least two occasions, the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled scion of Buddhism, convened a group of eminent Jews to learn how the Jewish people have flourished despite persecution and exile over the course of millennia. He received a variety of answers, including our portable, family-based traditions that do not…

Abraham Lincoln (1838) 28 years old: “In the great journal of things happening under the sun, we, the American People, find our account running, under date of the nineteenth century of the Christian era. “We find ourselves in the peaceful possession, of the fairest portion of the earth, as regards extent of territory, fertility of soil, and salubrity of climate. “We find ourselves under the…

I personally rate books on a 10-point scale. Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus got a 9, thus five stars on GoodReads. At 200 pages, my rating stood at 6; I was struggling. I loved the stuff about science and women’s issues, but I just didn’t find most of the characters believable or interesting, except Six-Thirty. At 245 pages, my rating moved up to 7; it was becoming better…

As I think about the future and the importance of emerging young leaders, I think also of the past. “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. . . . There came a time of revolution, when rebels united to challenge a tyrannical empire.” No, wait, that’s from the beginning of Star Wars: A New Hope (the original). Let’s try this: A long time ago, in a country far, far away. . . . There came a…

I found a copy of a 1996 email today from me to Keith Stanford. It’s a report of my first glimpse at the Internet. “Yesterday I got my first look at the Internet — via Cecil Renshaw’s computer. As you know, I’ve been using CompuServe for some time now. The Internet is a whole other ballgame. After my brief exposure yesterday, I better understand what all the hype is about. The ease of access to…

I wrote this to my sister this morning then thought to share it here: 96 years ago … in a house alongside the railroad tracks … a good woman gave birth … to a child … who would love her mom … and learn how to love even in a household of hurt … three bothers to help their first little sister know more than hurt … a loving yet disturbed life begun … with two treasured grandparents just up the…

Here’s an idea for others getting older, like me, which, by the way, applies to all of us who are living. When I’m waiting for the microwave to do it’s thing I often stand on first one leg then another. I do it at other times, as well. I learned this almost 15 years ago from a physical therapist when I was recovering from ACL replacement surgery. She said something about it helping build…

Sometimes, while reading a novel, you find yourself. That happened again for me this morning while re-reading Wendell Berry’s Jayber Crow. Crow was remembering his childhood time while in school. “I had ways of not allowing myself to be fully present in the classroom, even though I was physically confined there. I looked out the windows. A window opening on nothing but the blank sky was…

I smile It’s what I doEspecially when I see peopleEspecially people I love I smileBut I’m battling despairIt seems much of what I have stood forIs now turning out to be unwanted. I smileAnd I think of JesusThat man who brought so much to so manyBy showing a better way than that of the world. I smileBut I’m battling despairBecause the people known by Jesus’ title, ChristSeem to think it was all…

C.S. Lewis: “I believe in God, but I detest theocracy. For every Government consists of mere men and is, strictly viewed, a makeshift; if it adds to its commands ‘Thus saith the Lord’, it lies, and lies dangerously.” Lewis’ social, political philosophy was just as conservative as his theology, yet he saw the danger of theocracy. In the USA today, theocracy is what some Christians desire and…