Two New Yorkers were driving in the state of Louisiana when they entered the town of Natchitoches. They immediately began discussing with one another how to pronounce the town’s name. The discussion escalated into an argument and became rather heated. As it was nearing lunchtime, they decided to find a fast food emporium. Standing at the counter, one of them decided to settle the argument before ordering.

“Life is uncertain….eat dessert first.” But I seldom do. More often than not, I don’t eat dessert at all. (But if you have smuggled a key lime pie into the sanctuary this morning, I could be tempted.)

One of the things that surprised me, upon moving to Birmingham, was that my backyard was enclosed by a fence. We didn’t have one in Farmington Hills. Neither did we have one in Livonia. I felt like I was reverting to my childhood. When I was a kid, everybody had a fence. In fact, we had three fences. One fence separated us from the neighbor on the left. Another fence separated us from the neighbor on the right.

She stormed into my office, exasperation dripping from her voice, demanding to know whether the Bible had anything to say about teenagers. So I said: “Why do you ask?” One hour later, she was still telling me why she was asking. Eventually, we got around to the matter at hand…. namely, the Bible and teenagers.