John Mark Hicks

This Easter, before assembling with other believers, I visited Joshua’s grave. For me visiting graves has rarely been comforting. In fact, it is the opposite. The graveyard seemed too permanent. It contained too many granite stones which testified to both the pervasiveness and intransigence of death. I have found in recent years visiting graves is good […]

May 21 is an anniversary date for me. Joshua died on that day in 2001. Many friends helped. Mark and Margo Black were there, Rubel and Myra Shelly were there, Mike Cope was there a few days before as well as John York, and we were surrounded by many others (including my Woodmont Hills Bible […]

Hebel That is an important word for the writer of Ecclesiastes. It is a word that comes to mind on May 21 every year since 2001.  That was the day Joshua died. It was also the day John Robert died in 2008. Indeed, it is a day on which many people have died. Hebel You may […]

This Easter, before assembling with other believers, I did something that I had never done before. I visited Joshua’s grave. For me visiting graves has rarely been comforting. In fact, it was the opposite. The graveyard seemed too permanent. It contained too many granite stones which testified to both the pervasiveness and intransigence of death. I […]

Joshua, my son, you would have been 30 today.  I miss you, and yearn to hold you again.  One day….yes, one day.  Till then, rest peacefully. [I have republished this in honor of the anniversary of his birth on Feb. 17.] Joshua died  at the age of sixteen. I offer this chapter out of my […]

When you feel forsaken or rejected,  when you feel like a failure or a piece of dirt, when you feel inadequate or deficient, when you feel unloved or unchosen, hear the word of the Lord through Isaiah the prophet Isaiah 62:2b,4,5b …you will be called by a new name        that the mouth of the LORD […]

Since I was disconnected from the electronic world, I was unaware of the loss that the John Dobbs family has just suffered.  John Robert Dobbs died on the same day as Joshua Mark Hicks….my son in 2001, John’s son in 2008. Here are my feelings…about God…my prayer to God. Frankly, God, I am sick and […]

After memoralizing a couple of days in my life (May 21–the date of Joshua’s death and May 22–Sheila and I would have been married thirty-one years), I feel better. It was a cathartic–a kind of cleansing–though I recognize it is a long process (and has been a long one already).  I now realize that I […]

Grief should be the instructor of the wise.  Sorrow is the knowledge.  Lord Byron Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart, Who looks outside, dreams, who looks inside, awakes.    Carl Jung I call to God; God will help me. At dusk, dawn, and noon I sigh deep sighs–he hears, he rescues.    Psalm 55:16-17 […]

On November 14, 2007, my good friend and colleague at Lipscomb University Mike Matheny died after his three year struggle with a brain tumor. Mike–the same age as me, 50–is a dear friend to me. We talked often about our great loves–the Psalms and baseball.  He is a Yankee fan, I am a Cubs fan. But we are […]