My kids and I like playing the alphabet game: You pick a topic and go from A to Z, naming animals or restaurants or countries that start with a particular letter.

Yes, I know, we sound really wild and crazy.

At least now you understand why I can’t resist offering — in alphabetical order, of course — a few thoughts, observations and tidbits from my first year with The Christian Chronicle:

• Abraham: After my column on “The lighter side of church life,” I got a chuckle when noted theologian Abraham Malherbe sent me a list titled “You might be in a country church if...”

Among my favorites on the list Abe passed along: If people grumble about Noah letting coyotes on the ark. If there is no such thing as a “secret” sin. If people wonder, when Jesus fed the 5,000, whether the two fish were bass or catfish.

• Browns: Often, when my Chronicle colleagues and I travel, we rely on the kindness of brothers and sisters we’ve never met -to house us. When I traveled to the Four Corners region to report on Navajo mission work (look for the story in a future issue), elder Ramon Brown and his wife, Allene, of the Cortez, Colo., church opened their home to me.

One night, the Browns and I spent three hours just talking: about their beautiful apple orchard, about the role of baptism in salvation, about their five grown sons — all of whom have served as elders or deacons. What a marvelous blessing to spend time with the Browns.

• Connecticut: Because of flight delays, I didn’t make it to the home of elder Bill Cochran and his wife, Clare, until 12:30 a.m. when I visited Stamford, Conn., to report the Exodus Movement story on pages 18-19. No problem. The Cochrans left their light on and their door unlocked.

The next morning, they were already at church busy on a work project when I awakened to see white squirrels nibbling outside their back window.

• Da Vinci Code: Pssssst. I know where the secret of life is written. (Hint: The book has sold about 7 billion copies. And Dan Brown definitely didn’t write it.)

• Editor: I have known and respected Bailey McBride since my student days at Oklahoma Christian University. Of course, most anybody who has spent any length of time in Churches of Christ knows Bailey.

He knows everybody.

My wife, Tamie, and I have had the privilege to benefit from Bailey’s wisdom and experience on a regular basis. As he retires, we’ll miss seeing him as much. But we know God has rich blessings in store for him. We love you, Bailey.

• Faithful love: Faithful love flowing down. From the thorn-covered crown. Makes me whole. Saves my soul. Washes whiter than snow.

• Guatemala: In Guatemala, I shared a hotel room with Bill Gordon of the Blue Starr church in Claremore, Okla. One day, Bill found me cuddled up with a blanket by the bathroom. He voiced concern that my nausea from the day before had worsened. Nope, I explained, I just needed a quieter place away from my roommate’s snoring (which Bill had warned me about). So, now when he e-mails me, Bill signs his name “The Big Snore.”

• Howard: I grew up singing 728b in Songs of the Church, produced by Howard Publishing in West Monroe, La. So, I was excited last summer when I got to meet John Howard, son of Alton Howard.

• Iraq: We do it because it’s our job, but we hate reporting on members’ deaths in Iraq. While we in the church may have differing views on the war, I know we all pray for the soldiers and their families.

• Jasper: I won’t forget worshipping outside with the church in Jasper, Texas, after Hurricane Rita. I met a sister who was without water or electricity for days. Her family was forced to bathe and wash clothes in a creek. Yet she was smiling and singing praises to her heavenly father.

• Katrina: I could write a novel here. The short version: Church members’ outpouring of generosity and compassion in the disaster’s aftermath amazed me.

• Letter: When the Senate confirmed church member Janice Rogers Brown as a federal appeals court judge, she declined an interview. But she sent me the nicest letter. “I am only a judge,” she wrote. “This is a humble craft and I am — as Learned Hand puts it — just a member of the Guild. I have no desire to be a celebrity.”

• Maryland: In our first Maryland visit, Tamie and I enjoyed spending time with East Baltimore minister Kevin Bethea.

• Niemans: Kevin and Lindsay Nieman of the White’s Ferry Road church in West Monroe opened their home to me when I joined a group surveying storm damages.

• Olivers: Mike and Nancy Oliver welcomed Jerry Lamb and me into their Henderson, Tenn., home when we came to write about the Winkler case in Selmer. Jerry’s wife, Rachel, is Nancy’s niece.

• Perspective: Corey Bradley of New Orleans lost everything. But standing in a Dallas church after Katrina, he put it in perspective: “I feel blessed like I’m in heaven because I’m here. I’m looking on TV and I see people I know on top of roofs.”

• Quick trip: Last fall, David Duncan and I left Edmond, Okla., after Sunday morning services for the opening night of the Harding University lectureship, where David presented Howard Norton with a book recognizing his service to the kingdom. We made it home from our 738-mile round-trip at 3 a.m. Fun times! Tiring, too!

• Rest of the alphabet: I had some really great lines for S to Z. I was going to talk about my first visit to Utah and my wife’s love for venti white chocolate mocha light Frappuccinos. Alas, I’m out of space.

Thanks for playing the alphabet game.

June 1, 2006

Check out Ross' personal blog at www.bobbyrossjr.blogspot.com.