An emporium is a marketplace for a variety of consumables. Over time I hope to offer some thoughts you might feel worthy of your consumption. I do so advisedly, realizing that I know very little about very much. I would be so bold as to submit that there are a few reasons to justify my daring to imagine that I may have something of value to offer to those who will stumble upon this spot and read what I write. Would you bear with me as I fill you in on who I am and what I might bring to this endeavor?
I am Michael A. Wyndham, Ph.D., born in 1958 in Mobile, Alabama, to a sound, loving, lower-middle class family with solid values, vibrant Christian faith, and a warmly demonstrated love for me from my first breath. My younger brother and sister and I were surrounded by men and women who taught me to love God and country, to be a good steward of my endowments, and to take seriously my God-given responsibility to love my neighbor as I loved myself. From their examples and their words, my parents, grandparents and others in my family circle taught me to work hard and to do all I found to do as well as I was able by my own diligence and God's grace. As wonderful as my family was and is, it was not and is not, without some frailties and weaknesses as is to be expected among the families of mortals. All in all, however, the context of my life has been nurturing and conducive to my being all God made me to be. I am without excuse for the degree to which I have fallen short of the ideals that my family has embraced and embodied. The experiences of an increasingly long life in such a context, spanning as they do some very important periods of historical, societal, institutional, and cultural evolution must have taught me something.
In addition, I have been married to one woman in my life. On October 22, 1977, I pledged to love, honor, and cherish my precious wife and I intend to do just that until death parts us. We have raised three children to adulthood and are now being blessed with grandchildren - three, so far, with a fourth to arrive soon. Over these three-plus decades we have met life together, facing the challenges involved with parenting, dealing with our own emerging selves and the two people we are always in the process of becoming, and generally sharing the griefs, pains, and joys of the marital journey. Maybe, just maybe, I have gained some insight into marriage and parenting that would be of some value to some sojourner in those most meaningful pursuits.
I acknowledge with due humility that I have also been priviliged in the course of my life to be exposed to an appreciable degree of formal education at the feet of fine men and women possessed of great knowledge in many areas of academia. I ultimately earned the Doctor of Philosophy degree in 1996 in a specialized sub-area of Sociology concerned with institutional religion. I say all this simply to assert that perhaps I have gleaned something in all this study that might find expression in my musings.
Finally, and most revealing about who Dr. Mike essentially is, I am a sinner saved by the grace of God who is grateful for every expression of the great love and mercy that has been lavished on me. I am an ordained minister, a pastor since 1985, and a sometimes professor at a well-known theological seminary. My faith guides and shapes my thoughts and perceptions of life and everything I may offer here will, at least in part and imperfectly, reflect my journey of faith as a disciple of Jesus Christ.
I have been urged to do this by several folk who love me and think more of me than is justified in reality. I look forward to visiting you on this page and hope you might find something worth your while here. The Emporium is now open, come inside and browse, holler if I can help!
Dr. Mike
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