Atop the shelves surrounding my office are numerous 8×10 pictures. There is a picture of my family from a wedding when our children were little. There is a picture of my daughter dancing to a song I had composed and performed along with her at her dance recital. There is a picture of my son rocking out on a drum set before he could even form a full sentence. There are three pictures of...
Are You Actually Going to Help?
One of my favorite outreaches we do every year at First Baptist Church is our partnership with Anchor House, Healthy Jackson County, and numerous area churches, schools, and businesses to provide over 200 food baskets for families at Thanksgiving. Over the course of several weeks, food is collected at various locations across Jackson County. All of the items are eventually transported to First...
It’s Not a Season; It’s a Lifestyle!
The holidays are upon us. The fourth Thursday of November serves as the starting point for seasonal celebrations galore here in the US. For the last few weeks, Christmas trees, and Christmas décor of all kinds, have begun to appear in houses across our communities. A few eager beavers have gotten a very early jump on external illumination as well. All of this is much to the consternation and...
Just Show Up
American filmmaker Woody Allen is credited with the saying, “80% of success in life is just showing up.” We can haggle over percentages, but the point he is making rings true. The starting point for success in anything in life is being present when and where the job is being done. You can’t win a race if you don’t lace up your shoes and step out on the course. You can’t make the grade if you...
Eating a Door to Enter Another
Sitting on my desk is a daily calendar. Across the top, it reads, “MENTAL FLOSS: AMAZING FACTS.” While it would be a stretch to call any of the tidbits of information “amazing,” they are usually at least mildly entertaining. For instance, before authoring the wildly popular Goosebumps series of children’s books, author R. L. Stine wrote the jokes found inside Bazooka bubble gum wrappers. Another...
It’s the Spirit (Not the Shoes)
In the late 1980’s, Nike released an ad featuring Michael Jordan and Spike Lee as the character Mars Blackmon. At the start of the commercial, Mars asks a question that was burning in many a mind of that day: “Yo, Mike! What makes you the best player in the universe?” He then goes on to explore potential sources of Jordan’s skill. He asks His Airness, “Is it the vicious dunks??? Is it the haircut...
Blessed Are the Peacemakers
In 1872, Colt’s Patent Firearms Company designed a revolutionary new product that had a profound impact on American culture. This invention was the Colt .45 revolving pistol, or as it is more commonly known, The Peacemaker. If an image doesn’t immediately pop into your head, think for a moment of any old western movie ever made. The guns slung by just about every cowboy on the silver screen were...
Experience: The Best Teacher
“Experience is the best teacher.” This phrase is accredited to the great Julius Caesar. While I am eternally grateful to all of the many women and men who have served as teachers in my own life and in the lives of my family and friends, I must say that this statement rings true to me. Education, both formal and informal, provided me with a great deal of information and perspective to help me...
Getting Ready From the Inside Out
Have you ever wondered how an average person would fare against professional athletes? Who among us hasn’t watched our favorite team or athlete struggling to perform up to our standards and thought or actually said, “COME ON! EVEN I COULD HAVE DONE BETTER THAN THAT!” I think it would be incredibly interesting to give a few average Joe’s and Jane’s an opportunity to put that premise to the test...
A Little Jesus
“THAT’S A LOT OF JESUS!!!” This was the first line of the caption for a photo I recently encountered on Facebook. The photo was of a box full of tiny Jesus figurines. The stated plan for these “little Jesus’s” was, and I assume remains, to place them around Columbus, Indiana and wherever travels might take them in efforts to “share a ‘little Jesus’ wherever we go!” It’s a very clever idea and I...
Recent Comments