I wanted a Suburban and not a minivan. Soccer moms drive minivans. Real men don’t just drive a Chevy Suburban, but they drive a 4 wheel drive Suburban. Of course this was back in the ‘90’.s. More sophisticated SUV’s have since taken the place of my vehicle of choice. Now I could have easily afforded a pretty nice minivan back in the day, but perish the thought. I bought a 4 wheel drive Suburban that was in my budget range….
I am notorious about two things. I tend to make premature judgments about people and I tend to form an opinion of entire groups without sufficient evidence. Those are not noble qualities. I hate to even admit it. I had something happen today that may cure my judgmental leanings for at least awhile. I heard a speaker today at the Traumas of Law Enforcement training event who was critical of chaplains. He spoke as if we were ill informed prophets…
Today I had the privilege of attending the first segment of the Trauma’s of Law Enforcement Training hosted by Concerns of Police Survivors at the Ft. Worth Police Department. Today’s facilitator was Shirley Gibson of Washington D.C. Shirley’s 27 year old son, Brian, was killed in the line of duty by a gunman on February 5th, 1997. He was a 6 year veteran of the Metropolitan Police Department in the nation’s capital. Shirley served as the national president for Concerns…
How quickly we forget. Tomorrow marks the 15th anniversary of the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. I still remember where I was and what I was doing on that morning. Ironically there were crews that came from New York City to assist in the recovery effort in the days following that tragedy. Not long after the remainder of the building was imploded I made a visit to the site. A cyclone fence surrounded the lot…
I used my porcupine analogy from a previous blog (March 30th) in a sermon focused on dealing with difficult people last Sunday. I referred to difficult people as the porcupines among us. Tomorrow is Part II of that sermon. I even added another category of porcupines based on a comment in the church foyer following my sermon last week. She noted that chronic complainers should be added the listing of porcupines. I agree and plan to refer to them Whiny…
I experienced something for the last time today. I went on my last middle school trip with one of my boys. I have attended baseball games, football games, musicals, band concerts, choir concerts, speech contests, geography bees, and other events that I cannot recall. I have even eaten lunch with all three of my boys on numerous occasions during their middle school years. But that era is about to end. Mitchell will be a high school student next fall. I…
A construction accident took the life of Tony ten years ago today. Tony was one of the big brothers in the neighborhood where I grew up. We all looked up to him. I ran around with his younger brother. Tony was three years older. His tragic and sudden death left his young wife with several young children to raise. I am thinking about Tony’s family today. I am thinking about his kids, who are now adults. In fact, several thoughts…
Trey Morgan is one of my favorite bloggers. I highly recommend his site. www.treymorgan.net. He recently wrote on one of my pet topics, so I am going to share a portion of that particular entry here instead of reinventing the wheel. Here is what Trey had to say: It’s a well known fact that waiters and waitresses all across America hate working the Sunday lunch shift, because of the way they are treated by “Christians” who eat out after Sunday…
I feel quite certain that a lot of us have experienced vacations that can be likened to the experiences of Clark Griswold and family, who are portrayed in National Lampoon’s box office hit, Vacation. All of the best laid plans go by the wayside and things just don’t come together. And of course all of us no doubt have a Cousin Eddie among the ranks of our family. I have a different idea for a vacation. I suggest that we…
Full of praise and full of themselves…That is the phrase that occurred to me today as I reflected on still another story of a prominent speaker whose interpersonal skills are severely lacking. I frequently hear people tell me how stunning and wonderful some speaker is that they heard at a church or at a seminar somewhere. And sure enough those individuals are generally outstanding orators. In many cases, those skilled speakers are lacking in the people skill department. My favorite…