Celebrating the Journey

I just thought I had problems. When I woke up early on September 11th, 2001, I could not bend over to tie my shoes. A ruptured disc on my back stemming from an injury in 1988 was destroying any hint of flexibility. I thought I was going to have to ask one of the hotel maids to assist me. I had stayed overnight in Oklahoma City to be with some dear friends in the Trauma Intensive Care Unit at OU…

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Everyone should attend the John Knox School of Grocery Shopping. It would be an experience in the culinary arts that would not soon be forgotten. I have a grocery shopping down to a science. My sweet little bride, however, has never enrolled in my school. She prefers the more traditional approach. Jan goes to the store armed with a list that few could ever replicate. It always has milk at the top, because the milk is at the far south…

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I think everything is funny. In fact, I have been told that my sense of humor is warped. One of my close friends has been quoted as saying: “John tells his own jokes and laughs at his own jokes. He entertains himself.” I am quite sure that I am not a well individual. All of us go through times in life when nothing is funny. That really is troubling. Stress can rob us of our joy, if we allow it…

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Labor Day is a great holiday. It creates an opportunity to enjoy summer type activities before getting into the school and fall work routine in earnest. We spent our Labor Day like a lot of people yesterday. We had family over to the house to cook hamburgers outside. It was fun to watch my nephews and niece play. The innocence of small children is refreshing like nothing else. After the day’s activities were completed, we settled in to watch an…

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I don’t like needles. I mean I really don’t like needles… I should actually be more specific. Shots are are not so bad. I don’t look forward to getting poked in that way, I but I can tolerate it. When I say I don’t like needles, I mean that I can’t stand having blood drawn. The sight of the blood is not the problem. The sight of another person’s blood does not bother me one bit. When it is my…

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I played in a match play format golf tournament today at Harbor Lakes Country Club in Granbury. It was a lot of fun. Winning my match made it that much better. Several years ago I read an excellent book entitled: Golf is Not a Game of Perfect, by Bob Rotella. The author delves into the psychological aspects of the game. A game that can indeed be frustrating. I book transformed the way I viewed my game. I am not a…

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I am 47 years old… And I am just now figuring what what is really important in life. Call me a slow learner. I figured out somewhere along the way that serving my family and those closest to me in the Spirit of Christ is of utmost importance. I am not sure exactly what caused it, but a few years ago I figured out that life was too short to allow fractured relationships to remain in that state. I went…

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Long before my children were teenagers a wise friend shared a profound insight regarding friendship. He said that kids in the teen years need one best friend.If they have a circle of friends, that is frosting on the cake. But all teenagers need one best friend. His observation countered what I had always thought up until that point. When I was a young parent, I wanted my kids to have a wide array of friends to run around with. I…

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Special Note:Imogene’s Siburt’s son, Charles has been a hero in the faith to our entire family for a number of years. We were so privileged to know his mother during the years that I preached in Muleshoe, Tx. Jan honors her in this wonderful tribute. Woman on a Mission: A Tribute to Imogene SiburtI met Imogene at a monthly gathering of ministers and their wives who served congregations in eastern New Mexico and the western edge of the Texas Panhandle….

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