Plain Speaking

The Art of the Stay at Home Wife

2008-08-05T22:50:00.003-04:00

I read an article today about a growing number of revolutionary women that have decided to stay at home. These women do not have children, their decision is based solely on the fact that they don't have a life outside their work. In other words, the past forty years of social engineering have revealed to these women that the old order of things was the way it was for a reason.

I wonder how social scientist might view this development. Might they look at their old paradigms of the enslaved housewife, who has been shackled in this demeaning lifestyle by her brute of husband as incorrect? Might they look at the way they have labeled so much of traditional society as quaint and outdated and say, "wait, perhaps they had something here"? More likely these women who have chosen this more traditional view will be labeled as traitors or scorned by the militant social change agents in our society as unwitting dupes of an archaic system.

I find it interesting that many things that we thought we have outgrown suddenly seem so, relevant.

The Article

Fast versus good, a parent's struggle.

2008-08-04T21:25:00.003-04:00

A new article from Associated Press reports that nearly every fast food option is extraordinarily high in calories. The article (click the link at the bottom to read), further reveals that despite an ever burgeoning kid's menu, "parents have to navigate a minefield of calories, fat and salt to find them." In other words, a degree in nutrition won't hurt if I want to keep my children from fighting same battle of the bulge that is rampaging across this country.

The real problem is that I am not winning the battle myself. I recently spoke to a registered nurse, who gave me the simplest diet plan I have heard to date. "If it tastes good, spit it out."
I really don't like that advice, mainly because I know it will work and I know I like eating food that tastes good. However, just like all other things in life, if I do something right a million times and my son and daughter MIGHT get it. If I do the wrong thing even once they WILL GET IT EVERY TIME.

I am really going to miss french fries.

AP Article

The Other Species Known As Women

2008-08-03T23:44:00.003-04:00

The title of this post might be a little misleading. Let me say right from the start, I am decidedly pro woman. Not in the liberal sort of way, but in the I think woman are great, even though they are a mystery to me sort of way. Really I promise, I love them, my mother was a woman and my grandma too.

I have always known that I didn't "get" women, what I didn't understand in high school, college, and even in my first five years of marriage is this: women and men are different. That is not to say that you won't encounter a tomboy or a guy that is skilled at traditional girl things. I am speaking in generalities.

The reason for this epiphany is my daughter.

Upon her birth two plus years ago, the other side of the human condition was revealed to me. The side of life that loves tea parties and dressing up. The part of humanity that just loves to try on new clothes that her grandparents bought. The part that instead of wrestling with daddy prefers to sit while Daddy holds her. The part that finds a two dollar Hannah Montana necklace in the store, puts it on before we can pay for it, and has yet to take it off her neck.

Now I realize that the difference between men and women is much like the difference between night and day. One starts where the other ends and the change is gradual but needed to differentiate the two. The world would be an awful place if it were all one or the other.

The world is better with fishing and tea parties!

I have the strangest cell phone

2008-08-02T23:57:00.000-04:00

My phone is absolutely weird. I should start by explaining that someone slipped into my home and put my old phone back into my pants and then it went through the washing machine. (It was probably a dark plot by the federal government.) My wife says I left it there, but that would make the phone's destruction my fault, so it was the definitely the government.

I went to see if I could get an early upgrade and found out that was not in the cards. So they set me up with a cheap "fill in" until my contract is up for renewal later this year. I got the phone, and noticed my children playing office in the AT&T store, I whipped out my phone to take a quick picture and found that the camera didn't work. I asked the representative that helped me what the problem was and he informed me my new phone did not have a camera!

Later, as we were on the way home, I found that our sing a long with Hannah Montana kept being interrupted. There was this strange sound ringing and I was sure something terrible had happened to my car. I drove straight to the mechanic to let him listen, at first nothing, and then there it was! The man had a strange look on his face and said, "Sir, I believe someone is trying to reach you on your cell phone." I looked at the phone and sure enough my wife was calling. I believe my mechanic is psychic, because the phone didn't play a tune from a movie or anything but he still knew.

My wife wanted me to pick some stuff up in a part of town I wasn't familiar with so I decided to use the GPS in my phone to find the address. I couldn't find that option as I was driving and, you guessed it the beep was back!

So after I ran my wife's errand, I went back to the cell phone place and they revealed the root of my most strange day. My new phone is unusual, it doesn't have a camera. It doesn't have a million and two rings. It can't cook dinner or do my taxes. ALL IT DOES IS SEND AND RECEIVE CALLS!

What will they think of next?

I need a spider costume with 6 legs by 8AM tommorrow

2008-08-01T00:03:00.002-04:00

Believe it or not, that is what my wife said once to my mother in law. The reason for this most bizarre request, was that Mom and Dad had failed my son. It was our responsibility to get a costume made and in the day to day rush of our life we let the kindergarten school play slip through the cracks.

If you haven't guessed by now "mamaw" came through for her youngest grandson. We were all present at my son's third stage triumph of his maiden school year. He knocked their socks of with his one line. That was the unanimous conclusion of our family.

One of the things that is sorely missing in our society today is a support structure for children when they need a spider costume made on less than twelve hours notice. (You fill in any minor emergency you like in that last sentence, but I think you get my point!) Our kids need for us, all of us to be able to deliver for them in these small but significant moments. We are so separated by doors and locks, technology and distance. Senator Clinton, wrong about so many things, was right about it taking a village. We seem to be slipping as a society in how we treat, educate, protect and rear our children.

Two days ago I found out that I am going to be the new den leader for my son's Tiger Den in Cub Scouts. My wife and I, and all the rest of the parents, will be attempting to nurture and lead these little guys through scouting. I really believe that there is much societal value to the process all of us, me included, will be going through. Each of these young men will learn from and with each other and hopefully gain life long friends that will form at least a part of the social structure that will support them in the future. My wife and I will be part of that for our son and his new friends in at least some small way.

I just hope none of them ever call me needing me to make a spider costume overnight.

Things you learn on a fourteen hour road trip. . .

2008-07-30T19:30:00.002-04:00

My family and I recently made a fourteen hour sojourn from Bardstown, Kentucky to Logansport, Louisiana. The mere thought of this sent chills down my spine. Fourteen hours of driving, using public restrooms and fastfood. Fourteen hours of Disney songs by Hannah Montana for my two year old daughter and five year old son (although my son will not admit to his affection for Miley Cyrus's alter ego.)

I learned that it is a bad idea to stop at Opry Mills in Nashville, Tennessee. You can blow most of your travel budget in a mall that size, no matter how cool the Bass Pro Shop is, or great deals at the Disney outlet.

I learned that all of Kentucky and Tennessee is basically a duplication of the same small town.

I learned that when a five year old boy sees the three enormous crosses erected by the Bellvue Baptist Church in Memphis his immeadiate reaction is that "if Jesus had been up there he would have been huge!"

I learned that West Memphis, Arkansas at night is a very scary place where a great many illegal and illicit activities take place.

I learned that a night clerk in West Memphis can be very kind to a man in need of a restroom.

I learned that outside of the Clinton Liabrary in Little Rock, there doesn't seem to be a lot in Arkansas.

I learned that there is a place called Nick's BBQ and Catfish in Carlise, Arkansas that is well worth the trip.

I learned that there are plenty of natural gas wells in Louisanna.

I learned that you cannot buy a Texas mug in Joaquin, Texas.

I also learned that a trip with my family while difficult, was also quite enjoyable.

The Land of Logan

2008-06-28T20:29:00.002-04:00

The title of this entry is a blatant plagiarism from my good friend and fellow Logan Countian, Jim Turner. Jim is the editor of the News Democrat and Logan Leader based in Logan County, Kentucky. I am still a faithful reader of this paper despite the fact that I have lived as an expatriate for the last decade. Jim's articles, the entire paper in fact, help me to feel a little more connected to home.

What is that is within us that makes us yearn for home? Wars are fought to defend our home from those that would take our home from us. Politicians make great hay about their common roots. Presidents at one point ballyhooed that they were born in a log cabin starting with William Henry Harrison, continuing with Abe Lincoln and ending with Jimmy Carter(the first president to be born in a hospital. (Feel free to check on the Carter birth I found it from two different sources and still find it hard to believe.)

My natural cynicism says that time and distance may have rewritten enough of the past that what was once appalling is now appealing. The currents of time have dulled the heartaches and dampened the disappointments.

Or perhaps, I view that life as simpler because it really was simpler. In life we make choices as we grow, more as we age, and only as we look back do we realize how wonderful it was back in our glory days. I, and I believe most, would not go back to younger days without that which we have acquired. For example I would not trade my wife and children for the chance to return to those simpler times, but being married and raising a son and daughter are difficult tasks that the sixteen year old version of me did not face. Back then it was the scrounging enough money to take a girl on a date and then finding a girl that would actually say yes. That was an excruciating experience but now as I look to the future I know that some little girl will bat her eyes at my son and then my life will take on a whole new version of complicated.

As for my daughter, she will never date and stay with her father forever.

So I pose the question were the good old days that good or has, as the song goes, "time rewritten every line"?

My Great Son

2008-06-20T01:25:00.000-04:00

I took the five year old to school this morning and he wanted to eat breakfast at school, we were out of pop tarts and he knew he could score one at school. He went through the line for his food paid and started looking for a place for us to sit.(I work third shift, this is our father son time each morning) He paused, as his classmates called for him to join their pre school day meal and chat. He told them he would see them in class and at recess and went to another table. I went and sat with him and as his conversation with the other children at this table progressed I realized that all of these children were special needs kids.
As they finished and left, I asked my son why he had chose to sit here instead of his normal crew of classmates. The following was his response as close to verbatim as I can recall. "Daddy, don't be mad, but some kids say things that aren't to nice about these guys and I don't think that is right. I noticed that the other kids don't play and talk with them very much so I thought I would eat with them. You don't think my friend's will mind do you?"
By this time my thirty-five year old eyes were fighting back tears. I told him that his friends would not mind and that I loved him very much and that he was a great guy. I have often told him that he is the best little boy in the whole wide world. I repeated that familiar descriptive to him and told him that things like this was why he was the best kid in the world. (Some of you disagree, but you will never win that argument with me, so don't even try.)
My son, like all children, can be and is a real handful at times. But for all of those who tell me how I should do this or that different, that try to impart to me wisdom or theory, (and I don't minimize their advice and council) I know that my wife and I are doing something right.
I have a great little boy. (And a great little girl too!)

Doing What You Want or Doing What You Should?

2008-03-17T00:18:00.001-04:00

I have been away from the things I love to do most for too many years. I love historical research, I love preaching the Gospel of Christ, I love writing. These are the things that fulfill me and give me a sense of purpose. I also love being a husband and father, yet I feel that my duty to them has caused me to wrongly deprive them of me.

My children do not know the man who researched long into the night for facts and insight into the past. They do not know the man who spent most of his time working in the vineyard of the Lord. A quick look at this weblog indicates that I no longer write as much as I would like.

Here is my conundrum: Am I serving my family by allowing myself to be pulled away from the things that make me, me? Or, am I searching for a way to shirk my responsibilities to my family, in order to fulfill my selfish desires?

Just posting because

2008-03-16T20:03:00.000-04:00

This is a useless post just because it has been so long since I have updated this blog.

Of illness and loss of things past

2006-04-06T18:16:00.000-04:00

Often I have wondered how it must feel for the big league pitcher who was the best in the business to suddenly realize that he is no longer able to make his pitches, hit his spots, or put the extra velocity on the ball that had always given him his edge. We view them on television or at the ball park as they endure a public viewing as their skills abandon them.

How sad it is for them, how sad it is for us,as the fleeting excellency of skill and youth escape us.

Be of good cheer!

2005-06-08T11:17:00.000-04:00

"Be of good cheer!" The King James version renders Matthew 14:27 just this way. I often read various translations to get a full view of the meaning of a passage. (I also watch CNN and Fox News, as well as trying to get more views of events from as many sources as possible.)

Recently reading the above, and the companion passage Mark 6:50, in the New American Standard Version, I noticed a very intriguing difference in translation. Translators substitute for "be of good cheer" the phrase "Take courage." AHHHHH, clarity! The missing element for so many people today is just this, courage. We view our lack of happiness and attribute it to all sorts of things, the absence of money, of a nice home, of someone who will take care of all our problems for us, but what we need is courage!

Let us examine this thought a little further. When I am discouraged over my job what will help me? Wallowing in self pity? This is the temptation that so often destroys happiness! Elijah was distressed and "on the run" and all his work for God had, in his eyes, been for naught. How did God help Elijah? First He gave Elijah something to do (I Kings 19:15-17); then he let him know in v. 18 that he was not alone.

How many times do we reach out longing to know that we are not the only ones that suffer? How much of our worry and strain would we relieve by working on a cause greater than ourselves? How wonderful it is to find those who have the same goals and follow the same master. Elijah was told that God still had people working to obey Him and not bowing their knee to a false God.

Yet too often we do just the opposite. We refuse new work and refuse to share our burdens with others! How often we are ready to curl up and hide from the snares and burdens that weigh upon us? Yet God told Elijah, "Get up, I have work for you." Not only did he have work for Elijah he wanted Elijah to appoint his successor! That's right God's work was not dead, in fact His work would go on after Elijah was taken from this world. So to understand the will of God, we must understand that no matter how much it seems a failure to us, God's will and God's work continue. Its success is not dependent upon us, our success is dependent upon whether or not we obey the will of God.

Understanding that true success lies not in the accumulation of silver and gold or honors and accolades but in the end hearing "well done thou good and faithful servant."

Take courage!

Publicity trumps results!

2005-05-31T14:38:00.000-04:00

Even if it is not fair, if you can get people to watch that is the only thing that matters in modern society.

Major League Baseball is the latest example of this modern fact. I watched the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox play over Memorial Day weekend. I find it odd I would be watching two teams that are tied for second in their division play. That is correct the two "marquee" teams in baseball are, for now, in the Baltimore Orioles rear view mirror. Four games back of Baltimore? The picture gets more bleak when you consider that the Chicago White Sox have the best record in the bigs with 34 wins. (Followed by St. Louis with 33 and San Diego with 32.) The two media darlings have a total of seven teams with more wins and two (Florida and Toronto) that have equaled their mark of 27.

So why are we focused on New York and Boston? I thought the whole "curse" thing had been lifted. Boston had excised its demons and New York was entering the non steroid, aging free agent, completely gutted farm system era. So why do we still focus on them with the intensity of Kenneth Starr investigating President Clinton's love life?

I realize we aren't even to the All Star break and both of these teams can come out on fire. I know that the Orioles could phone in the last half of the season, leaving these two media darlings slugging it out for the divisional title. What I don't understand is why baseball is allowing so many compelling story lines that would broaden the appeal of the game today to take a back seat to Boston/New York.

What about the Twins who just keep winning. What about the Tigers, who signed Pudge Rodriguez two years ago when they were the worst team in ball. Rodriguez had to defend himself against charges that he left the world champions to get a pile of cash in Detroit. They aren't out of the race yet. The Chicago White Sox are a stark contrast to the troubled Chicago Cubs, who labor with indifferent ownership and questionable mangement.

So many stories are out there. What about a comparison of Bobby Cox and Twins skipper Ron Gardenhire? Cox has done a stellar job with a big payroll and then without all those stars from the 90's. Yet Gardenhire's team was on the chopping block but is fielding one of the great defensive teams in the game today. What kind of variety do we get? We will follow the Yankees and Red Sox OR the Red Sox and the Yankees.

Yet we will continue until someone in the media realizes there are more than two stars in the baseball universe. That cannot happen until the viewing public realize there are other teams worth watching.

Observations and Corrections

2005-05-21T23:54:00.000-04:00

Well it only took a few days. In politics so much is subject to interpretation. In my article dated May 19, 2005, I sighted Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, and just about every other Republican for the last several months, saying that the filibuster had never been used to block federal appointment to the bench. One reader pointed out that Associate Justice Abe Fortis's elevation to Chief Justice and simultaneous replacement of Fortis with Homer Thornberry to the Associate Justice, was blocked by a threatened filibuster See Link.

So I want to thank David for pointing this out. Integrity and trust are valuable and hard earned commodities. If our leaders would recognize this and admit mistakes, stop shading the truth perhaps some of the modern cynicism would recede.

I find it interesting when partially true information gets passed on time and again. It all starts with a person of notoriety stating as fact some opinion or just plainly misrepresenting the truth but now the statement is out there. Talk radio hosts play the clip and repeat the claim, then a news article quotes the statement and before you know it the statement is fact in the mind of the public whether accurate or not.

Keep returning , I want this to be a place where comments are tested and refined.

SENATORS FRIST AND REID: A TALE OF TWO BAD DECISIONS

2005-05-19T17:49:00.000-04:00

Those who have better things to do with their lives are not even aware of the battle going on in the United States Senate. The one and half parties are really having at it. I refer to the Democrats and Republicans. So many opinions are becoming the same, and the results are always the same, so I now refer to them as one and a half parties. Neither wants to stray to far from the middle, so ever so cautiously they reach out, either to the left or the right, trying to convince voters they want to represent their views.

Even within the halls of government, the disappearance of the two parties is evident. Turn to your favorite news channel or pick up the newspaper. Before long you see both parties reaching out to either lure or pacify legislators that are labeled "moderate Republicans" or "conservative Democrats." The practical translation is this: the parties get closer and closer.

The dumbfounding part of this is the fact that the closer Senators Frist and Reid come to the center, the fiercer the combat. More and more these gentleman are not debating ideas, they are simply debating who should wield power.

In the latest version of this struggle hostilities started when the Democrat wing of the one and half parties in the Senate broke with tradition and filibustered President Bush's judicial nominees. The filibuster is a procedural tactic designed to protect minority rights within the Senate. Never in the 200 plus years has this procedure been used to block appointments to the judiciary.

The story takes a turn from bad to worse with Senator Frist's response, eliminate the filibuster. What a wonderful example of duplicity. Senator Frist takes one bad decision by Reid and raises the stakes with an even worse idea. If the Democrats break one tradition, then the Republicans will break yet another. Is this what has become of what was once called the greatest deliberative body in the world?

The truth that underlies this problem is not one that pits liberals against conservatives. This is not a struggle to uphold Senate tradition or improve senatorial procedure. This most certainly is not about principled people deliberating whether or not President Bush has appointed qualified jurists to the bench. This is a struggle for power.

Neither party cares for what is right, they care about who will hold power. None of these leaders are evil or diabolical in there intent. Each side has been blinded by the allure of power. Until enough principled people stand up to lead all are endangered, “were there is no vision the people perish.” Neither of the one and a half parties have any clear vision of what these two leader’s bad decisions will do to our nation. Until clear and decisive leadership choices emerge the battle for power will be intense.

THE FOLLOWING WAS TAKEN FROM AN ARTICLE ON CNN.COM

A meeting of centrist senators lasted late into the night Thursday, with no agreement and talks are to resume by phone Friday. 05-20-2005

The merger of the Democrats and the Republicans continues!

Hypersensitive Conservatism

2005-05-18T10:07:00.000-04:00

Let me begin by making it clear, I am a Star Wars fan. I am not one of those people that camp out to get tickets, or come dressed as a Storm Trooper. I just like the movies and will have seen them all, in a theater, after I see third chapter. (Which is the sixth and final installment in the George Lucas space opus. If that confuses you, welcome to the club.)

Secondly, I am a very conservative person, not a Republican, a conservative.

I am amazed these two interests have intersected. I speak of the pro-administration hyperactive reaction to the new the Revenge of the Sith.

If you are clueless to what I am discussing, be happy, and consider not reading this article. Many conservatives are up in arms over what they see as an anti-war, anti-Bush, message in some of the dialogue of the new film, according to today's issue of USA TODAY. I warned you, there is no going back now, I apologize for introducing this topic into your life.

The pseudo-controversy underscores the problem of being the dominant political power in an era. Power, or at least the allure of power, produces a blind following, with a petty preoccupation with defending the leader, in this case President Bush.

What do these people think? That the Bush inner circle has pushed nation building in Iraq to the back burner? That peace in the Arab world, nukes in Iran and Korea, Russia's struggle to keep democratic institutions functioning are all taking a secondary position to a sci-fi flick?

Or you could ponder a more frightening thought: how did Lucas, in the late seventies know, that the Iraqi war would happen? At the time he started his space opera, Lucas points out, "We were just starting to arm Saddam Hussein." How did he know all this? Could the force be real? Is he a latter day prophet who decried a generation ago that we would be in Iraq?

Let's rejoin reality, shall we?

One of the correctly used mantras of the right was the liberal obsession with political correctness. Starting in the sixties and seventies the left's hyperactive obsession with non-offensive labels and a non-offending society drove them closer and finally off of the deep end. The Republican Party should take a lesson from the Democrats departure from the main stream. Don't involve yourself in pettiness, it drives you toward irrelevance.

I have to go. It's my turn to hold our place in line at the movie theater.

Restoring First Century Christianity

2005-05-05T12:19:00.000-04:00

It is a mantra with which those of us interested in the Restoration Movement are very familiar. It sounds, and to a large part is, a fairly simple thing as well. The other Restoration "buzz phrases" such as, "speak where the Bible speaks, and be silent where the Bible is silent," or the requirement of many for "book, chapter, and verse" for what we do in the worship of God are also familiar oft repeated phrases.

This begs the question, if we have restored what they did, why then do we not have their results? Carefully looking at those results reveal to me two things: 1. We do not face the same persecution as these early Christians and 2. The church is not experiencing the same sort of exponential growth that was experienced in the first and second century after the death of Christ.

In reality I believe that both of these points are caused by one reality, Christians and by implication Christianity is not viewed as a threat to the world as it was in the days immediately following the apostolic age.

The Romans feared the cultural change that was taking place around them, today we see Christians conforming to and making arguments for the social standards of the world. Many Christians make argument after argument for a more lenient view towards divorce, drugs and alcohol, and any number of other issues while casting a disparaging look toward the backward thinking of past generations of Christians.

The reality is this, a Christians reserve and refuge as he tries to deal with the trials and temptations of the world aught to be the culture and support he finds within the community of believers. Christians are to have an impact on the surrounding society while keeping themselves out of the very culture they are seeking to influence. We are to be "a peculiar people" who are viewed as different from the world.

Disrespect for important things.

2005-04-15T13:37:00.000-04:00

He had a rough run of luck. His every fault had been exposed over the past several weeks. A political candidate running for office faces these things and it is to be expected. What struck me about this was this particular politico's response to the venom that had been hurled his way.

"If we had talked this way about somebody when we were kids, our mammas would have whipped us."

Wow. Really, I mean it, wow! Rarely in the information age, filled with meaningless soundbites and disinformation does someone break through all the noise and make the valid point. Wow.

Why is it we have such a variation from past generations to the past few? Why have we fallen into such disrespect for people, positions, and institutions that at one time were held in high esteem?

I believe this is due to the de-mystification to which we as a culture have subjected all things. Being a father is easy look how Bill Cosby, Bob Saggett, and every other TV parent solve problems. Every childhood and marital difficulty solved in thirty minutes, with laughs and a group hug as the credits role.

We no longer respect the elders or preacher because in this information age we have heard so many true reports of those that have let others down.

We no longer respect elected officials because their every infraction is detailed on the evening news whether it is real or imagined.

We no longer idolize atheletes as role models for we know they will break our hearts. Some do however, want their noteriety and money.

If you notice I give no answers in this article, they seem to evade me.

Time.

2005-04-14T17:03:00.000-04:00

The most phony construct man has hoisted upon itself is just this the idea of time. Think for a moment, a minute never existed until we said it lasted 60 seconds. I am reminded of the old Indians response to his grandchild's inquiry as to when he was born. The old man thought a moment and replied, "summertime." Many a Indian agent in the old west had readjust his thinking about his appointments with native Americans. The natives would be a week late and give no thought to the fact that people were waiting . Why worry the Indian would think, a thing takes as long as it takes.

Rudyard Kipling immortal poem, "If", refers to "the unforgiving minute" how true. Time is our unforgiving master we live in a scheduled and regimented world that makes us acutely aware that time is passing.

I want to get rid of my watch.

The death of good people who are wrong.

2005-04-02T22:31:00.000-05:00

Pope John Paul II has died. I am a conservative and much of what the head of the Roman church said politically and socially I agree wholeheartredly. However, when I read the teaching of the Catholic church and compare it to the Bible I see many contradictions. So this begs the question, will God judge John Paul II and Jonathan Neal Stanley Sr. by the same standard or will he judge me according to the Bible the standard I look to and then judge John Paul by the teaching of the Roman church, or his teachings.

Here is my opinion of the man, John Paul II. He has been a unyielding force for change in the world. His standing up against sexual promiscuity and against dictatorship's abuse of human rights have done great good.

The other side of the coin is the error and contradiction I see in John Paul's doctrine for the Catholic Church, I mispeak somewhat for his doctrine in most instances is a continuation of past Catholic doctrine, not the doctrine of the Bible or the practices of the church in the 1st century.

It is my belief that no person can contradict or rewrite, redefine, or overrule God.

What is wrong in the world.

2005-03-26T23:02:00.000-05:00

My wife's family had a cookout today. It was at a city park complete with a baseball diamond. Three little boys jump onto the field and I thought the game would soon be forming, then I saw the greatest abomination of my life, they started playing kickball! NOT BASEBALL, KICK BALL! I made a quick inquiry to all the family members there and there were three gloves and one baseball and no bats (the three gloves and ball were mine, I don't carry bats too tempting for the two year old, its a long story).

This is a declarative statement: when a family gets together and can't muster the bodies and equipment for a game of baseball, America's best days are behind it.

The latter day Walter Mitty.

2005-03-23T16:26:00.000-05:00

I feel as though I am Walter Mitty at times. James Thurber was required reading in elementary school. A story about a man that has been so worked over by life that he escapes into his fantasy life where it is okay to do that which he would never dream of in real life.

I think about that now and ask rhetorically; why isn't this required reading for everyone over the age of thirty? What happened to good old Walter is common to every Jane and John Doe out there striving hard just to make it one more day. Now don't let me make you think I'm henpecked, not at all.

The longer I live and observe how obsessed we are with entertaining ourselves I realize that perhaps we are escaping our hum drum day to day to live in a Mitttyesque world. We just adore those desperate Housewives and even enjoy seeing William Shatner facing more dangers than he ever did in outer space in Boston Legal. Both of these shows give us an inside look at the incredible, true reality. Shows such as these depict what Hollywood knows we the public will buy.

Walter escaped the humdrum to be something dashing amazing, a surgeon, a private eye, or some other exciting world. But at least with Mitty he was escaping to the better, now we seem to want to escape to the worst possible. More children today want to be the bad guy.

Good ole Walter even had a leg up on most of us, we go to the movies and rent pay per view in order to escape our lives. Walter used his imagination something no one over five seems able to do these days

This is your life??????

2005-03-22T20:07:00.000-05:00

Well let me start by making an embarrassing statement. I need a job. Two jobs and two months ago I had it pretty good and did not realize it. I was managing an insurance office in the greater Nashville area. I left that job to sell manufactured homes and homeowners insurance for a company in Bowling Green, Kentucky about forty-five minutes closer to my home.

From the beginning I knew I had made a mistake. The people I worked with sold people things they could not afford and hoped that they would not pay so they could reposes the it and resell it for another commission.

It took forever to get paid for the homes I did sell and then I had to pay the company the money I was drawing from future commissions. I had to stop this cycle. After church Sunday morning I went to the office to clean out my desk. When I arrived at the lot, I saw another salesman who came into the office to try and create business on his day off. (Sunday is the only day they are closed.)

My son's favorite movie of the moment is The Incredibles. I feel a lot like Mr. Incredible I have the ability and the desire to do great things, but I am stuck. I am reminded of a lyric from one of my favorite hymns, "I know the Lord will find a way for me." I think I am like Job, I just wish that He would give me a heads up as to the why all this happening to me.

What is your signature?

2005-03-19T13:24:00.000-05:00

Anyone who knows me understands that I am a very loyal supporter of my school, Western Kentucky University. Later tonight the men's basketball team will be playing Witchita in the NIT. Someone in Witchita's local paper described a tradition at Western, the red towel, and described it as "dying out over the past several years". That shocked me, as a vocal fan I am never without my red towel and have even bought my son his first red towel.

You might ask why is this important. It's not, except for those of us that appreciate the differences between our school and others. If not for the things like the red towel, its history. Our legendary coach Ed Diddle started dying towels red to prevent theft of towels from the athletic department. The dye rubbed off on players and a deal had to be struck with a manufacturer to provide red towels. Diddle then began carrying a red towel with him during games and for the last fifty years or so the tradition has stuck.

*****update******
My beloved Hilltoppers fell to the Witcha State Shockers tonight. A close game in the final seconds. Funny I was talking about what you were known by and something interesting, by that I mean that it illustrates my point! Elgrace Wilborn, our center and human hi light reel was kicked out of the game for throwing a punch.

That marks the first time in my and anyone else's memory that a Hilltopper got kicked out of a game.

A wonder what people would think would be out of character for us?

"I want to focus on the future."

2005-03-18T09:12:00.000-05:00

"I want to focus on the future." These were Mark McGwire's words Thursday to a congressional panel. He and multiple other past and present MLB players sat before a congressional committee and the most important part of the testimony was what was not said. It would be better to say what they would not say. McGwire's, and in reality baseball's ploy sets a new low for sports. They are now descending from Mount Olympus and trying to steal a play from congress's playbook.

Remember how President Clinton always dealt with various scandals? "These terrible people are out to get me, but I'm not gonna let that stop me from helping you. I'm gonna keep on keeping on and do the business of the people." For the most part the president got a pass, I doubt if the big leagues will be so fortunate.

The beauty of sport is this, it is always decided on the field. The results are clearly displayed on the field of play. Baseball most of all relies upon its history. Now when that history is not one that is beneficial to owners and players of the moment, both management and players are seeking to omit a part of that history. In other words the attempt to cover the truth and get away with the steroids scandal is underway.

Many purist shudder at the thought of the federal government involving itself in baseball, but it must be considered if baseball is manipulating illegally the very thing on display, athletic ability, how is this different from the Black Sox scandal or Pete Rose betting on baseball? Others must govern those who will not govern themselves.

This brings up one question, will the masters of the sport of political tom foolery allow these amateurs to practice this craft? Both congress, baseball, and the general public know the game and the motives behind every move. What remains to be seen is will the powers that be let baseball, once again, get away with it.

Are you getting what you want?

2005-03-15T14:22:00.000-05:00

In many instances in life, this basic question is not being asked. One of my coworkers points out the difference between buying something and being sold something. The difference is obvious, in the former case you have invested, you have decided that this is what you want. The latter case requires a third party to convince you that you wanted to makle the purchase.

The reality is this, no one wants to be sold anything, everyone wants to get what they want and for it to be their choice. When we are sold something constant reassurance is needed to maintain satisfaction upon a forced decision. (I really didn't even like this car but I let the salesperson talk me into it.)

When looking at our lives it is important to realize that we ought not sell ourselves on things we really do not want. We should make sure that we are really buying the choices we make, not just settling on a choice that we really dislike because we have convinced ourselves that this is the only option available to us.

Welcome home!

2005-03-14T09:52:00.000-05:00

Are there any words in the English language that bring a better feeling to the heart of a human being? No matter what the circumstance it is ingrained into our make up to go home. Whether it is the homeless or orphan all still search for this basic thing, a place to belong. I find it interesting that as we peruse God's word we are told to be content with food and raiment. No where are we promised an earthly dwelling here on earth. Christ even forewarned early disciples that "the birds have nests and the foxes have holes" but he said that he did not have a place to lay his head! Why would a loving God not provide for this need? Perhaps it was because he wanted us to come home to Him! What a glorious and wonderful thought!

How different our lives would be if we tended to business while waiting for our trip home to be with God. How many things would we no longer worry about because this world is not our home. How much more time would we spend making sure we receive our welcome home!

It was an accident!

2005-03-11T15:40:00.000-05:00

This phrase is one of my two year old sons favorites. He uses as a catch all for bad behavior, if I spill my milk its an accident. He also uses this four word magic phrase to get out of what I have come to think of as "on purposes." If Daddy won't get up out of the recliner to play blocks and he grabs a soda and sends it flying across the living room that, in his mind is an accident too.

Now most would realize that this is in fact a tantrum and write it off to the unhinged emotionalism of a toddler. However, when I study my son I start to see more and more of myself and some basics in human nature. He did not accidentally pick up the soda I was drinking and send it flying, yet he does not delineate the difference between an action that was a mistake and an action that was unintentional.

Understandable misuse of words for a two year old, but I see the rest of us in his actions. How often do we find out that we are in a situation we don't like and declare to all that will hear us "this is an accident," in fact most things in our lives are the result of our decisions and our non-decisions. From the wealthiest to the poorest, the most disgruntled to the most contented we all are nothing more than an accumulation of past actions and decisions we have made to both internal and external forces.

While this should be a source of great hope, all too often we just tend to go with the flow and hope for the best. What an opportunity! If I am a sum of decisions and actions made in the past then I have the opportunity to impact my future by the decisions I make.

Rejection of Congressional Invitation!

2005-03-10T09:09:00.000-05:00

"The remaining witnesses, however, made it clear - either by flatly rejecting the invitation to testify or by ignoring our repeated attempts to contact them - they had no intention of appearing before the committee," congressmen Henry Waxman and Tom Davis stated according to FoxSports.com.

It is worth asking, why are ball players afforded the luxury of just refusing to comply with legal proceedings? In our recent history, moguls, U. S. Presidents, and every working man and women who have seen blue lights flashing in their rear view mirror have complied, albeit unwillingly at times, with the rule of law. (I complied, I know that I wasn't going that fast but I paid the cost and will be going to traffic school in the near future.)

Yes, once again baseball gets to play by its own rules. Senator Jim Bunning, R KY, said that "congress should stay . . . out." Bunning, a Hall of Fame pitcher, gives us a keen insight into the mind set of this sport. Every industry in the United States is subject to the law of the land. Yet Kentucky's junior senator, as well as most of baseball's insiders, sports writers, and sports commentators are of the same mind, baseball is above the law.

The refrain has been heard time and time again, you cannot punish abusers of steroids because steroids "weren't illegal in baseball". I wonder if the authorities would let me set my own little principality modeled along the lines of the Major Leagues? Let's see, no more 6% Kentucky sales tax, I've decided that there is no rule in my home saying I have to pay it. Oh, and don't come to my door trying to sell something, I have decided that, at my discretion, I can seize the personal belongings of anyone who comes into my home. I can do it too! Why? I can do it because there is no rule against it at my house.

Baseball is an industry that is desperately in need of a reality check to be sure, but the real question is why isn't there a cry from baseball for clean play, from the fans, the owners, even the clean players? Every batting title that was won by a steroids user, potentially took that award and the next big contract away from the player that came in second. How many Triple A players were defrauded out of their chance to play at the highest level?

I would encourage a class action suit by all former players that didn't make it to the big leagues against players, owners, the player's union, and the MLB itself for this conspiracy that defrauded each player that would have made it to the big leagues had it not been for the dirty secret that hid in the open for the past ten years.

Perhaps if the prima donnas of American society were hit where it hurts, they will understand how unfair it is that I have to go to traffic school.

Congress Subpoenas Seven Major League Players

2005-03-09T09:05:00.000-05:00

A congressional committee investigating steroid use has issued subpoenas for seven of the games biggest past and current stars. One wonders where all of the federal concern was on this issue as steroids filtered its way into the elementary schools of America.

Baseball looked the other way while McGwire and Sosa rejuvenate the game. It will now be interesting to see if the MLB will offer these alleged steroid users as sacrificial lambs in the steroid controversy in which they were tacit co-conspirators.

For non-baseball fans (I shudder at the thought of the poor soul who does not have an appreciation of the game) the question might be asked why does this matter to me? The answer is simple and relevant to all society. We have become a society that values bigger, stronger, faster and will take every shortcut to achieve our wanted result.

Baseball is a game of accumulation. Individuals putting forth individual effort toward a series of small details that when taken as a whole result in the finished product on the field that uninformed spectators have in the past deemed "boring." But the enlightened baseball purist, George Will, refers to the baseball as a metaphor for the American experience.

Life too is all about accumulation. Today celebrity trial after celebrity trial go to juries that have watched high priced defense teams mount expert defenses for sometimes guilty clients. Martha Stewart, recently released from "Camp Cupcake" her minimum security home for the past several months, emerged more famous, more wealthy, and with brighter prospects than before her indictment and conviction. What results are we as a society accumulating and what will be the end result?

My thought to ponder is this: is it not better to teach children and society in general how to overcome not having the most money, without breaking the rules. Is it not better to teach young athletes the benefits of overcoming deficits in strength, speed, and size through hard work and grit instead of chemically and even surgically altering their bodies.

It seems that we are far from the society the founders envisioned, a meritocracy that rewarded hard work.

Welcome to my new effort.

2005-03-08T23:15:00.000-05:00

It is my wish to give my view of the world, events, and life. If you find worth, encouragement, or humor then I view this blog as a complete success.

My first observation: as I was spell checking this entry the word "blog" was not recognized. Rather amazing how quickly the world changes even our technology has trouble keeping up with itself!

I don't feel quite so bad about having my wife program all our electronic equipment.