I was asked to talk about worship at our Youth Goup next week. It made me think about when I was that age (13-18) and what my thoughts were about God, religion and worship. Frankly, though I think I might have said I believed there was a God, I didn't really have a clue. Thoughts about God and "worhsip" were far from my mind, I was too busy thinking about partying. I suppose I was asked to do this because I am a Worship Leader and I am mentoring a young group of God conscious people but...
Like many little girls, I loved horses. I read horse books, watched horse movies and dreamed wild horse dreams. My favorites were the Black Stallion and Black Beauty, tales of kindness and courage, of heartbreak, defeat and triumph. I’ll never forget when my neighbor, Renee Croog, got big Red. Red was a big gentle quarter horse gelding that turned the head of every girl in the neighborhood. I begged my mom to let me take riding lessons from Renee. My mom, being of a different innate fab...
Kerry clearly won the first debate. One down, two to go. If he wins all three, he is certainly the better choice for president. Being president has at it’s core a need to communicate well and think on your feet-–or does it? As a psychologist, I am pained to realize how much this debate exercise plays into the decisions of voters, when it bears little resemblance to what a president really does in office. In my opinion, a president needs to do very little thinking on his feet. He shou...
I think it is time to formally admit that I am no longer a Joeuser. This is a sad occasion. I enjoyed immensely the time I spent at JU, but I havn't visited for several weeks now, and when I thought about checking in tonight, realized that I’d rather be doing other things. When the realization hit me that it could be a good long time before I visited, and certainly before I contributed, it seemed only right to say adios, and it has been a fine 2 weeks of summer camp (so to speak). As sl...
I read this a few weeks ago, but still chuckle at times when I think of it, so I thought I'd share it. Tractorman Subject: In Remembrance... With all the sadness and trauma going on in the world at the moment, it is worth reflecting on the death of a very important person which almost went unnoticed last week. Larry La Prise, the man who wrote "The Hokey Pokey," died peacefully at age 93. The most traumatic part for his family was getting him into the coffin. They p...
I read this a few weeks ago, but still chuckle at times when I think of it, so I thought I'd share it. Tractorman Subject: In Remembrance... With all the sadness and trauma going on in the world at the moment, it is worth reflecting on the death of a very important person which almost went unnoticed last week. Larry La Prise, the man who wrote "The Hokey Pokey," died peacefully at age 93. The most traumatic part for his family was getting him into the coffin. They p...
About a year ago my wife was reading a Novel based on the Life of Hosea out of the Bible book by the same name, I think the name of the book is “redeeming love”. It is one of those novels that puts a historical story into a more contemporary context. It was thought provoking and engaging for her, and she wanted me to read it after she had, but there was a problem. The problem was that the cover had a picture of a very beautiful feminine lady with a long flowing pinkish dress, running acros...
I have been distressed during some blog comment interchanges the last couple of weeks. I finally decided to let it go, as people are entitled to their own view of things, but today the truth of my view hit me smack in the face again, and I feel I need to take one last stab at making my case. Nineteen years ago I married a beautiful girl with a year and a half old child. We were very different, and she had never had a relationship with a guy she could trust, including her dad. That was t...
A friend of mine died today unexpectedly–a single car roll-over crash. How do you prepare for something like this? Here and healthy and active, then gone, and leaving a gapping hole. How could his wife or 6 children have prepared for this? Life insurance companies would suggest that their product prepares you. I don’t think so. Death is so strange. To me it seems like an aberration, like something that should not happen. The truth is that it happens to every living thing that grow...
Some of you are aware of my struggle to find significance through making little yellow boxes around the quoted material in my blog responses. Now I’m not sure if everybody knew how to do that, or just neglected to tell me, but I have the answer. Drum roll....... You just enter the articles through the forum, that’s it. Since finding this out, I may have overdone my little yellow boxes, but that’s to be expected. Wishing you all the same surge of significance that I have felt....
A couple nights ago, my four year old daughter (I have 6 kids from 4 to 20) asked if I wanted to watch her do a dance. She had one of her sisters put on a song for her, and she put on a little ballerina thingy over her pajamas. It was just the two of us in the family room while she danced for me, and the pride and the emotion, and the realization that all she wanted to do was bring joy to me was almost too much to contain. I cried and smiled and enjoyed the moment as much as I have enjoyed...
Time stops for no one. Time flies. Time crawled by. Time stood still. I was changing the sheets on our bed a couple days ago (which I have to say I very rarely do–my dear wife is the regular changer) when I was startled by how old our new mattress looked. I remember buying that mattress like it was yesterday. We sprung for a good one–wanted something that would hold up for a lot of years without sagging, so we bought the nice mattress with the matching box spring. As I stood there lo...
I happen to be the proud owner of a beautiful long coat German shepherd dog. Yanna has taught me many wonderful lessons over the last 6 years. Lessons on life, love and the pursuit of happiness have all come out of this special relationship. Recently, we were outside working and Yanna was displaying one of her character defects quite boisterously. She is a stick hound, ball hound, rock hound, she is just a HOUND when it comes to retrieving. We were digging holes for fence posts and s...
About 6 years ago, the Air force Academy decided to include a new required curriculum in their cadet’s academic schedule-Integrity 101 (not the actual course title). When asked why the course was added to this elite institution’s curriculum, a spokes person replied that a high percentage of their cadets were no longer receiving the basic moral training at home which produced honesty, integrity and a sense of loyalty in individuals. Academy authorities felt it was paramount, in order for c...
Webster’s defines feminism as the “principle that women should have political, economic and social rights that are equal to those of men”. I would like to express my views regarding this subject as I am a feminist in the truest sense of the word, however, I believe that feminism has become twisted and tainted by special interest parties and the results have been devastating to our gender. Historically, feminism was a fire that burned in the hearts of devout Christian woman who, because of...