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Our oldest has been playing trumpet for several years in the school band. My wife loved marching band as a student and has taken the opportunity to give him lessons. It has the benefit of helping him play better, and it gives her a chance to do something she loves. Watching the pair over the last few years, it is obvious that they love playing together… most of the time. Sometimes, their music lessons lack harmony. There are times when one or the other is cranky or some particularly difficult to learn song or technique comes up. In those instan...
“You have to assemble your own life yourself— action by action. And be satisfied if each action achieves its goal, as far as it can. No one can keep that from happening.” This line was written by the second century Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius in his collection of reflections on life. The point is simple: You create who you are and your own life. Every action you take is a step in the direction of what you are. You will spend time reading books, exercising, watching tv, scrolling social media, or whatever else. Each decision regarding how y...
Years ago, when I switched from using a Windows computer to using an Apple, I ran into some difficulty related to the fact that some of the software I used regularly only worked on Windows. The solution I found to this problem involved a program called “Boot Camp.” Boot Camp allows a Macintosh computer to restart running windows. So, my computer could run two different operating systems. One minute it was a Mac, the next it could be a PC. However, if I wanted to run my new programs, I had to step away from the Windows side of my computer. Wit...
I didn’t find the Christmas spirit till the week of Christmas, so I’m disappointed to find Christmas is over. So, I pondered the idea of celebrating Christmas all year. What would it be like? What would I do to remind myself of the glory of Christmas? I came up with eight. 1. Think about Jesus in a real and personal way daily which is why Christmas is so special. The music, the stories, and the reality of God as one of us. 2. Forgive quickly—nothing takes away the spirit of Christmas like carrying a grudge. Nothing ruins a day, a week, a month...
I would like to comment on the Big Sandy Community and some updates they are doing to the infrastructure. I think it is great that the community is getting behind the new swimming pool. This is a great plan, but it applies to a certain group of people. I’m not against the pool, but I think Big Sandy should also add to their plan additional recreational opportunities. The activity I’m speaking of is Pickleball. This is one of the nations fastest growing sports. People from grade school to 80 - 90 year old people can play. Where I play pic...
The first dog I owned as an adult was a mixed-breed puppy I bought in a Walmart parking lot a few months before I married. His name was Soren. He was full of energy and had a bad habit of running off when presented with the opportunity. Just after my wife and I bought our first house, he managed to get out of the yard. He never simply ran off. It was a game to him to make us chase him. The road that traveled past our new home was very busy and at this particular time there were many cars driving past. The dog, of course, didn’t understand the d...
This year I was challenged by a friend to go through an entire Christmas season preaching series without talking about shepherds. To clarify: the challenge wasn’t to not mention them at all, but rather to avoid expounding on how lowly, dirty, and socially rejected these guys were. While researching the topic a few years ago, I discovered a treasure trove of material about the profession in Jewish law and writings. Every time the topic comes up at Christmas, I find myself digging up this material and presenting it. Apparently, it has become e...
I’m sure we all would love to give the Ghost Of Christmas Future a script. We all have an idea of how we want future Christmases to go. Some would hope for a little more money to be able to give their children more gifts at Christmas. Some just hope for enough money that they can enjoy Christmas without worrying about money for rent or groceries. Some, like myself, really hope they can spend Christmas with their family once more. In " A Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens, Scrooge is not the best of people in Christmas Present. The Ghost of his...
The account of the Shepherds seeing the angels on Christmas is my favorite text associated with the birth of Jesus. It tells the announcement of Jesus’ birth to these guys who were out in a field, working in the middle of the night. The shepherds see the angels, hear the announcement, and are amazed. I guess that is not so surprising considering the experience they had. They immediately went to the nearby city of Bethlehem to see what the excitement was all about. There they saw the newborn Jesus and shared what they had heard. Afterward, t...
Charles Dickens wrote that the three ghosts of Christmas visited Ebenezer Scrooge. Christmas Past, Present, and Future. I believe that once you get to my age and have had children, you, in fact, have three Christmas pasts added on to your present and future. Let me explain. Your first ghost to visit would be your childhood ghost. What a merry soul that would be, in most cases. A time when magic was possible, no, definite. The belief in Santa is absolute. This magic colors everything you experience around Christmas. I recall the large family...
As I mentioned before in my article, Christmas Pasts, I can’t return to Canada right now due to the virus. My tree and decorations, including my children’s homemade items, are stored in Canada. I remember the elves all my children had to put on the tree. My mother’s ornaments from the ‘40s and earlier and the paper candy cane I laboriously made when I was four usually go on our tree every year. My firstborn has a tattered old felt hobby horse that we always put around the top of the tree. I have none of that this Christmas. Well, that’s...
During my college years (25+ years ago), I did a semester of study in Chicago along with my internship at Voice of America Radio. For the class, we did all sorts of tours and visits to different communities and organizations. We spoke with people from many different segments of society with different backgrounds. One of the panel discussions that had the biggest impact on my view of the world happened in a housing project. The projects in Chicago are very poor and crime-ridden. At the time, there was one exception. One of the housing projects,...
This weekend, the Disney+ streaming service released a new 3 part documentary on the Beatles. “Get Back” features all sorts of new footage and offers a unique behind the scenes video and information. My wife and I are big Beatles fans, even going so far as to naming our daughter after the last Beatles album. We are both looking forward to watching the series, so when reviews started appearing online during the first few days after the release, I jumped on the opportunity to read peoples reactions. What I found most interesting about the res...
Nowadays, we see Christmas cards with jolly Santa’s, merry Christmas scenes, and some nativity scenes. It was not always so. The first Christmas card was produced in 1843. This was the Victorian era, and as with many other things, the Victorians did Christmas cards very differently than those of our generations. The Victorian era saw murderous mice, Santa kidnapping children, and blood-thirsty snowmen’s Nick was often teamed with the devil to decide if children were good or naughty. The naughty were whisked away by the devil. Charming! Christma...
This morning I found out that our adult Sunday school teacher wasn’t going to make it in for his class. Our regular backup was out of town, so I was the fallback teacher. I wouldn’t be truthful if I said I was excited. I enjoy taking the time before church to review the sermon material and get my mind focused on the service. Still, I got up, went to church, and taught the class without any preparation. I am not a fan of not studying in depth in advance of teaching anything, but I was blessed by the folks in the room and found a ton of thi...
This time of year, when the bright colors of fall have fallen off or blown away, driving to work is rather dull, with faded goldfields, brown dirt, dry grass, and dead stems. Usually, I'm a little behind on a Monday. Monday is the Mountaineers' most hectic morning, and I have always told myself to get there earlier. Still, I delayed either because I was enjoying my morning sleep or enjoying a slow cup of coffee while reading my bible. It is also always possible I have left a responsibility from...
Georgia: "I'm thankful for god, my family and my sister." Belle: "I'm thankful for my land my friends and my family." Charlie: "I am for candy, friends, and my sister." Kiley: "I am thankful for family, my house and my brothers." Aliyah: "I am thankful my grammas, my family and my sister." Charlotte: "I am thankful for my mom, dad and friends." Kiki: "I am thankful for my family, God and Jesus." Payton: "I am thankful for my family, God and my house" Hudson: "I am thankful for my dad, my mom,...
I am nearly finished reading Tolkien’s novel “The Hobbit.” It is one of my all time favorite novels, and I have read it enough times that I have actually lost count. One of my favorite things about the novel is that the main character, Bilbo the hobbit, loves comfort and ease in life. He lives in a protected world where he never faces any difficulty or challenge apart from annoyance over inconvenience. For those unfamiliar with the story, Bilbo is recruited as a burglar to help a group of dwarves in their adventure. During the story, our hero...
In ancient Israel, every Jewish boy would learn the Torah in school. Specifically, they would memorize the Jewish religious writings starting at an early age until the rabbi teaching them decided they had reached their potential as students. At that time, they were sent off to work in whatever field their family had always worked in. Some students would be sent away early to work, while others would progress to the point that they were accepted as a disciple to a rabbi. This was sort of like earning your doctorate. Anyone who studied under a...
Every day in the news, we hear of people playing the race card or the gender card. Both cards are deemed to be in the wrong. The consensus is, don’t play the race card or the gender card! Well, I’m going to tell you about a card I have discovered that you can play quite happily and no one will fault you. When living in Arizona, I did not feel old at all. I was certainly not feeling like I thought a senior was supposed to feel. However, it came to my attention that you are considered old in the “snowbird” state if you are 60! Whoa, Nelly, I was...
The last two years have seemed like the longest years I’ve experienced in my life. More than a few jokes were told about 2020 being the worst year ever between the murder hornets, Covid, lockdowns, toilet paper shortages, a crazy election, etc. By this time last year, it seemed as though 2020 was never going to end. There’s an interesting principle behind that idea that relates to our perception of the passing of time. It is a well known maxim that years go by faster and faster as you get older. Human brain research has uncovered the rea...
How many of you knew that Canada celebrated Thanksgiving on October 11th.? Instead, we here are celebrating November 25th. Ken and I usually celebrate both days, so why not? However, this year we were too busy to get into a turkey dinner. Instead, we will celebrate in November. Now maybe it’s just me, but I have a hunch it was some man that planned the US Thanksgiving in late November! Canada has done it much smarter You have Thanksgiving, and then enjoy Halloween a couple of weeks later. You then have all of November and most of December to o...
I have been a Christian for around 30 years. The first pastor who influenced my life was Pastor Mike. He was a young guy who spent the time to explain the Bible to me and answer my questions. I believe that he is the reason I am working in the ministry today. Along the way, many other men have influenced me through their ministries. Pastor Jim was my first boss as a youth pastor. I believe I am better at what I do because of how he explained people, church culture, and all sorts of other things to me. Denver, Barney, Rich, and many other men...
In college, I was in a production of “12 Angry Men.” A few weeks before our show date, I struggled with the lines for my mid-sized part. I just hadn’t put in the time and effort to memorize my lines. A few of the other guys began to complain about me to the director, who was my roommate. He sat down with me one evening and encouraged me to put in the work to master my lines so well that it would shut the mouths of everyone who was complaining. Then he told me something that has stuck with me for over 20 years: “You practice like you play....
Last year, while appearing on Saturday Night Live, Comedian John Mulaney told a joke that I will find funny for the rest of my life: ““It’s hard to make friends when you’re an adult. I think that’s the greatest miracle of Jesus. He has 12 best friends in his thirties, and they weren’t his wife’s best friends’ husbands.” It’s mainly funny because it hits so close to the truth. There is a ton of research pointing to the sad fact that men are increasingly isolated in our culture. The number of men who report having “No close friends” has quintupl...
