Growing up I had a gun for an arm. Baseball has an expression for a player with a strong arm. It’s colorful vocabulary says the player has a gun for an arm. I found it out early. It started the summer after my second-grade year. Avon Little League. I was most often placed in centerfield…
Traveling down the interstate, the time had come to change lanes. Slower traffic in the right lane was trying patience and lowering gas mileage. The rear view mirror appeared to signal all was clear for switching to the faster-paced left lane. A slight nudge toward the left lane preceded a glance into the driver’s side…
Almost the entire portion of cooking was performed by my grandmother when I was growing up. Grandma was a terrific cook. She had learned to cook from her mother. There were no recipes written down, although she tried to fill out recipe cards on occasion. A smidgeon here. A dash of that. Bake until done….
A funny thing happened on my way home from work. You know, I am not a person who shares many events from my personal life on Facebook. I tend to post my writings – things I observe, columns I have written, things I have learned. My tendency leans toward sharing observations about the reality of…
I really didn’t want to be at work yesterday. It was unlikely that I wanted to be anywhere near work. It isn’t that I hate work, but yesterday was the day before the Fourth of July. Many businesses were closed so that their employees might enjoy an extended weekend. My company had given many the…
When I was seven or eight years old, my family would drive up to northern Indiana to visit my great-grandfather who was in his nineties. Grandpa Russell had been very hard of hearing since an accident when he was a young teen. He had an old house, with a old pot-bellied stove in the living…
At any given time, I am working on several books, studies or articles. As I prepare my mind and heart, I usually get a handful of books from my shelves to skim. I pull the books by authors who have touched my heart with their lives and words. Reading molds my thinking to a devotional…
How we communicate – our conversation, our listening, our understanding, and our interaction – determines the influence we have with others. The better our conversation and communication, the better our relationships and development. Winston Churchill was one of the masters of communication. Recognized as one of the best known speakers of the past century, Churchill…
We recently cleaned out a storage bin that we had rented for over a decade, hoping to save a little money each month. It didn’t take long to realize the boxes were filled with the frivolous. We opened every container, browsing through Legos and Ninja Turtles, Barbies and My Little Ponies, and McDonald’s toys and…
There are times, seasons perhaps, in my life when I reflect on the things that are important and of value. The death of a friend or family member causes me to ponder the meaning and purpose of life and the possibility of life after death. A change in circumstances at work makes me consider priorities…