Humor writer Dave Barry compiled a list of things it took him 50 years to learn. I have selected a handful of Barry’s observations.  1. You will never find anybody who can give you a clear and compelling reason why we observe daylight-savings time.2. The most powerful force in the universe is gossip.3. The one thing that unites all human beings, regardless of age, gender, religion, economic status or ethnic background,is that, deep down inside, we ALL believe that we are above-average drivers.4. There is a very fine line between “hobby” and “mental illness.”5. If you had to identify, in one word, the reason why the human race has not achieved, and never will achieve, its full potential, that word would be “meetings.”6. No matter what happens, somebody will find a way to take it too seriously.I am also a slow learner. But one thing I have learned in my journey is that every dad leaves a legacy. The only
Continue reading...

The morning perusal of The Dallas Morning News turned up an interesting article on sports psychologists. The story told about a young and very talented area golfer that has had his game improved by a sports psychologist. Here is a bit of that article. Sixteen-year-old Fort Worth golfer Robert Perry remembers losing focus and blowing a 3-under-par, tournament-leading round, resulting in a four-over-par exercise in embarrassment. Parents and coaches had told him, and he knew, he needed to play one shot at a time. “People can tell you to do things all they want to,” he says. “But until they show you how, you can’t do it.” And it occurred to me that sixteen-year-old golfer Robert Perry had beautifully summed up the essence of Christian discipleship. This journey with Jesus is hard. We need others to come along side us and show us how. I don’t need one more person telling me to read more Scripture, pray more fervently and strive to be more
Continue reading...

Regular readers of the humble ramblings know that I have been had my world rocked by the book TrueFaced. The charming Mrs.Burchett and I just finished going through the DVD series with two wonderful couples. It has been amazing. We have been changed and challenged. A question from the final session has caused me to spend a lot of time in reflection. The question was pretty simple When you were growing up, what dreams did you have for your future? I tried to remember the dreams of a child growing up in Southern Ohio. My dream to be a Major League Baseball player died really quickly in Little League. It was somewhere around the time I saw my first breaking ball delivered by a pitcher that looked like he drove to the game. When my posterior was heading to 3rd base and the ball broke over the plate I suspected I should move on to the next dream. The next dream was to be known.
Continue reading...

A recent series on words at church dealt with the power, impact and meaning of words. It reminded me of a story that featured this headline at Yahoo News. Swearing at work boosts ‘team spirit, morale’ Wouldn’t it be interesting to be at that pep rally? “Yea *&^%$#@ Team! Bleep, Bleep, Bleep!” Whooeeeee!!! (Jump in air…extend arms) Bleep! The story outlined the study. Regular swearing at work can help boost team spirit among staff, allowing them to express better their feelings as well as develop social relationships, according to a study by researchers. Yehuda Baruch, a professor of management at the University of East Anglia, and graduate Stuart Jenkins studied the use of profanity in the workplace and assessed its implications for managers. They assessed that swearing would become more common as traditional taboos are broken down, but the key appeared to be knowing when such language was appropriate and when to turn to blind eye. The pair said swearing in front of
Continue reading...

Increasingly we have become a society that uses polarizing words instead of words that allow and engage conversation. Instead of picking a graceful term that can be debated we pull out the flame throwers and use inflammatory words designed to create a visceral response. Such a word is often used to describe the desire of many Christians to tell others about their faith in God. Those who are offended by that activity immediately accuse them of proselytizing. The mere use of the word moves the motive from concern to coercion. Violators of my beliefs will be proselytized! I was surprised to see that proselytize is used as a synonym for brainwashing at an online thesaurus site. The actual definition listed by dictionary.com is:    1.  To induce someone to convert to one’s own religious faith.   2.  To convert (a person) from one belief, doctrine, cause, or faith to another. I had never paid a lot of attention to the use of the word.  I know it has become
Continue reading...

There are a lot of fun things about being a published author. For example, you are forever a published author even if you end up in a lonely bargain bin at some godforsaken outlet mall while some smiling preacher sells millons and millions of books for saying practically nothing but I’m not bitter. Whew. Didn’t see that coming. One of the really bad things about being published is that your words are forever “out there”. When you write a book your words cannot be denied. That is unless you are Charles Barkley and you claim you were misquoted in your autobiography. But Charles…your autobiography is your own…sigh…never mind. Something that seemed clever or wise eight years ago now seems like as bad an idea as the “Dumb and Dumber” tux I wore when I wed my beloved. I will point out that the smokin’ hot future Mrs.Burchett was somehow able to look past the tux and still say “I do”.     So my wedding picture
Continue reading...

When I was a child the Memorial Day holiday had an alternate name. Many of my relatives still called it “Decoration Day” because part of the day was devoted to putting flowers or wreaths on the graves of those who had died while in military service to our country. I know it is still an important day for many and countless families still pause to honor fallen family and friends. But for many of us it is too easy to make this a day only for barbecues, department store sales and family get togethers. I have not been directly touched by the loss of a family member or friend in war. My father served in World War II and I remember how moved I was by the twenty-one gun salute his fellow comrades gave him at his graveside service. I don’t want to be grumpy old man and rain on your fun Memorial Day plans. I am planning on having sixty-seven
Continue reading...