One of the recurring themes of these humble ramblings is that real, deep rooted growth comes through trials. Adversity introduces a man to himself and you find out if your faith, or lack of faith, will sustain you. I have been following the story of a young man going through a terrible and unjust trial. His name is Eric Volz. Eric is a US citizen who is being held in a Nicaraguan prison for a crime that he could not possibly have committed. In the interest of full disclosure, I do have a personal connection to this story. My son works at Belmont University and through him I have met Eric’s stepfather, Dane Anthony. Dane has left his job to devote himself fulltime to freeing his stepson. Dateline recently ran a story about the case. Here is a bit of background. A website called Friends of Eric Volz outlines the entire story. Here are just a few facts of the case. Doris Jimenez was
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When I was younger you knew exactly when a celebrities career had peaked and had begun to spiral slowly downward. That career reversal could be duly noted when a one time big star was booked on the Love Boat. So it is with some reluctance that I address the brouhaha surrounding the comments by talk show host Rosie O’Donnell. I am reluctant to discuss this because I think that Rosie is in the Love Boat phase of her career. To be fair, she has forged a career that garners her national attention. My career has made me a household name only in my household. Don’t expect her to waste her time on a feud with “the Dave” to parallel the ongoing nasty exchange with “the Donald”. To be honest, Rosie makes me sad when she isn’t making me angry. I hear the bitterness in her tone and the anger in her eyes and I feel sorry for her. I am sure that would
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There is no time to write today so I am posting a personal favorite from the gently read file. Blessings,  Dave Last week I was spending a few minutes at Baton Rouge Airport before heading home. The airport is designed with a large central glass dome and some trees in the middle of the atrium. The early morning rush was over and the airport was surprisingly quiet. I heard something that caught my attention. Chirping. Not some bozo on a cell phone. Actual bird chirping. I looked up and saw what looked like a couple of sparrows flitting about near the top of the atrium. Somehow these wild birds had found their way inside the airport terminal. I watched them for awhile and I thought about how cold it was outside that day. I reflected on how “lucky” those birds were to be in a climate controlled atrium and not have to brave the elements. They could forage amongst the left over food of the travelers.
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I am not a big celebrity guy. I would rather read a year old Sporting News than a freshly minted People magazine. But I did take note of the now infamous recorded outburst by actor Alec Baldwin directed at his daughter. Baldwin and former wife Kim Bassinger are engaged in a long and bitter custody battle over their eleven year old daughter. Sadly, similar battles are being fought much more anonymously all over the land today. As always with these humble ramblings, my intent is not to demonize the principles of this story, but to seek broader lessons for all of us. By the grace of God I have been spared the heartbreak of divorce in my own marriage. I have counseled and consoled many who have suffered the agony of divorce. It is never easy. It is particularly difficult when children are in the equation. I wrote a blog about the myth of the “good divorce” earlier. A bit of
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One of the random thrills that I have received in my modest second career as an author was receiving an unexpected box of books one day. I had not ordered any books that week (a rarity) nor was I expecting any shipments from my publisher. I opened the box and found six copies of a book written in some mystifying Asian language. Thinking this must be some mistake I looked more closely and recognized my name on a blurb on the back. My first book, When Bad Christians Happen to Good People, had been translated into Korean and the new title was “The Bad Christian”. I had no idea that the rights to my book had been secured and was now being sold in Korea. I was now a bilingual writer even though the only Korean words I could remember were both foods…kimchi and bulgogi. I don’t know how the book has sold there. I don’t know how the average Korean relates to my odd
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I have not been able to write about the tragedy at Virginia Tech. Perhaps with a son at college it just hits too close to home. But this earlier artlcle does address one aspect of this tragedy. God does bless the broken road. I have seen it firsthand for almost forty years. Blessings and hope, Dave On the old iPod is a “shuffle songs” feature. You hit the button and the iPod randomly picks a song.  I am writing a blog about whatever song the device selects on that day from the 1,000 plus songs on my iPod. My music list will further confirm my status as a Christian who makes others feel superior. My music goes from Al Green to the Youngbloods. Beatles to U2. Old hymns to modern praise music. Toby Keith to Frank Sinatra. Oldies to the soundtrack from Monty Python’s Spamalot. This could be interesting. So with without further ado the selection today is… Bless the
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Regular readers of these humble ramblings remember a daring effort called the iPod devotional series. It was daring because I would hit the random shuffle feature and write about whatever song came up in the sequence. Because of my weird music tastes the concept was fraught with potential peril. My marginal integrity was challenged when a song by Toby Keith appeared on the screen but I gave it a shot. Other events and ADD diverted me from the series but I have decided to return with one difference. I am picking the song at least part of the time. Today is author’s choice and the song is called Watching You by country singer Rodney Atkins. The song is reminiscent of a very poignant song by the late Harry Chapin called Cat’s in the Cradle. That song piled guilt on a lot of Dad’s in the 80’s, myself included. Atkin’s song recalls his shock when his little boy drops a mild expletive after
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