I rarely get spiritual inspiration from horse eulogies. I suspect that does not make me unique. But I was moved by a comment in a story about Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro after he was euthanized last week. I admit that I got emotionally involved with the fight that Barbaro made for his life. From the heart wrenching injury to the hopeful progress I followed the story faithfully. Last week it became apparent that the battle was lost. The comment that moved me came from co-owner Gretchen Jackson as she talked about the loss of Barbaro. “Grief is the price we all pay for love.” That is a gut level truth. There is a price to pay for love and there is a risk. You can get hurt. You can lose the love of your life. People (and animals) die. But isn’t it better to love and experience grief and hurt than to retreat to a safe emotional bunker of isolation? I
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While I am busy living the Johnny Cash song “I’ve Been Everywhere“ I have to offer one more leftover post. I promise I will go to the blog market and get some fresh ideas to whip up for tomorrow. A news item about the death of TV producer/writer Sidney Sheldon brought to mind a post from last year. Sheldon was the creator of I Dream of Jeannie and I remember feeling very, very old when I read the celebrity birthday list. Blessings, Dave So I am reading the Dallas Morning News, and I get clotheslined by a small note in the GuideLive section. Right there at the top of page 5G…Birthdays….Barbara Eden, 72. Are you kidding me? Jeannie is 72? How old do I feel today! I was twelve when I Dream of Jeannie appeared in stunning black and white on our Sylvania TV. I don’t like to brag but our television featured the “halo light” innovation. The halo light was a fluorescent light which
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What??? Leftovers again? Sorry but this week is not working for fresh blog offerings. Another gently reheated post is the best I can do today. Complimentary, of course.    Blessings,  Dave A Peanuts comic strip features Charlie Brown’s sister Sally struggling to spread frozen butter on her toast. Finally she exclaims, “Nobody told me life was going to be this hard!” I can understand Sally’s frustration. Life is hard. This was not in the brochure. Or at least that is what I once believed. In fact that very information is in the brochure. The Bible is very clear that life will be a journey of struggling to spread frozen butter and worse (that is a paraphrase). Much worse. I am going through one of those frozen butter times right now but I have come to understand that those times are part of the journey. God has given us a wonderful gift that we too often leave unwrapped. The gift of laughter. The following excerpt is from my sporadically selling book “Bring’em
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Because of a busy schedule there is no time to whip up a fresh post. Please accept this gently warmed leftover on the house. Blessings,  Dave An interesting note in a recent edition of The Week magazine featured two short blurbs about the art of resume writing. One company that does background checks has found that well over half of all resumes contain false information. Background Information Services has found that most people stretch the truth about their work and educational credentials. This one hit close to home for me. A few years ago I was asked to write a bio that would be sent out with a press kit for my new book, When Bad Christians Happen to Good People. My educational background was, to be very kind, inconsistent. I was attention deficit before it was cool. Instead of having accommodations and testing and medication I was called into the guidance counselor’s office and chastised for underachieving and laziness. Those
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I am sure that at least a few readers of these humble ramblings remember a song by Five Man Electrical Band. The song was called “Signs” and it told about some warnings that dared to tell us what to do. Sign Sign everywhere a sign Blocking out the scenery breaking my mind Do this, don’t do that, can’t you read the sign I remember the opening part of the song quite well. And the sign said long haired freaky people need not apply So I tucked my hair up under my hat and I went in to ask him why He said you look like a fine upstanding young man, I think you’ll do So I took off my hat I said imagine that, huh, me working for you woah! What struck me most is that the official Five Man Electrical Band website actually has that last word spelled “woah”.  Hearing that song recently on an oldies station made me think about the
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In December 1979, a tragedy occurred in my home state of Ohio. The Who rock group came to Cincinnati to perform at Riverfront Coliseum. The tickets were sold in a then-popular format called festival seating.  Ticket prices were fixed, and the best seats went to the concertgoers who could get inside most quickly. Needless to say, festival seating caused some chaos in the best of circumstances. But in Cincinnati that night, the self-centered desires for good seats led to disaster. When the doors finally opened, the impatient crowd surged forward, resulting in a crush of humanity. Eleven people were killed that night and scores injured.   I would venture that not a single person went to Riverfront Coliseum that night with idea of hurting (and especially killing) another person. But hundreds of people were primarily concerned with their own interests: getting through the door first and getting a seat close to the stage. That seemingly harmless desire met with tragic results.  
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Country music sometimes gets an unfair reputation. Some of that reputation is self-inflicted thanks to a few colorful and occasionally silly song titles. I confess that I have made fun of some country tunes. Here are some actual song titles with bonus commentary in italics. Her Teeth Were Stained, But Her Heart Was Pure     There is one you probably won’t find at Hallmark. I Flushed You From The Toilets Of My Heart    Bonus track…I took the plunge, then took the plunger I Wanna Whip Your Cow   No comment I’m So Miserable Without You, It’s Like Having You Here   Perhaps a tad too honest. I Would Have Wrote You A Letter, But I Couldn’t Spell Yuck!    But you just spelled yuck in the…never mind. I Wouldn’t Take Her To A Dawg Fight, Cause I’m Afraid She’d Win    See, this song writer didn’t care if he could spell. He just wanted to share his dawg-gone feelins’. If My Nose Were Full of Nickels, I’d Blow
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