This is a dangerous post. I must begin with a disclaimer that I have now lived in Texas for 26 years. I love Texas and the people of the Lone Star state. Please remember that disclaimer as I confess that I understand what General  Philip Henry Sheridan said about Texas after the Civil War. Sheridan remarked that “if I owned Hell and Texas I would rent out Texas and live in Hell”. Because he criticized Texas and was also a Yankee (the Texas version of a Samaritan) I am pretty sure that most Texans are sure he is now residing in Hell. But let us extend a moment of grace and consider that perhaps Sheridan offered his comments during the month of August. I suspect that in pre A/C days I might have said the same thing. This summer has been miserable in North Texas. August in Texas is our payback for mocking our Northern friends during February. The culprit for our miserable summer has
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Busted! You always hope that your sins will fly under the radar. But you cannot hide forever. Yesterday I laughed out loud when I found a reference to my recent blog about Mel Gibson at anti-itch meditation. Blogger Jeff Weddle posted an excerpt from my blog and had this summation. The guy is great with words (even though he puts an apostrophe in a possessive ‘its’) and makes excellent points. While I appreciate the kind words about my writing his comments exposed a raw nerve. I can hide it no longer. I am tired of trying to hide my shame. I was apparently sick the day they covered punctuation. Yes, I admit it.  Deep breath.I am a terrible punctuator. Okay…are you happy? My weakness is exposed for the entire world to see with the daily blog. I have an editor to clean up after my punctuation mess when I write a book. So I am praying for God to raise up a punctuation proofer to
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I opened the email box this morning and I was reminded that youngest son Brett fell straight down from the Burchett family tree. In his message was a link to a new  poster from a company called Despair, Inc. This group of lovable cynics parodies the motivational poster companies. Brett sent me this to start my day. Of course I then spent thirty minutes that I will never get back looking at all of the “Demotivating” downers from this company. Would you like to join me in a half-empty tour of abject despair? Of course you would because you have nothing better to do (just getting you warmed up). The first one fits nicely with my personal slogan that my ministry is to make other Christians feel superior. Mistakes – It could be that the only purpose of your life is only to serve as a warning to others. I thought the next one was really funny until I really started thinking about it. And I
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Warning: This blog may attempt real or attempted humor. Any reader who has allergic reactions to sarcasm, cyncism, and irony should proceed at their own risk. I subscribe to a magazine called The Week. It is an excellent weekly summary of news both useful and weird. Here is a sampling of the “news” from the most recent issue. The Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics announced the first pill to combat stupidity. The drug has been shown to improve the attentiveness and short-term memory of flies and mice. First impressions. It will now be harder to swat flies and catch mice. Now flies will more likely notice you approaching with the swatter. And the mice will remember that cousin Mickey did not have a good result going for the free cheese buffet. As for human applications, I was excited at first about the prospects of the anti-stupid pill. But then I started thinking that stupid people are not going to see the
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I remember seeing trailers a few years ago for a horror movie called “What Lies Beneath”. I am not a fan of that genre of films so I did not see the movie. But for some reason that title popped into my mind as I heard the developing saga of Mel Gibson. I wonder if Mel Gibson fully understood the ugly sin that was lurking beneath until alcohol unleashed the horror of his bigotry and exposed it to the light of scrutiny? I wonder what lies beneath the surface of my tidy little Christian exterior? Is there something hiding deep in my soul that is just as ugly and ungodly? Writer Rod Dreher of the Dallas Morning News wrote an insightful and soul provoking piece this past weekend entitled “Mel isn’t the only sinner“.  I have excerpted some highlights. My observations are italicized. I’m deeply concerned about the rise of global anti-Semitism, and found my fellow Christian’s drunken remarks appalling. And as someone
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My grandparents said that the younger generation was going to hell in a handbasket. My parents said the same thing about my generation, the self-absorbed Baby Boomers. Now I observe the youth culture and my first impulse is exactly the same as my grandparents and parents. But I am not taking the bait. I am blessed to know too many awesome young men and women to believe this generation is worse than any other. But I do concede that this group of young adults face cultural challenges that even my Woodstock generation did not. I began thinking about how things have changed as I shuffled through the iPod yesterday. A Beatles song began playing and I had to chuckle. If you are young you likely have no idea how controversial the Beatles were in the early 60’s. Grumpy old men predicted the downfall of civilization because of the haircuts the British group sported. The Beatles were scandalous to my parents generation. But to
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Yesterday’s topic was about parents who try to protect their kids from every difficulty in life. Today I came across a research study from researchers at Wake Forest University who say that there may be a direct link between watching professional wrestling on television and increased amounts of “date fighting” and other derogatory behavior among teens.The findings, which were compiled in 1999, and shared with other researchers in 2001,  have been published in the journal Pediatrics  recently. Here are some highlights from ABC News story. Dr. Robert Durant, one of the study’s authors, said the intensity of such behavior corresponded with the amount of exposure to wrestling. The behavior Durant and his team were looking for was increased amount of drinking, drug use and fighting, both verbally and physically, with their dates. “Is it causing these behaviors or is it that those adolescents were more prone to engage in health risk behaviors and in other violent behaviors more likely to watch wrestling,”
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