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
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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
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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
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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
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(Today’s post is an update of an earlier article) It has been well documented that Barak Obama has been riding the hope train right into the Democrat nomination (if he can shake that pesky Hillary). His rally in Oregon recently looked like the Beatles performing at Shea Stadium. I was thinking that God must have a real sense of déjà vu as He watches the people of a nation that once publically honored Him clamor for a human leader to give them hope and change. Then I got sidetracked as I wondered if an omnipotent God can even experience déjà vu? That gave me tired head so I moved on. Would God look at these rallies and think of another group who had hope and change at their disposal but then chose to reject it? God wanted to bless His nation Israel. But they wanted a king who they believed would give them everything they wanted. Remember the story in Samuel? Finally, all the elders of
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I love using music to spark my spiritual meditations. Regular readers of the humble ramblings know that I have a rather eclectic blend of music on the trusty iPod. Today a song from Matthew West called “Nothing Else” was one of those tunes.  You might better know Matthew West from a song called “Next Thing You Know”. His CD called History is one of my favorites and today’s song is an honest reflection on the journey to find happiness. Here are some of the lyrics to Nothing Else. I tried money I got as much as I could and I went to the store And I bought it all But it wasn’t enough ’cause I wanted some more But my house was full So I bought a bigger house and filled it up And there I was with all that stuff And empty. Been there. Done that. Just took the t-shirt in a bag of other stuff to Goodwill. We have so much stuff at our house.
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We are blessed to have a little neighborhood park about a half-mile from Casa Burchett so dog friend Hannah and I headed there this morning. I have walked this park dozens and dozens of times over the years. But today something funny happened. There is an old joke for my sports inclined readers. I went to a fight today and a hockey game broke out. Today’s Bad Christian paraphrase is I went on a walk today and worship broke out. It started routinely enough. Hannah was busy checking new messages left along the path by other canine buddies. Apparently she had a lot of mail to catch up on. I was listening to the Grace Romans CD series with Bill Thrall in my ear. For some reason I began to notice what had been around me all along. The park has a play area for kids, an open area for soccer and Frisbee and dog running and a wooded area with some natural fields. I
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