I have tried to avoid the whole Anna Nicole Smith tragedy that is dominating so much of TV “news”. But an ancillary story caught my eye. The article in the Dallas Morning News was titled “Smith joins ranks of Playmates dead before 50“.  Apparently a disproportionate number of women who have posed in Playboy magazine have died tragically before the age of 50. Automobile accidents, drug overdoses, homicides, a plane crash — all have claimed the lives of Playmates. What caught my eye was a comment from a photographer for the magazine. “It’s sad how many girls we’ve lost,” said Peter Gowland, who photographed a number of centerfolds for Playboy in the 1950s and 60s. “It’s a curse to be beautiful,” Gowland said. No, Mr.Gowland, it is a gift to be beautiful. The curse is young women being exploited for their beauty by self-centered men. The curse is believing that your significance and value is found in being a object of lust for selfish men.
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Last weekend the striking Mrs.Burchett accompanied me to Nashville to visit eldest son and his lovely bride. We spent Saturday night with a few hundred of our closest friends enjoying a Valentine Concert with Ricky Skaggs and the Nashville Symphony. The venue was the spectacular new Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville. This facility is one more reason to love Nashville and if you have a chance, check it out. What a beautiful hall and the acoustics are amazing! Ricky Skaggs was also amazing along with his band Kentucky Thunder. Ricky sells t-shirts that proclaim that “Bluegrass Rules” and he is spot on. If you have a pulse you will be tappin’ your foot during his music. But the song that stuck with me days later was not a toe-tappin’ bluegrass tune. It was a moving ballad that Skaggs sang as an encore. Perhaps the song resonated with me because of the recent journey that Joni and I have been traveling. The song is called
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I picked up USA Today today (that drives the grammar check crazy) and found a story about The Secret. What is The Secret? It is a controversial self-help book and DVD that claims to know the secret to happiness. Author Rhonda Byrne says the secret is the law of attraction. If you think positively you become a magnet that pulls everything you want toward you. Whether you want a new job, a million dollars, or a gorgeous girlfriend. I apparently need to reverse the polarity of my magnet because I tend to only pull dog hairs and dysfunctional people toward me. So I was intrigued. Especially when I discovered that The Secret carries this centuries’ version of the Good Housekeeping Seal…an endorsement from Oprah. Like she needs another million or a new job. Byrne is an Australian reality-TV producer who discovered “the secret” to obtaining everything you want through studying religious and philosophical texts. “Everyone has to have their own experience
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I have made many new friends through my one year association with the good folks at Crosswalk.com. I suspect that the cool redesign of the website will cause a few more to stumble into my cyberspace and ask the question that nearly everyone asks. “Who the heck is Dave Burchett?”  Because time is precious I have put together a linked list of the most popular articles I have written out of the over 300 times I have strode to the blog batter’s box and tried to connect with you, the reader. These are the ten most read blogs that I have posted with a brief excerpt from each one. Sample one or two or ten by clicking on the title and see if this is a spot that you will want to revisit. I hope it is. But most of all I hope you find grace and joy as you follow Jesus today. 10) You have been warned! I think
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This Valentine’s Day is different. Oh, I have the same valentine but having her as my valentine means a little more this year. In just five weeks we will mark (not celebrate) the anniversary of diagnosis day. Having walked with Joni through eleven long months of chemotherapy and radiation has made my love and appreciation for her grow even deeper. I was listening to the old iPod today and a song by the Turtles summed up the current state of the marital union. Cue booming announcer voice… Let’s take you back forty years to the spring of 1967 when a California rock group hit number one with this song…Happy Together. I think about you day and night, it’s only rightTo think about the girl you love and hold her tightSo happy together I can’t see me lovin’ nobody but youFor all my lifeWhen you’re with me, baby the skies’ll be blueFor all my life We are so happy to be together. More than ever. Solomon wrote a
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Last March I posted a blog about a flap occurring at a Dallas area high school. The story confirmed one of my developing beliefs that the biggest problem with kids activities is adults. A little background from the first post. The news story was about the selection process for cheerleaders. Here is an excerpt… Southlake Carroll high school is in the midst of turmoil over the results of the cheerleader selection process. The controversy has actually reached the school board trustees who are being forced to weigh in on a no win issue. Parents are filing grievances. Classmates are choosing sides. Suggested new cheer: Fight, team, Fight!Fight, parents, Fight!Fight, fight, fight! Initially fourteen girls made high enough scores to make the squad. A grievance was filed. The school decided to add four seniors. More grievances were filed. Then the school decided to include all thirty-two of the girls who auditioned on the team. More grievances were filed. The parents of the original fourteen argued
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It was good to hear from the official agnostic poster of this humble site…Shawn from Ohio. Shawn and I don’t agree on much of anything (except for our love of the Ohio State University and the need for civil discourse) but we do agree completely on a point he made in a recent post. Mind what people do, not only what they say, for deeds will show their true selves. Amen. No offense meant, Shawn. Christian thinker and writer Brennan Manning has a quote made famous by the group DC Talk… “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians, who acknowledge Jesus with their lips and walk out the door and get on with their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.” The search for authentic Christians reminded me of one of my favorite ancient characters, the philosopher Diogenes of Sinope. Born in Turkey about 400 years before Christ, he was a student of Antisthenes
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