Welcome to the experiment known as the iPod devotional series. Here is how it works. 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. The tune is called Clumsy and it is written and performed by one of my favorites, Chris Rice . You can find the song on the CD Deep Enough to Dream. How interesting that the third song in the shuffle series is my anthem for my Christian journey. ESPN’s Chris Berman signature line for a football blooper is “rumbling, stumbling, fumbling”. That
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I am taking a dual risk this month by attempting an iPod devotional series. If the Apple attorneys take note this will quickly become the MP3 Playback Device Devotional series. So I hope the lawyers stay busy with bigger fish.  At any rate…here is how it will work. On the old iPod is a “shuffle songs” feature. You hit the button and it randomly picks a song. This month I am going to write 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. Today the shuffle landed on one of my favorite Christian artists. One year ago  Andrew Peterson was not even on
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I am taking a dual risk this month by attempting an iPod devotional series. If the Apple attorneys take note this will quickly become the MP3 Playback Device Devotional series. So I hope the lawyers stay busy with bigger fish.  At any rate…here is how it will work. On the old iPod is a “shuffle songs” feature. You hit the button and it randomly picks a song. This month I am going to write 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 here we go…pushing the button. The first song randomly selected shows that God does indeed have a sense of
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Two movie quotes are bouncing around in my oddly constructed brain. The first one is from Tom Hank’s excellent film A League of Their Own. Hanks plays manager Jimmy Dugan in a movie about a womens’ baseball league during World War II. Dugan sarcastically berates one of his players after a mistake and she bursts into tears, prompting this response. Are you crying? Are you crying? Are you crying? There’s no crying, there’s no crying in baseball. Rogers Hornsby was my manager, and he called me a talking pile of pig (droppings). And that was when my parents drove all the way down from Michigan to see me play the game. And did I cry? No. No. And do you know why? Evelyn Gardner: No, no, no. Jimmy Dugan: Because there’s no crying in baseball. That was the message I received loud and clear as a youngster growing up in scenic Chillicothe, Ohio in the 50’s and 60’s. My heroes did not cry. And
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Today is our Chemo Date Day. While Joni and I spend our day at the Slow Drip Spa I am posting a gently read post from the past. Today’s flashback talks about a study on grumpiness. I don’t mean to scare you but apparently the grumpy contagion spreads quickly from person to person. But there is hope for a cure…   Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down… Who knew that salty comedian George Carlin was on the cutting edge of scientific research when he made that observation about ways to stay young. A recent story by Knight Ridder writer Eric Adler in the Kansas City Star reports that a growing body of psychological research is bearing out the power one individual’s mood can have on others. That’s right, my friends. Grumpy people are contagious! “It is one of the most robust phenomena I have ever seen,” said University of New Hampshire researcher Richard Saavedra. “And it’s all unconscious.” Adler reported
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I am willing to confess that my life does not always demonstrate intellectual depth. Before a recent baseball telecast my fellow production crew mates and I engaged in a spirited debate over how many vegetables should be included in the vegetable medley for it to truly be a medley. The consensus was that at least four veggies could qualify but that was borderline. The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary was not all that helpful as they defined medley as a “diverse assortment or mixture”. Perhaps they had a heated debate as well around the old lunchroom before deciding on their elusive and safe definition of medley. So as I proceed into today’s musing medley I only promise a diverse mixture. I hope there are no blog versions of lima beans in this mix for you. Dallas becomes butt of national jokes by trying to cover butts The Dallas Morning News has been covering what appears to be a serious debate over banning men from wearing their
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Life is what happens to you when you are making other plans. That quote came to us from John Lennon. Tragically he learned that death also happens to you when you are making other plans. One mad gun man ended the life of the gifted musician. Today I learned of the death of a colleaque and friend in the television business. The truth of James is rocking my world today. “You do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” (NASB) May I challenge you today to consider those words? Jay Stinnett was a very talented camera operator. We have shared many laughs and covered a lot of bad baseball together over the years. He lived in Milwaukee and he often worked games with me at Comiskey Park in Chicago and County Stadium in Milwaukee. Both of those stadiums are gone and now my friend Jay is
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