Category: General

Keyboard Koping

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

Matthew 6:27

A patient of mine is suffering from depression and anxiety. He’s trying out a new medication and is seeing a psychologist to learn strategies for coping with the stresses and messes of daily living. I saw him recently and asked him how he was doing.

“Much better, Doc, thanks for asking,” he replied. “Whenever my mind starts to get too full, I just hit the ‘Delete’ button.”

Note to self: Give that a whirl. If that doesn’t work, hit “Esc.”

… Read the rest

Three Things I’m Trying to Figure Out

Here are three things I’m trying to figure out:

  1. Why schools are giving so much homework these days (Allison, who really wants to be a Tar Heel anyway?)
  2. Why a high school student would actually like homework (Jennifer dear, get a life)
  3. What’s causing all those thumping noises in my house at 3:00am (Get in Bed! NOW!)

After I get a grip on these, I’ll start on how spending $32 million on a football coach will improve the the quality of academics at the University of Alabama (there may be more to that answer than meets the eye).

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C’est la vie

Among the immutable facts of life this morning:

  • A new Bama head football coach will be greeted at the airport like a Messiah
  • Relatives will get together over the holidays and pass both the good cheer and the common cold from one person to another
  • No matter how much vacation you take from work, it’s never enough
  • A boss will overlook the 99 things you did right and focus on the one thing you did wrong
  • The new party in power will “usher in a new era” with overdone rhetoric and revelry

Please feel free to pitch in with a few immutable facts of your own.… Read the rest

More Weighty Matters-Prayers Please

Like I said, there are more weighty matters than college football.

My office is across the street from Huntsville Hospital. I noticed a few moments ago more than the usual number of ambulances making their way down Governors Drive. My wife just called me, and now I know why.

A school bus has gone over an overpass on I-565. There are fatalities (at least 3 students) and several critical injuries. You can watch live local feed here.

Prayers please.

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Running From The Reaper

My father died of his third heart attack at the age of 47. His brother had the first of several heart attacks at age 50. For a long time now, I’ve known that I’m going to have to run a little harder from The Reaper than most. If there’s one thing you can’t deny, it’s your DNA.

I’ve always worked hard to maintain a decent weight and I’ve been running regularly all my adult life. But since I turned forty, I’ve noticed the pounds creeping up and last winter after an extended bout of bronchitis and inactivity, things really got out of hand.… Read the rest

A Delightful Denouement

Integrity–and mirth–until all is said and done.

I want you to know that I am in no pain. I am very comfortable. And I have had as a happy a life as anyone on this earth could possibly have.

May we all experience such a delightful denouement. (Hat tip to Professor Elrod)

And may your comings and goings be blessed and God-drenched this holiday weekend.

Carpe diem.… Read the rest

A Back to School Nightmare

The “back to school” drill is not only hard on kids, but parents as well. What’s really bad are the dreams that parents seem to start having around this time of year.

I had one last night. Actually, I had several, since I kept waking up, falling back to sleep and then dreaming the same blasted dream again.

It was a variation on an old familiar theme. I was back in high school, only this time I was not a slim, salutatorian, but instead I was trapped in my present-day, balding, middle-age body (usually I at least get the benefit of a younger former self).… Read the rest

Monday Morning Musins’

The weekend has come and gone, and things are, well, different, than they were just a few days ago. For one thing, we are back on daylight savings time and although I awoke at my usual “rise and shine” 5:30AM the clock says it is actually 6:30AM, and therefore I don’t have my usual amount of time to write and post. So, in the interest of time and our short 21st century attention spans, I’ll go about this in bulleted fashion. If you sat through an Hour of PowerPoint at church yesterday, please accept my apologies beforehand.

  • Nancy Grace has given up on her Church of Christ cult hunt (not enough “traction” apparently) and has turned her keen journalistic eye and prosecutorial Death Ray from the Winkler case to the Duke Lacrosse Team
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Anchors Aweigh

This being my virgin voyage into the bloggy cybersea, I feel a little pressure to say something extraordinary. The problem is, I’m a pretty ordinary guy as I’m sure will be plain to all soon enough. My life could be summed up with the following quote:

I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks as if they were great and noble.” –Helen Keller

I probably harbor a secret wish that this will be a million-hits-a-day “mother of all blogs,” but in reality I would be happy to simply converse with a few kindred spirits who share my desire for joy in the journey and my restlessness and longing for the Kingdom Come.… Read the rest