Think About It

          As a long time baseball fan, I am not sure if I am too excited about the possibility of Major League games being played without fans in the stands.   There is something inherently connected between baseball and fans.   Even in those stadiums where attendance is down, there is a bond between the team and its city.   I don’t know that the quality of the play would suffer – the basic principles of the game are the same if they are played in a sandlot devoid of onlookers or in a stadium filled with 50,000 screaming fans – but, something special happens when teams and their fans get together.   I don’t know how much of that emptiness will translate to the play on the field or the feel of the game being broadcasted on the radio or television.           As I thought about baseball played in an empty stadium I got to thinking about “church” being held in a vacuum.   S...

          I think the modern term for it is “clickbait”.   It is a misleading or sensational title to a story that has the sole purpose of getting you to follow the link to their product or point of view.   These traps make no bones about their purpose, they are specifically designed to pique your interest so they can accomplish their selfishly designed purpose.             While clickbait might be an effective modern tool, it is not the invention of 21 st Century marketing it has been around a long time – even before the invention of computers.   Satan has been the master of doing things to get our interest so that he can get his hooks into us!   For years, the term applied to what satan did was temptation and the process was described this way, “ But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust.   Then when lust has conceived, it ...

As we enter the third month of this modern crisis I am well aware of the personal impact it is having on me – I AM BORED!  In the beginning the thought of being able to sit at home and get caught up on my TV-watching sounded fun, now I am binge-watching stuff I wasn’t interested in when it came on TV the first time.  When this first started, I was looking for an excuse to avoid going to the gym, now my joints feel rested but my clothes have shrunk.  I was looking forward to sitting on the back porch watching nature, now the biggest thrill of the day seems to be when my neighbors stop mowing and the bees go home at night.  Yep, I am bored.  When I was a child, I resisted the urge to admit I was bored because it seemed to inspire my parents to find things for me to do; but as an adult I don’t have that sort of accountability – or do I?  One of the side effects of boredom is conflict.  If I don’t have enough to do, not only does my countenance fall, it...

        If my math is correct, today would have been my parents’ 63 rd wedding anniversary.  My Mom passed away a few years ago – shortly after their 59 th anniversary, so even though they didn’t make 60, they had a pretty good run.  My parents were High School sweethearts who ventured off on a journey that would initially take them from the coast of Florida, to the desert of West Texas and the mountains of New Mexico, then back to the Southeast again.  They survived a lot of moves (my Dad was a minister for most of my childhood), they lived on a limited (but livable) wage and endured the emotional trauma of losing a child in a tragic accident.  They buried a close, personal friend who was killed in the war in Viet Nam; celebrated a lot of weddings, experienced the birth of their grandchildren and the adoption of their great grandchildren.  Their years together will filled with some incredible highs and debilitating valleys.   ...

          One of the challenges for me is that I think too much.   Now, this may surprise some of my closest friends and family who might think that I don’t think often enough – or even well enough, but it can be a problem for me.   You see, when things happen in our world, I tend to think about them and try to figure out how I can make them better.   The challenge with this type of mentality is that our world has gotten smaller; therefore, the things I ponder grow larger and more widespread.   If something happens in Washington D. C., Milwaukee or Fort Worth it is like it is in my backyard, and I start trying to figure out how to make a difference.   As I have analyzed my personality, I have developed what I like to call cognitive dissonance.   On one hand, the only way to make a difference in our world is to be concerned about what goes on in our world.   If I am a leader, I have to be aware of our surro...

If you are a leader, you probably understand there are two phases of leadership.  The first one is when it seems like you can’t make everyone happy.  I think we all realize the reality of this perspective – but, seeing it in black and white tends to make it more concrete.  The second phase of leadership is when it seems that you can’t make anyone happy.  This is said someone what in jest; but there are days when it feels like every decision you make is met with resistance.  You know it isn’t the truth, but it sure seems that way. Leadership can be a challenge, but it is imperative that we have leaders – and maybe even more importantly, we need to have good leaders.  If you are a leader and are having one of those days (or a series of those days) here are a few suggestions: 1.  Make wise decisions .  This might be a no-brainer, but our goal mustn’t to be to make quick decisions or decisions that please the most people – we need to invest our ...

          As I was driving home on Friday I noticed something really neat – a rainbow.  I had been over to Virginia to visit my Dad and had driven in and out of rain all day, but as I approached home, there it was – a full rainbow.  Rainbows usually capture my attention, but for some reason, this one really inspired me.  Most of us are familiar with the history of rainbows – God established them to remind mankind He wouldn’t destroy the world through a flood.  Shortly after the first great flood, God told Noah, “ This is the sign of the covenant which I am making between Me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all successive generations; I set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth.” (Genesis 9:12-13).  When I saw the rainbow last week, I wasn’t concerned about a serious flood, but I had been concerned about all the stuff going on around us, so it brought a se...