Think About It

This time last week many of us on the Eastern Seaboard were coming to grips with a rather unexpected winter storm. While snow is not uncommon in our area, we typically get some warning. This system dumped inches of snow on us and generated winds that caused some outages. Sections of a major interstate that runs through the region was shut down – part of it because of the weather and other parts because of the headaches the weather caused. It was not a fun time to be in parts of Maryland and Virginia. Interestingly, now that a week has passed, much of the hardship and heartaches of the event are memories. The sun has been shining, the snow is gone and most (if not all) of us have electricity. Snow is a pain, but eventually, it will go away. It might leave some scars, but for the most part – and for most of us – it is just a temporary inconvenience. As I thought about last week’s storm, I got to thinking about many of the other challenges being faced by our society. Yes, we are ...

John Madden is proof to me that it is difficult for me to completely dislike anything. Coach Madden was a Raider – and I don’t like the Raiders. Growing up as a Broncos fan, silver and black were colors of anathema. I think that I disliked just about everything about the Raiders – except John Madden. Since the coach’s passing last week, I have been doing some reading about his observations about life and one stuck out to me. Interesting, it isn’t a great life lesson – or maybe it is. Tucked in with a bunch of other quotes was the observation, “When your arm gets hit, the ball is not going to go where you want it to.”. While this simplistic observation about a quarterback throwing the ball might be a “no-duh” moment, it also leads to the question, now what? When the quarterback’s arm is hit – and the ball doesn’t do what he intended to do – he has to adjust. If he throws an interception off the deflection, he needs to make sure the defensive guy doesn’t turn it into a pick-six...

Being a part of the “helping professions” brings an interesting challenge. On one hand we do what we do because we want to help people. In fact, we can be pretty miserable when we don’t get to help people. On the other hand, when we get the chance to help, it can be overwhelming! I recall a while back I lamented that I wasn’t being called on to help as often as I hoped; then, all of a sudden, the requests started coming in and I was wondering if I had bitten off more than I could chew! It was fun to be needed in the beginning, but when things started happening at an advanced pace, it was tempting to wonder if I things would ever slow down! I remembered the old adage, “Be careful what you wish for, because you might get it!”. Through the last few months, those in the helping professions are feeling the push of being needed – almost to the point of feeling overwhelmed. Those in Emergency Services, Healthcare, Public Service, Education, Ministry and Mental Health are not only fac...

I remember times, when our children were small, that Jeane and I knew they were cranky because they just needed some rest. We could see they were upset and realized that the cure to what ailed them was some sleep, but they were bound and determined they weren’t going to relax. The more they squirmed, the more they fussed and the more they fussed, the more upset they made themselves. On more than one occasion, we would tell ourselves (and them) that if they could just calm down for a few minutes, they will be asleep and all of us would be better off! Have you ever thought about how much we emulate this challenge even as adults? We keep ourselves worked up over life – especially things we can’t control. We allow things to whip us into a frenzy that keeps us awake at night and robs us of the peaceful contentment we claim we want. Interestingly, like our children, we are our own worst enemies. Rather than allowing God to swaddle us in the warmth of His peace and protection, we fus...

One of the challenges of Law Enforcement is not knowing just how much good you are doing. There are some statistics that can be extrapolated, but some of the most important can’t be determined. We’ll never know how many crashes are prevented by a trooper doing traffic enforcement. We’ll never have someone come up and say, “I was planning on robbing that little old lady but seeing your patrol car coming down the road changed my mind.”. We can’t count the number of times the peaceful presence of an officer stopped an argument from escalating from a verbal altercation to an assault or even a murder. While this lack of information can cause society to diminish the role our officers play in our communities, the real challenge is found in hindering officers from finding their own job satisfaction. We just can’t tell how much influence we have – and that can be discouraging. While this is a challenge in the world of policing, I also believe it is a struggle in Christianity as well. ...

As I write this, our community is preparing for a major storm. We don’t get a lot of really bad weather in Southern Maryland, so when they start talking a winter event that could bring over five inches of snow and twenty-plus mile-an-hour wind, that tends to get our attention. I have already filled up my car and made sure I had enough Diet Cokes to get me through the event. My electronics are charging and I will have a few external chargers on hand to power up my phone and tablet. I don’t know what will happen in the next few hours, but I feel like being prepared for the worst. As predications and communication about potential weather events improve, I see more and more people taking precautions about impending struggles, but I wonder if we are just as prepared when it comes to our spiritual lives? The Bible is very clear that there will be an afterlife for all people. Those who have aligned themselves with God and have lived according to His ways will enjoy the bliss of heaven...

What do you have planned for this final day of 2021? If you are like many of us, you have the day off and you might spend it watching one of the several bowl games being played today. You might even be cooking up your special traditional New Year’s Eve dish to take to the party or maybe cleaning house to host the annual gathering. It wouldn’t surprise me if several of us don’t make plans to take a nap because – at our age – we don’t see midnight too often. New Year’s Eve might not be filled with as much tradition and excitement as January 1; but it is a pretty popular time of the year. As we approach New Year’s Eve 2021, I want to encourage us to take some time to reflect back on the year. While I think there is a need to be honest about this year, I also encourage us to make sure we include the good times along with the struggles. I think we made progress during the year, but I don’t know that the consensus is that this year would go down in our own personal history as our fa...