It’s a unique part of being human — tragedy, hardship, loss and pain tend to bring people together. It seems like it would be prosperity, success, everything going good that brings people together. Not so, at least, not usually.
Case in point is Hurricane Harvey. For those not directly affected, this may be a meaningless example, or at least, not as poignant. But for those who have experienced it, even if only a part, it is a horrible time for so many people. At the same time, it’s somehow refreshing, like a root of hope has blossomed. Continue reading Sail On Texas Navy!→
The remnants of Hurricane Harvey are still dumping Mother Nature’s tears on my home town of Angleton. Houston, an hour north, is getting deluged with rain. Creeks, rivers and bayous are overflowing, and every drop of rain on top of that is making life hard on family, friends and strangers. Having grown up in the area, this is beyond hard. These are some of the most stressful, difficult, trying days one can imagine!
My hands trembled, sweaty palms, dry mouth. I had been to church and was convicted in my heart of a wrong I had committed. It was my own stupid mistake, my own sin.
A friend called to ask a favor. He went out to dinner with his wife at Chili’s celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary. At one point, he told his wife happy anniversary and they touched his glass of sweet tea to her glass of strawberry lemonade as they casually talked over dinner.
They finished and asked the waitress for their ticket.
Sometimes it’s just enough to trod through the day to day issues and simply make it through. The award for those days is to simply collapse in bed at day’s end. Everyone has them. It’s part of being human, I guess.
But to stay there doesn’t work. To stay in those days is like digging a tunnel through the darkness of an underground cavern with no escape hatch. To remain in those days is to remain in the tunnel gliding through life like a bat in the dark because we’re too worried, too busy or too tired to see light outside the underground cavern. Sure, life moves along, but it’s not the same as soaring in the light of clouds. Continue reading Abiding Sunrise→
It’s one of the most popular burger places across from Stanford University in Palo Alto. I stepped in the long line to order and a woman with an 11-year old boy got in line behind me. She warned her son several times to be patient, yet she was a tad bit irritated herself. A mother-son verbal conflict arose, complete with that’s not fair versus a you don’t always get what you want speech.
At first, I just listened. The boy was on verge of a chaotic meltdown, and honestly, I thought she should make good on her promise to take him straight home if his impatience continued.
When he smiles, it is obvious he has only one front tooth on top. He has a pear-shaped body so his hips are wider than his shoulders, and he walks with a limp. He always looks sleepy, and the giant T-shirts he wears every day with his thick glasses give him the appearance of a dull wit.
The thing is, he’s not. He’s actually quite witty, charming too. And he’s smart. It’s not that he’s educated. He’s not. But he’s wise. Wise is better. Continue reading Mr. Willie→
She was a pretty kid, a high school cheerleader, who in most ways, stood out head and shoulders above the rest of the cheerleaders from both schools. She was cheering for the other team at a recent basketball game against our small high school. She was just like all the other girls, dressed in the same uniforms, except, she was in a wheelchair.
Kind. Gentle. Peaceful. Those are some of the most wonderful traits. When they are woven in a person and become intertwined in their soul, it’s more than wonderful, it’s beautiful.
So it was with my Great Granny. It wasn’t so much on the outside, at least not when I knew her, but on the inside. Her wrinkled skin, bobbing head, trembling hands, and even occasionally appearing to chew something that wasn’t there just wasn’t her enamoring factor. Even with that, in advanced age her outside was still just as cute as a button. Continue reading The Most Beautiful→
Ten thirty sharp he was up front. This was the last thing he was going to do before walking out the gate. A few minutes of exit paperwork and his retirement officially begins. He was like a giddy high school student on the last day of classes of the senior year. He was there, physically anyway, but his emotions were already elsewhere.
Stories about family, faith, friends and funnies. Pull up a chair. Grab a cup of coffee and laugh, cry, ponder and inspire about ordinary events of this wonderful, ever changing, bubbling pot that we call "every day life".
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