We are in the middle of the summer Olympics and one can't help but root for the U.S. of A. (that is if you're from here, of course). I've watched some rowing, volleyball, gymnastics, swimming, and basketball and find it an extraordinary opportunity to see such gifted athletes gathered together in one place competing at such a high level in the most popular sports in the world.
On a recent visit to Tennessee, I spoke with the wife of a Christian camp director and she related this story to me. Her husband bought her an ipod Shuffle (one of the really little ones) for a birthday present.
July is a month that many people head to the beach or to a park to enjoy a summer vacation. As I think about my own recent vacation, I am reminded of a practical joke I played on my wife.
On a recent shopping outing I was asked an interesting question. As we checked out, the cashier at the department store asked, "Did you find everything okay?"
Have you ever noticed how many food products are "enriched" with vitamins and minerals? Actually, the term might be "re"-enriched because much of the nutritional value of foods such as bread is depleted when it is processed to give it longer shelf life. Vitamins and nutrients that are lost in this manufacturing processing are restored.
It was the same day that I rappelled off the tower that I climbed up its rock wall side. I had come to the conclusion that a near-50- year-old man need not prove himself anymore, when a voice in my head said, "Do it anyway!"
I recently returned from east Tennessee after speaking for a week at a youth camp. While there, I tried to get to know the young people and participate in many of the activities with them. Tubing on the lake, swimming, rappelling, rock wall climbing, and riding go-carts all combined to make it a truly exhausting work week.
Sunday is Father's Day and the television is filled with advertisements for potential gifts that seem to follow two lines of thinking. One line of gifts I've particularly noticed are handyman type gifts.
My garden plantings are growing like weeds. Oh, wait a minute, that one was a weed. A closer inspection reveals that something is gnawing on my plants. The leaves are missing on some of the vegetation and I suspect a wabbit! I asked my wife if rabbits had any natural enemies. She said, "Elmer Fudd." She's no help at all.
I was working in my garden the other day. Well, it's not really a garden as much as a patch. Actually, patch may be stretching it a bit also. Perhaps bed is the most accurate rendering. A twin size bed to be exact.
A friend of mine was playing in a golf tournament and had to buy some balls, so I asked him what kind he bought. "Super-Long" was his reply.
Have you noticed how two people may look at the same piece of artwork and yet come away with totally different interpretations of it? The same is true of poetry, music, and fluffy cloud formations.
My mom was a child of the Depression. No, she wasn't sad all the time, she grew up in the 1920's during the great economic depression.
Lately, a television commercial is proposing that we change the way we buy a new or used car. No longer should we actually go to a car dealer, kick the tires or take it for a test drive.
I hesitate to admit that I watch American Idol as idols and pastors are usually incompatible. I do, however, watch it for its musical value rather than its spiritual content.
When I was growing up, my parents told stories of how bad things were when they were kids. In truth, things were bad for them. Neither of my parents attended school beyond the eighth grade as both of them had to go to work to help their families survive.
I'm looking, actually searching, for another word for synonym. A word that is similar, yet not necessarily interchangeable. Alike, but it doesn't have to be equivalent or identical.
This year, it feels like Easter is coming too early and I don't feel ready for it. I have no candy stock-piled; no eggs colored, and our traditional hand-made baskets are still in storage.
And now from the "Do we really need this" department. It seems the sports companies, Adidas and Nike, are coming out with a cell phone coach called MiCoach. According to a recent article by the AP, "the device directs and motivates users during workouts by combining a mobile phone, heart rate monitor, stride sensor, MP3 player and the voice of an electronic personal coach.''
We recently traveled with another family to Disney World for a vacation out of which many memorable stories came. This is one of them.
The Academy Awards have come and gone. What? You say you didn't know that? It's true. Last Sunday night, the fewest people in the 80-year history of the Academy Awards cared enough to see what movies and performances were being honored.
Technology is driving me nuts! I thought computers and cell phones were supposed to simplify my life to free up more time to do other things. Instead, I find myself spending hours just trying to record an old 70's song to my ipod and it is still sitting there unwilling to comply.
