You Know What I Mean?

Maybe I'm fooling myself, but I think I'm a nice guy. I have no sworn enemies, that I know of. I make an effort to be pleasant when I am in public. I wait for my turn at four-way stops and I don't ever take more than 10 items into the Express Checkout Lane. However, beneath this calm and seemingly pleasant veneer, lies a potential for rage that can be triggered by the most seemingly innocent of transgressions. When confronted by a certain behavior, my good nature takes a back seat to a far darker part of my psyche. There may not be any visible signs (possibly a slight narrowing of the eyes) but my mind will become both judge and jury for the culprit, declaring both verdict and sentence on the offending party. Mind you, I am not talking about some heinous crime, but rather, a small thing that most people would probably hardly notice. What is this travesty of which I speak? People who dilly-dally getting themselves a self-serve drink. One of my favorite developments over the...

In Christ alone, my hope is found He is my light, my strength, my song This Cornerstone, this solid ground Firm through the fiercest drought and storm What heights of love, what depths of peace When fears are stilled, when strivings cease My Comforter, my All in All Here in the love of Christ I stand The song above was one of my favorites to sing in church. It has a beautiful melody that is complex, yet easy to sing. If you are not familiar with it, you can listen to it here. Lyrically it is both poignant and succeeds in avoiding the sappiness found in many church songs. It has theological depth but is still accessible. It almost seems like a creed. In my opinion it is the best church song from the last 30 years. I would even argue that it is one of the top 10 hymns of all time. I thought about this song one night a while back while driving down the interstate. It popped into my head out of nowhere and I started humming it to myself. Nearly 20 years ago I stepped away from active invo...

  I am a stickler for grammar. I know when to use you’re instead your. I am well-versed on the proper times for to, too and two. I have even mastered the ever puzzling who vs. whom quandary. When I hear or read grammatical errors it is like the proverbial fingernails on a chalkboard. It’s painful. To make matters worse, I live in a region where proper grammar is considered ... well it isn’t considered at all. Phrases like “we was” and “I done it” are commonplace and sometimes people will just make up whole new words like “hisself” (“So he said to hisself…”). These assaults on the English language trigger a visceral, almost painful reaction in me. I know that my grammatical snobbery says more about my character flaws than it does my linguistically challenged neighbors. Should it bother me as much as it does if a co-worker jumbles their tenses? Probably not. Is it normal that my neighbor using the wrong verb form in a participle causes me to visibly flinch? Nope. I have a problem and...

Why do I have a blog? That is a good question and I don't really have an answer. Can I honestly even say that I have a blog? I started this venture 20 years ago and have around 50 posts. 25 of those were a series I did on the 25 Best Christmas Songs and five posts were written by a guest writer. So if you take those away, you're left with fewer than 2 posts a year. This year I have determined that I am going to write and publish more often. But that begs the question, "Why?" If someone were to ask me in person, I don't think that I could truly articulate my motivation. The fact is, I can think of more reasons why this project is not such a great idea. Let me share them. 1. I Have No Niche Conventional wisdom says content creators need to specialize. Find the one topic that you love or are an expert in and focus on that. Then find other people that geek out about the same thing and create a network.  I get that, but here's the problem. What I'm passionate ...

When I went to bed last Tuesday night, things were not looking good for my presidential candidate of choice . By the time I woke up (quite early, by the way), it was over. The voters had made a clear choice. I was, and still am, utterly disappointed. As the reality of it set in, my gut reaction was a desire to confront Trump voters with words similar to the clip below. Fortunately, my intrusive thoughts remained just thoughts (for the most part), and I started asking myself, "What now?" The first thing I decided was that I need to have hope. Here is what I hope: I hope that I am wrong. I don't for a second believe that I am wrong about Donald Trump's lack of character or even decency, but I do hope that I am wrong about some of the policies he says he will put in place. I hope that I am wrong about his tariffs resulting in higher costs for consumer goods, making it even harder for people to provide for their families. I hope that I am wrong about his planned mass depo...

 In 1984, I cast my first presidential vote for Ronald Reagan. In the elections that followed, I voted for, in order: George H. W. Bush (twice), Bob Dole, George W. Bush (twice), John McCain, and Mitt Romney. Are you sensing a pattern? Looking back, I don’t regret any of my choices. Based on the information I had available to me, and even with the clarity of history, I am satisfied with the choices I made. My GOP voting streak ended in 2016. As GOP candidates began their runs for the White House in 2015, I put myself firmly in the “never Trump” camp. I watched in disbelief as Donald Trump’s support started to swell and he began to take control of the primaries. I was especially dismayed to see that he was being endorsed by a number of Evangelical leaders while there were still viable and, in my opinion, more appealing candidates. I was baffled as to how these “men of God” could support a man whose life and rhetoric were so clearly the antithesis of the “Christian values” they claim...