I have to start by telling you that my friend Bob L. is one of those people who has "interesting" situations looking for him. He asked when was the best time to plant a back yard garden. Some of the older men told him to "plant by the full moon." Sure enough, the next full moon Bob was out in his back yard after dark with a roto-tiller.
He called our mutual friend, Doug, one day to help him put up a privacy fence. Doug says he pulled in the driveway and saw that Bob had dug the holes for the posts, and had completely assembled the back wall of the fence, laying on the ground. Doug got back in his truck and left.
So now you know a bit about Bob. He and I were talking about church league softball one day. Now Bob at that time was, as the Daniel Boone theme song says, a big, big man. He played first base and did quite well. He told me about one game against the local Pentecostal Church where he was minding his post at first base when the batter hit a line drive right down the base line, and into Bob’s knee. He said, “I’ve never experienced pain like that, I fell like a big tree. I couldn’t move because of the pain.”
The batter immediately called for a time out. He and his teammates rushed to Bob’s side. Bob lay on the ground, unable to move, desiring to be left alone. The batter apologetically said, “I am so sorry Brother, what can we do to help you?" Bob answered, "Nothing, I'm fine, I'm fine. Just let me lay here." The batter paced around, truly desiring to do anything to bring comfort, "Can we at least move you off of the clay and over to the grass?” Bob answered, “Whatever, I don’t care, whatever.” The opposing team gathered around and hoisted him up, depositing him some ten feet away onto the grass where he lay, still in pain.
The batter again approached Bob, “Brother, I know we practice our faiths differently, but, would you mind if we laid hands on you and prayed for you?” Bob responded, “Whatever, I don’t care, whatever.” They gathered around and laid hands on Bob and began to pray. In Bob’s own words, “They were praying for about 30 seconds when I came off the ground, jumping and shouting. Then they all started jumping, shouting, celebrating and Praising God.” I said, “Wow, that’s pretty cool.” “Yeah,” He said, “they had laid me in an ant bed.”
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Saturday, July 28, 2007
You are a Benevolent Leader
My Results:
You are a Benevolent Leader.
personalDNA
about you
You are a Leader
Your solid grounding in the practicalities of life, along with your self-assuredness and your willingness to appreciate new things make you a LEADER.
You're in touch with what is going on around you and adept at remaining down-to-earth and logical.
Although you're detail-oriented, this doesn't mean that you lose the big picture.
You tend to find beauty in form and efficiency, as opposed to finding it in broad-based, abstract concepts.
Never one to pass on an adventure, you're consistently seeking and finding new things, even in your immediate surroundings.
Because of this eagerness to pursue new experiences, you've learned a lot; your attention to detail means that you gain a great deal from your adventures.
The intellectual curiosity that drives you leads you to seek out causes of and reasons behind things.
Your confidence gives you the potential to take your general awareness and channel it into leadership.
You're not set on one way of doing things, and you often have the skills and persistence to find innovative ways of facing challenges.
You are well-attuned to your talents, and can deal with most problems that you face.
You're not one to force your positions on a group, and you tend to be fair in evaluating different options.
You're not afraid to let your emotions guide you, and you're generally considerate of others' feelings as well.
Generally, you believe that you control your life, and that external forces only play a limited role in determining what happens to you.
If you want to be different:
There's more to life than the practical - take some time to daydream and explore the aesthetic sides of things.
how you relate to others
You are Benevolent
You are a great person to interact with—understanding, giving, and trusting—in a word, BENEVOLENT
You don't mind being in social situations, as you feel comfortable enough with people to be yourself.
Your caring nature goes beyond a basic concern: you take the time to understand the nuances of people's situations before passing any sort of judgment.
You're a good listener, and even better at offering advice.
You're concerned with others at both an individual and societal level—you sympathize with the plights of troubled groups, and you can care about people you've never met.
Considering many different perspectives is something at which you excel, and you appreciate that quality in others.
Other people's feelings are important to you, and you're good at mediating disputes.
Because of your understanding and patience, you tend to bring out the best in people.
If you want to be different:
You spend a lot of time taking care of others, but don't forget to take care of yourself!
Sometimes you can get overcommitted, and when you sacrifice spending time with those close to you, it can make them feel unimportant.
You are a Benevolent Leader.
personalDNA
about you
You are a Leader
Your solid grounding in the practicalities of life, along with your self-assuredness and your willingness to appreciate new things make you a LEADER.
You're in touch with what is going on around you and adept at remaining down-to-earth and logical.
Although you're detail-oriented, this doesn't mean that you lose the big picture.
You tend to find beauty in form and efficiency, as opposed to finding it in broad-based, abstract concepts.
Never one to pass on an adventure, you're consistently seeking and finding new things, even in your immediate surroundings.
Because of this eagerness to pursue new experiences, you've learned a lot; your attention to detail means that you gain a great deal from your adventures.
The intellectual curiosity that drives you leads you to seek out causes of and reasons behind things.
Your confidence gives you the potential to take your general awareness and channel it into leadership.
You're not set on one way of doing things, and you often have the skills and persistence to find innovative ways of facing challenges.
You are well-attuned to your talents, and can deal with most problems that you face.
You're not one to force your positions on a group, and you tend to be fair in evaluating different options.
You're not afraid to let your emotions guide you, and you're generally considerate of others' feelings as well.
Generally, you believe that you control your life, and that external forces only play a limited role in determining what happens to you.
If you want to be different:
There's more to life than the practical - take some time to daydream and explore the aesthetic sides of things.
how you relate to others
You are Benevolent
You are a great person to interact with—understanding, giving, and trusting—in a word, BENEVOLENT
You don't mind being in social situations, as you feel comfortable enough with people to be yourself.
Your caring nature goes beyond a basic concern: you take the time to understand the nuances of people's situations before passing any sort of judgment.
You're a good listener, and even better at offering advice.
You're concerned with others at both an individual and societal level—you sympathize with the plights of troubled groups, and you can care about people you've never met.
Considering many different perspectives is something at which you excel, and you appreciate that quality in others.
Other people's feelings are important to you, and you're good at mediating disputes.
Because of your understanding and patience, you tend to bring out the best in people.
If you want to be different:
You spend a lot of time taking care of others, but don't forget to take care of yourself!
Sometimes you can get overcommitted, and when you sacrifice spending time with those close to you, it can make them feel unimportant.
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
Coach Houllihan
Talking with a friend one day who is the sales manager for one of our local broadcast stations, the discussion turned to the managers he has charge over. He told me about the activities that they are involved in followed with the comment, “We like our leaders to lead from the front.” I laughed, at least initially; I then began to think about the leaders and mentors I respect most in my own life. My Dad, Granddad and my Father-in-law and someone not associated with the family tree, Coach Houllihan.
Mike Houllihan was my coach in gym class from 7th through 11th grade. I first met Coach Houllihan as a mere pick-up-stick of a lad in Junior High school. It was nearly ten years later that I found out his first name was not “Coach”. It didn’t take long for my class to realize that our Coach was different from the other Coaches.
While other Coaches were yelling out commands, “Twenty push-ups, now!” and standing over the troops with a cup of coffee, our Coach was barking commands and doing push-ups with us. When discipline demanded that we all take two laps on the track, Coach Houllihan ran those laps with us. In five years under his leadership, I don’t remember a single time hearing him complain about having to do laps, push-ups, or other various calisthenics. Always there, always with a smile, always encouraging and teaching by example.
While other groups of youthful specimens of athletic potential were whining about having to run four laps before they could go in, our group was happy to comply. At mid-year, my schedule would change and I would have Gym at a different time. There was the Coach, consistently leading by example, regardless of the timeslot.
Mike Houllihan made a tremendous impression on me as a teenager. So much so, that I have employed his method of leadership whenever I have been given charge over a group either professionally or in volunteer service. It would be hard to believe that my Coach spent a lot of time worrying about who might be watching him at any given time. His leadership style was a lifestyle, not a “dog and pony show”.
As Christians in our local churches and professional organizations, our responsibilities will vacillate between “Coach” and “Team member”. Coach Houllihan made it very clear to a group of teenagers that looked like a bunch of microphone stands in sneakers, anybody can be put in charge, but respect is earned. Also, every member of the team is responsible to and for the team.
I think I’ll look up the number and call Coach this weekend; maybe we can do two or three push-ups over the phone. Maybe just one, he’s probably still in better shape than me.
Mike Houllihan was my coach in gym class from 7th through 11th grade. I first met Coach Houllihan as a mere pick-up-stick of a lad in Junior High school. It was nearly ten years later that I found out his first name was not “Coach”. It didn’t take long for my class to realize that our Coach was different from the other Coaches.
While other Coaches were yelling out commands, “Twenty push-ups, now!” and standing over the troops with a cup of coffee, our Coach was barking commands and doing push-ups with us. When discipline demanded that we all take two laps on the track, Coach Houllihan ran those laps with us. In five years under his leadership, I don’t remember a single time hearing him complain about having to do laps, push-ups, or other various calisthenics. Always there, always with a smile, always encouraging and teaching by example.
While other groups of youthful specimens of athletic potential were whining about having to run four laps before they could go in, our group was happy to comply. At mid-year, my schedule would change and I would have Gym at a different time. There was the Coach, consistently leading by example, regardless of the timeslot.
Mike Houllihan made a tremendous impression on me as a teenager. So much so, that I have employed his method of leadership whenever I have been given charge over a group either professionally or in volunteer service. It would be hard to believe that my Coach spent a lot of time worrying about who might be watching him at any given time. His leadership style was a lifestyle, not a “dog and pony show”.
As Christians in our local churches and professional organizations, our responsibilities will vacillate between “Coach” and “Team member”. Coach Houllihan made it very clear to a group of teenagers that looked like a bunch of microphone stands in sneakers, anybody can be put in charge, but respect is earned. Also, every member of the team is responsible to and for the team.
I think I’ll look up the number and call Coach this weekend; maybe we can do two or three push-ups over the phone. Maybe just one, he’s probably still in better shape than me.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Truly Priceless
It had been a particularly lousy day at work. So much so, that I didn’t want to be around anyone at lunch. Just outside of our cafeteria, there are some nice tables by the lake under young oak trees. It was an overcast and breezy day, so I took me and my attitude outside to eat. I purposefully sat with my back to the building facing the small lake.
About that time, I started talking with God about my crummy day. I said, “Lord, sometimes I wonder if anyone really sees any value in me.”
I had no more entertained that thought when I heard something above me in the trees. A small sparrow was leaping from limb to limb. It was almost audible, God said, “Do you see this little bird? I make sure he has everything he will ever need for his whole life. When he dies and falls to the earth, I’ll know it. He’s only a bird. You are worth so much more to me. My Son died for you.”
I thought about my oldest daughter. Years ago I picked her up from day care in Deltona. We got out of the car and I went to open the door. From behind me I heard her little voice as low as she could speak, “Erin!”, Then in her regular voice “Yes God?”, (low voice) “I love you, Erin.”, In her voice, “I love you too, God.”
It occurred to me that I had just had the same conversation with Him.
Matthew 10:29 (New King James Version)
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.
Matthew 6:26 (New King James Version)
26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
About that time, I started talking with God about my crummy day. I said, “Lord, sometimes I wonder if anyone really sees any value in me.”
I had no more entertained that thought when I heard something above me in the trees. A small sparrow was leaping from limb to limb. It was almost audible, God said, “Do you see this little bird? I make sure he has everything he will ever need for his whole life. When he dies and falls to the earth, I’ll know it. He’s only a bird. You are worth so much more to me. My Son died for you.”
I thought about my oldest daughter. Years ago I picked her up from day care in Deltona. We got out of the car and I went to open the door. From behind me I heard her little voice as low as she could speak, “Erin!”, Then in her regular voice “Yes God?”, (low voice) “I love you, Erin.”, In her voice, “I love you too, God.”
It occurred to me that I had just had the same conversation with Him.
Matthew 10:29 (New King James Version)
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will.
Matthew 6:26 (New King James Version)
26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
I'm Blessed
People ask me how long my wife and I have been together. I say, “Not nearly long enough.” Fact is, from the first time I laid eyes on her I was smitten. I was a bit more timid back then and tried to work up the nerve to ask her to go steady with me.
It was a pleasant surprise one night as the youth were deciding who was riding with whom to go to Pizza Hut, that she (attempting to avoid some other goofy guy) grabbed my arm and said, “We’re riding together.” Someone said, “You two are together?” She laughed and said, “We’ve been trying to keep it a secret.”
I went from secretly smitten, to secretly astonished. We did go to Pizza Hut together and started hanging around together at church. I played guitar at youth activities, and she played piano for the youth choir.
On Friday July 11, I decided that what I truly wanted with all my heart was to go steady with her. That’s what we used to call it before people started going “out” to no particular place.
I asked her out to the Dairy Queen. She said yes, her parents said yes also to my taking along her little brother and sister. Knowing that DQ had a cartoon booth, I loaded up on quarters. While she and I talked about everything but going steady, (because I was chicken) her siblings ran back and forth to the cartoon booth with my quarters in hand.
I got down to the last couple of quarters and decided it must be time.
The happiest moment of my life up to that point was July 11, 1975 at 7:30 p.m. When I stumbled through asking her to be my girlfriend, and she said, “Yes.”
They left on vacation to Tennessee the next day, but I got some cool letters. I keep the picture she gave me in my wallet. Beautiful green eyes, dark brown hair with blonde streaks. Next to my Salvation, she is is the most wonderful blessing in my life.
I love you Babe!
Happy 32nd Anniversary.
Will you still be my girlfriend?
Me
It was a pleasant surprise one night as the youth were deciding who was riding with whom to go to Pizza Hut, that she (attempting to avoid some other goofy guy) grabbed my arm and said, “We’re riding together.” Someone said, “You two are together?” She laughed and said, “We’ve been trying to keep it a secret.”
I went from secretly smitten, to secretly astonished. We did go to Pizza Hut together and started hanging around together at church. I played guitar at youth activities, and she played piano for the youth choir.
On Friday July 11, I decided that what I truly wanted with all my heart was to go steady with her. That’s what we used to call it before people started going “out” to no particular place.
I asked her out to the Dairy Queen. She said yes, her parents said yes also to my taking along her little brother and sister. Knowing that DQ had a cartoon booth, I loaded up on quarters. While she and I talked about everything but going steady, (because I was chicken) her siblings ran back and forth to the cartoon booth with my quarters in hand.
I got down to the last couple of quarters and decided it must be time.
The happiest moment of my life up to that point was July 11, 1975 at 7:30 p.m. When I stumbled through asking her to be my girlfriend, and she said, “Yes.”
They left on vacation to Tennessee the next day, but I got some cool letters. I keep the picture she gave me in my wallet. Beautiful green eyes, dark brown hair with blonde streaks. Next to my Salvation, she is is the most wonderful blessing in my life.
I love you Babe!
Happy 32nd Anniversary.
Will you still be my girlfriend?
Me
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
Happy Birthday USA!
When I was a kid in public elementary school, there were three times that a student was not allowed to walk into a classroom. The first was during the Pledge of Allegiance. The second was during Morning Prayer and the third was during Bible Reading.
My parents, my Teachers and even my classmates would stand, take off their hats and hold their hands over their hearts as the National Anthem was played. (They still do.)
And the results: I worship the True and Living God. I’m proud to be an American, and I am especially proud and appreciative of the men and women in uniform who serve our country both here and abroad.
Happy 4th!
Happy Birthday America!
Happy Birthday Papa! (My favorite Pa-In-Law)
God Bless Our Troops!
My parents, my Teachers and even my classmates would stand, take off their hats and hold their hands over their hearts as the National Anthem was played. (They still do.)
And the results: I worship the True and Living God. I’m proud to be an American, and I am especially proud and appreciative of the men and women in uniform who serve our country both here and abroad.
Happy 4th!
Happy Birthday America!
Happy Birthday Papa! (My favorite Pa-In-Law)
God Bless Our Troops!
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