I think I was around 17 years old, a junior or maybe senior in High School. A friend of mine came to me and told me that one of our classmates was bothering her about going out. She said that she told him she wasn’t interested, but he wouldn’t take no for an answer. He continued to pursue her, to the point that she considered it harassment. Some of the things he said to her were borderline inappropriate, and it was getting worse. I knew the guy pretty well, so I told her I would have a talk with him.

So, the next time I saw him, I had a little heart to heart with him, and he just kind of shrugged me off. I thought, well maybe he will leave her alone now, so I went on my way not thinking much about it again. A week or so later, just before class started, my friend told me that the harassment had just gotten worse, and it really had her upset. It just so happened that the offender sat behind me in my next class, so I told her I would take care of it.

When class started, the offender came in and sat down behind me. I immediately turned around and told him that the harassment towards my friend needed to stop. He told me that he would do whatever he wanted and that I should just be quite because I couldn’t do anything about it. He barely had time to get the words out of his mouth when I punched him in the nose as hard as I could. His head just kind of rocked back a little, he started rubbing his nose, looked me right in the eyes and said, “I’ll fight you after class”. (Just a side note, I was no slouch, I was very athletic, and this wasn’t the first scrape I had been in. I could hold my own with just about anyone). This dude had just taken my best punch right to the nose, and barely flinched. My first thought was “you will have to find me first!” I had the whole hour of that class to plan my escape.

As time ran down and class was almost over, I made the decision to stand my ground and take whatever beating he was going to give me. There was no way I was going to just walk away and ignore the concerns of my friend. What kind of man would I be if I allowed my fear to overcome my sense of duty? I had never walked away from a fight, and I wasn’t about to today. I knew I could get a few good punches in and let him know I was in the fight.

Class ended, we all gathered our things and headed out the door. I took a few steps into the hallway, handed my books to a friend, turned around and waited for my six-foot four-inch opponent to emerge from the classroom. As he came through the door, he also handed his books off to a friend, and started towards me. Just as he approached me, the High School principal appeared out of nowhere. No one, including the principal, said a word. We just all stood there looking at each other. After a few moments, my opponent just turned and went down the hallway to his next class. I have to admit, I wasn’t disappointed when he walked away. We continued the school year and nothing else was ever said about it. He did stop harassing my friend after that, so I guess it all turned out well.

As I think about that story from my past, I wonder if we as men have lost that sense of duty and honor. If I had just ignored my friends cry for help, it wouldn’t have affected my life one way or the other. There was no reason for me to confront her offender, it was her problem, not mine. But I wasn’t raised that way, I was raised to defend those who are not capable of defending themselves. So, for no other reason or personal gain, I was prepared to fight and take whatever beating goliath was going to give me. Why? One word, duty. I had a duty as a man to defend a friend that needed help. I sometimes feel our culture has lost that.

Through the years, I believe I have been guilty of ignoring my sense of duty. And don’t misunderstand me, it doesn’t always involve violence are physical altercations, (although I do believe that violence is sometimes necessary. Like the old Kenny Rogers song says, sometimes you have to fight when you’re a man). Whether it be out of fear of some sort of retribution or just because it might go against the current cultural “norms”. We may lose friends, anger co-workers or even family members. We as men need to stand up in all sorts of ways when we see someone being wronged, without fear of the consequences. I have personally witnessed men standing up for what they believed and took a heavy loss because of it. I’ve stood by and watched men stand alone, and then years later, regret that I didn’t stand with them. I don’t believe we are doomed, there are still good men out there, they may be scarcer than they once were, but they are there.

Today’s culture seems to frown on masculinity, some even call it “toxic”. But we desperately need strong men who will lead their families spiritually and with a sense of duty and honor. Don’t be discouraged if today’s culture frowns on you, or even try’s to shame you. Stand firm and be men of honor and duty. God knows we desperately need it,

May God bless you all!

Back in my late teens and early twenties I worked with my brother sawing logs. I’ve written about some of my experiences doing this type of work, how demanding and dangerous the work was. I want to share another experience with you, so just bear with me as I tell the story. Hopefully I won’t ramble too much.

It was a cold winter morning in the early 1980’s. My brother and I got to the job site before daylight, as we usually did. Sitting in the truck waiting for the sun to come up so we could start our day, I just kept thinking, man it’s cold out this morning! As the sun came up and we got out of the truck and grabbed our saws to start our day, I would rather have been anywhere else besides there. None the less, I made my way to the woods to start the day.

I had just cut a tree down and was walking up the tree to cut the limbs off of it. I got to one limb that was folded up against another tree. I could tell it was in a bind, so I moved to the other side of the tree so it wouldn’t break loose and hit me. As I reached over and cut the limb, it did what I expected it to do which was break and kick up. But when it did, it kicked the saw out of my hands. The saw flipped over and hit me on my arm. It happened so quick, and the first thing I felt was the warm blood running down my hand and fingers. I never looked at my arm, but the blood was flowing off my hand like an open faucet. I knew immediately that this wasn’t going to be good.

The other guys loaded me up into the truck and my brother jumped in and drove me to the hospital. As we were headed to the hospital, my brother kept telling me to put some pressure on my arm because it was still bleeding, a lot. We were working just a few miles from a small town that had a hospital, so I told my brother to just shut up and get me there. Just a side note, my brother was bigger than me, could have probably broken me in half if he wanted to. So, I wouldn’t normally tell him to shut up, but I was scared, and wasn’t in my right mind. That’s what I told him anyway, I was hoping he believed me. So, we get to the hospital, they rush me in and get the bleeding stopped. The doctor came in and started to work on my arm. It took more than 100 stitches to get the wound closed up. The doctor cleaned it up, stitched it up, and when he was done, I finally took a look at it. The doctor had done a great job, I had a long sort of S shaped wound on my upper bicep that was closed up all nice and neat. The doctor gave me a sling to wear and told me not to use my arm at all. In case you didn’t know, a chain saw doesn’t make a clean cut in your flesh, it just kind of shreds it. So, the doctor said he had to cut the edges of the wound smooth and pull it together to stitch it up. That’s why he told me to wear the sling and not use my arm.

A few weeks later, I went back to the doctor to have the stitches removed. After he removed the stitches, he told me to continue to wear the sling and not use my arm for a couple more weeks. I took his advice, for about a day. I was feeling fine, my arm was a little tender but otherwise felt good. So, I took the sling off and went about my business as usual. It wasn’t but a few days after this that I felt a funny sensation at the wound site. I rolled up my sleeve to take a look, it wasn’t pretty. The top layer of skin had pulled open and instead of that nice S shaped scar on my upper bicep, it was now a jumbled mess. It wasn’t deep, or painful. It was mostly healed up, just the top layer of skin had pulled loose because of me using my arm like nothing was wrong. It eventually healed up completely and didn’t give me anymore problems. But man, it left an ugly scar. This all happened over 40 years ago, and even though it’s faded, I still have that nasty scar on my upper bicep.

You know, if I would have just listened to the doctor, taken his advice, I would more than likely just have that nice, clean S shaped scar on my arm. But since I thought I knew better, here I am 40 years later with the big ugly on my arm. It didn’t really bother me much, after I got used to it being there. It’s always been a good conversation starter. I could tell some really good stories about what had happened, maybe even exaggerate a bit, make it more exciting than just a chainsaw accident. I made the decision to stop wearing the sling and not listen to what the doctor told me, and there were consequences. I learned to live with the consequences of my decision, but there were still consequences.

As human beings with a free will to make our own choices, we will without a doubt make bad decisions from time to time. Those decisions will always come with some sort of consequences. Sometimes, like the decision I made, it turns out ok. I’ve got a nasty scar, but it’s ok. Some decision we make will lead us down a destructive path that is not so easy to overcome. I’ve had to watch loved ones make bad decision that they couldn’t overcome. We have to know the possible consequences of any choices we make in life. I guess our human nature tells us we’ve got things under control. We need people in our lives, whether it be family or friends, that will hold us accountable and show us all the possible consequences of the choices we make. If we are not willing to listen to advice from others and think we got it all under control, then we better be ready to deal with the consequences as well, because they will come. We also need to be very vocal with friends and loved ones when we see them making bad decisions. Let them know what they are doing could lead down that destructive road. The choice is still theirs to make, but we need to leave no doubts about how their choice may affect their life.

Sorry if I rambled too much, may God Bless you all!

My love of sports goes all the way back to my pre teenage years. I played, or tried to play, every sport that was available for me to play. I can remember a lot about my time playing different sports. Let me share a few stories with you.

My brother and I played a lot of backyard baseball, but I remember the first time I actually played organized baseball, we had actual uniforms and all. Our coach took us to a neighboring school to play another group of local kids. The game had just started, we were up to bat first. As our first batter stepped to the plate, the opposing pitcher threw the ball. The ball hit the ground about two feet in front of the plate, and rolled to the catcher. The umpire called it a strike. Coach didn’t say anything, thinking it was just a mistake on the umpires part. Then, another pitch, it hit the top of the plate, the umpire called strike. Coach questioned the call, but the umpire stuck to his call. This happened a few more times with the other batters and coach was visibly frustrated. He told us boys to gather up our gear, we were going home. The opposing coach asked if we were going to finish the game, coach said no, he wasn’t going to subject his team to that incompetent umpiring. So we packed up and went home.

My senior year of high school, I can remember a baseball game we played during the regular season. We were the visiting team, and were pumped for the game. We won the game 2-0. Our pitcher pitched a one hitter, that hit came in the bottom of the last inning. He actually struck out the first nine batters he faced. Our center fielder hit two home runs that night, accounting for our two runs. I can remember that game like I played it last night, it was exciting.

I remember playing a basketball game against the number one team in our district. They had beaten us by 20 points earlier in the season. We had a great night and were able to pull out a two point win that night. They weren’t too happy about it, there was a lot of trash talking during the game. I can still remember some of the things that were said, although I won’t share them here.

Speaking of trash talking, after High School, I continued to play sports in the local city leagues. We were playing basketball against one of the stronger teams in the league and we were holding our own. They had a guy that stood about 6’8″ and just dominated the inside. He went up and dunked the ball over one of our players, and just kind of smirked as he ran down the floor. I set up outside, after a couple of passes, I buried a three point shot. As we ran back down the floor I had to inform the big guy that my shot counted three points while his dunk only counted two. He didn’t take to kindly to my math lesson, so he went and dunked right over me. I abstained from saying anything else to the big guy the rest of the game.

I could go on all night with story after story. I can remember so many things about the games I played. I can remember some of the plays we ran in basketball, the arguments we had as players, discussions with coaches, dugout talk, bus rides to games, etc. I can remember the names of teammates from 40 years ago, and I actually made friends with some of the opposing players and remember their names. The strategies, pep talks… you get the picture. In all of the memories I have, there is one thing I don’t remember. What was said from the stands.

As an athlete, you develop this focus on the task at hand. You are aware that people are in the stands but it is just background noise. You rarely, if ever, actually hear what anyone in the stands is saying. Your focus is between the lines, on the court or field. You listen intently to your coach and teammates. You have to have this focus or you will not be successful as a teammate.

I have learned to apply this same focus to my everyday life. The world we live in today is so full of background noise, it can be overwhelming. Like in sports, everyone has their own idea on how things should be done. But as an athlete on the field or court, you can’t be listening to everyone in the stands, you have to focus. You have to narrow your vision, and focus on what the team has planned out, you have to put the stands where they belong, in the background.

At no time in history have we ever been so inundated with information. We have a 24 hour news cycle, hundreds of social media sites, and millions of entitled people living in our neighborhoods. They all know what will make the world a better place, if you’ll just do what they say. Example, “you have to accept everyone but you have to hate these people and you have to worry about climate change and change your diet and your behavior and expectations and you have to reject your traditions and identity unless you’re in one of these groups and you have to praise them for it and also you have to wear a mask etc. etc. etc.” Well, I will tell you what I do, narrow my focus. If I need medical advice, I have a trusted family doctor that I trust will give me the best advice to stay healthy. I don’t need to listen to all the noise coming from the background. If I need spiritual advice, I go to a trusted friend that I know is well versed in scripture, (just a side note, it doesn’t have to be a pastor). I don’t need anyone to tell me who to vote for in any given election, I can handle that myself. I have learned to keep it between the lines, keep my circle small, focus on family, friends and neighbors and leave all the noise where it belongs… in the background.

I’ve mentioned in the past how much I enjoyed playing sports during my school days. I often think back about those days, and it brings back a lot of memories. Most of the memories are good ones, but there are a few not so good memories as well. One such memory happened my sophomore year of High School, it seemed bad at the time, but as I think back, it was one of the best learning experiences I had.

As I said, it was my sophomore year of high school and I was playing on our junior varsity basketball team. We had a competitive team, we didn’t always win, but we were always “in” the game. Our coach had entered us into a couple of JV tournaments. We always enjoyed the tournaments because we usually got to miss some school to travel to the tournaments. So, we were playing in our first tournament of the year. We lost our first game, then won our second game, which put us in the consolation game (consolation was just a fancy name meaning we were playing for third place).

The team we were playing had a lot of average sized guys, not any really big or tall players. As we normally did, we were playing a zone defense. The other team, although not big or tall, had some really good shooters, so they quickly took advantage of our zone defense. They were quick, and playing a man to man defense against us, so we had trouble getting open shots. needless to say, we found ourselves down by 20 points at halftime. It didn’t look good for us as we went into the locker room at halftime.

As we all sat in the locker room, discussing what was wrong, someone spoke up and had an idea. I don’t remember exactly who it was that spoke up, but I know it was either one of our bench players or the team manager. Coach was willing to listen to any ideas, because it couldn’t be any worse than what happened in the first half. So the guy that spoke up said, coach, they don’t have anyone who can guard T on the inside, and if we switch to a man to man defense and force them to the inside, they can’t get a shot off with T playing defense. Before I go any further, let me explain just who T was.

T was our center, he stood about 6′ 4″, and had arms that reached for days. The only problem was, T had grown from about 5′ 4″ to his current height in about a years time. Just to keep it short, he had no control over his new taller body. He would sometimes fall down just running up and down the court, and if you tried to throw him the ball, he most likely would miss it. If he did actually catch the ball, he most likely would fumble it away. So we used him mainly as a inside defensive player. He could block shots and was good for some rebounds, but he was never a part of the offensive strategy.

So when the suggestion was made to insert T into the focus of the offense, we all complained and said no, we can’t do that. Coach thought for a moment and said, “nothing we did in the first half seemed to work, so we are going to change our strategy”. He asked T if he was up for the challenge, and he said with his usual stutter, ye… ye… yes sir. Coach then went on to tell us to change to a man to man defense to stop their outside shooters, and to give the ball to T on the inside every time he was open. We were all skeptical of our new strategy, but reluctantly agreed to do as coach had told us to do.

So we go back out for the second half, not at all confident about overcoming the 20 point deficit. As we started to play the second half, their shooters had a real hard time getting shots off against our man to man defense. And every time they tried to go inside, T was there waiting on them. On the offensive side, as they continued with their man to man defense, we would pass the ball inside to T. And to our surprise, T would make one little pump move and then score. Every time they tried to double team T, myself or one of our other outside guys would score. Little by little we chipped away at their lead. The score was tied with just a few seconds left on the clock. We made a defensive stop and as our point guard was bringing the ball down the court, I could see that he was rushing it down. I yelled, “we have time, slow down!” He calmed himself, made a pass to my side, I made a lob pass into T, T made the same little move, and as the clock expired, made the game winning shot. That was one of the most exciting games I have ever been a part of! We would have carried T off the court, but he was too big for us to pick up!

As I think back about that game, I can come up with all kinds of lessons I learned from it. “It ain’t over till it’s over” is one, or how about “never give up”! But the two main things that I learned from that experience were this. Sometimes you have to change the way you are doing things. We always played zone defense and never used T as an offensive weapon. The way we played was just that, the way we played. We didn’t want to change, because that just wasn’t how we played. If we would have continued playing the way we played, there is no doubt we would have been blown out of that game. The other team wasn’t willing to change their strategy, and they lost the game because of it. Sometimes we need to make changes in life, because lets face it, our way of doing things doesn’t always work. We can get stuck on “how we do things” and sometimes make life harder than it needs to be. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe in changing things just for the sake of change. If the way you are doing things works for you, by all means, keep it up. But too many times I have been guilty of balking at change and pay a price for it.

I also learned that sometimes all someone needs to prove themselves, is a chance. Coach gave T a chance and he didn’t let us, or himself down. We had nothing to lose by giving T that chance. He stepped up to the challenge and proved all of us skeptics wrong. For the next couple of years in high school, T became a really good player, still a little clumsy at times, but a solid player.

So as you read this, take time to evaluate your life, how you do things, are they working, do you need a change of strategy? Don’t get stuck in “how we do things”, always be open to suggestions from others, and give people a chance to gain your trust. You might just find that how you do things isn’t always the best way and that you can trust more people than you realize. I hope I didn’t ramble too much, lol! May God Bless you all,!

My Grandfather passed away when I was sixteen years old. As I was growing up, he was bigger than life to me, so I try really hard to hold on to every memory that I have of him. He was quite a character, he had a dry sense of humor and always had a “saying” for every situation he found himself in. As a child, I hung on to every word he had to say. He and Dad worked together hauling pulpwood, and then logs, for as long as I could remember. Papaw seemed to be a calming influence on Dad, maybe even his voice of reason. You see, Dad pushed really hard at work, and sometimes pushed a little too hard, so Papaw was always there to keep Dad on a even keel.

I remember one instance that still stays with me to this day. I was working with Dad and Papaw one hot summer day. It was getting close to the end of our day, Dad had one more truck to get loaded and we would be done for the day. About the time Dad got up on the log loader and started loading the truck, a thunderstorm came rolling in. If you live in East Texas, you know how quickly those storms can appear. The log loader had a open cab, which means Dad was about to get soaking wet, or worse, struck by lightning. Papaw yelled up at Dad and told him he needed to come down off the loader. Dad yelled back that he would come down after he got the truck loaded. Papaw just shook his head and got in the truck. After Dad got the truck loaded, he came down off the loader. Not long after he came down, the storm blew over and it stopped raining.

After the rain stopped, Papaw got out of the truck and walked over to Dad. Dad was standing at the back of the work truck drying off. Papaw scolded Dad a little about staying up on the loader while the storm was going on. They argued back and forth a little, and then Papaw said “son, even a dog knows to get out of the rain.” He told Dad, if you would have waited just a few more minutes the storm would have passed and you could have got the truck loaded without getting soaking wet. Dad agreed, and he told Papaw that he wouldn’t do it again.

• 

That comment has stuck with me thru the years. I always thought it to be just another one of Papaws “sayings”. But the older I get, the more I can see the wisdom of that little comment Papaw made to Dad. We can get so focused on the task at hand that we do things we wouldn’t ordinarily do. Rather it be our involvement at work, school, politics, church, or you name the task. We can get tunnel vision, just like Dad had done during the thunderstorm on that hot summer day. Although things turned out ok for Dad, he needlessly took a chance during that storm.

I’ve learned to find shelter from life’s storms, although it took me way too long! I still find myself fighting against the storms from time to time, but not nearly as often as I did as a younger man. I have found the perfect shelter from life’s storms, and His name is Jesus. The peace and calm that comes with knowing Jesus is my shelter from the storms in this life is hard to explain, you just have to experience it. So when the storms in life come your way, and they will, come in out of the rain and cling to Jesus until the storm passes. Cause like Papaw said, “even a dog knows to get out of the rain.”

In this world of uncertainty, one of my new favorite songs.

My Father had the bluest eyes. They were kind, smiling eyes. Growing up I saw a lot of different emotions in those blue eyes, some good, some not so good. I would like to share some of the things I saw in his eyes through the years.

As a child growing up I can remember the Love I saw in Dads eyes. When he looked at Mom or one of us kids, there was always Love. With there being four of us kids, and Dad running a logging business, it would have been easy for him to push us aside and just let Mom take care of us, but he didn’t do that. He always seemed to have time for us and showed an interest in whatever we were doing. I remember having dinner around the table every night, as a family, and dad taking time to listen to all our childish stories. Looking back, I didn’t appreciate those times as much as I should have.

I also remember seeing Anger in those blue eyes. When things went wrong on his logging job, or things just didn’t work like they were supposed to, he could show his angry side mighty quick. If one of us kids got out of line or deliberately disobeyed Him or Mom, there was anger. It never was an abusive anger, but anger none the less. Dad was a strong disciplinarian, he didn’t put up with any nonsense. That was also the case with his hired help, he expected a certain level of work from the people he hired and if he didn’t get that from them, he didn’t hesitate to send them packing.

I remember the Pride I saw in his eyes. Not a boastful, sinful type of pride, just a genuine pride in things that we kids would accomplish. Like when my brother was the winning pitcher for his high school baseball team as they won their regional championship. Or when my sister would bring home a straight A report card (Lord knows it wasn’t me making all A’s!). We always tried to do things to make Him proud, because he cultivated in us a desire to do well and make Him proud of us.

I also saw the Compassion in his eyes. Like the time my uncle showed up on our front porch late one night with nowhere to stay. Dad not only let him and a friend of his stay with us, but he gave them both a job, even though he really didn’t need the help. Oh, and my uncle also had his two small children with him. Dad and mom moved them in and helped them out until they were able to get back on their feet. Remember, we were a family of six, so Dad and Mom didn’t really need four more. I also saw Dad hire other men to work for him through the years, not because he needed the help, but because he wanted to help them out. He never made a big deal about it, and most people never even knew he was doing it. That’s just who he was. He didn’t give handouts, but he was more than willing to give you a hand up, as long as you did your part.

Sadness and Grief was something else I saw in Dads eyes. None more so than when my Papaw passed away while he and dad were at work one summer day. Papaw was not only his dad, but his very best friend. The grief I saw in dads eyes when Papaw passed was something I had never seen in all my years growing up. It was a little unnerving, but as I grew older, I began to understand.

The one thing I saw in Dads eyes that still bothers me at times was Disappointment. As I grew older, and became rebellious, I could at times see the disappointment in Dads eyes. In my early to mid twenty’s, I lost my way. I was chasing everything this sinful world had to offer with no regard for the way I was raised. Even though Dad didn’t say a lot about my behavior, I could see the disappointment in his eyes. I was raised better, I knew better, but I kept following that destructive path. Thank God I was able to turn back before it was too late. And like the story of the prodigals son, I could see the Joy in dads eyes when God finally turned my life around.

As I write this tonight, I just realized that there is one thing that I never saw in Dads eyes, Fear. Now he was human, so I’m sure he experienced fear, but I never saw it. I always felt safe when I was with him, it was like he wasn’t afraid of anything. It didn’t matter what type of trial or trouble there was in front of him, he faced it head on, without fear. Even as he grew older and his body began to fail him, I could see frustration, confusion, determination and a lot of other emotions, but never fear.

Dad passed away just a couple of weeks ago. As the time drew near, and he took his last breaths, I saw nothing in his eyes. Those blue eyes were as black as night. As I grieved the loss of such a hard working, humble, selfless man, I realized that those blue eyes were shining brighter than ever as he greeted those who had gone before him. I’m certain he was running to them as they greeted him. His body no longer old, frail and crippled. I could just see the joy in those blue eyes as The Father greeted him and welcomed him home. My Dad knew that this old fallen, broken world was not his home, but just a journey he had to take before going home. I know one day he will greet me, and the rest of our family, with joy in those steel blue eyes. I Love You Dad, and thanks for all you sacrificed and gave to us while you were here.

As I have talked about in other posts, in the early 80’s, my brother and I worked as log cutters, (or in East Texas slang, we were flatheads). It was hard, demanding work. But, weather permitting, we could make really good money. There were days, like any job, that I just wasn’t into it and had to really motivate myself to get out of bed at 4:00 am and go to the woods. Most of the time I enjoyed the work. Yes, it was dangerous and the conditions were not always ideal, but it was honest work.

There were a lot of learning experiences that came with the job. You always had to be on your toes and alert to everything going on around you. Because all kidding aside, you could get killed many different ways at any given time. To this day I have scars as reminders of just how dangerous the job was. I remember one instance, on one of those “off” days, when I just really would rather have been anywhere else instead of at work. It was a hot summer day, my brother and I had just moved onto a new block of timber, so we were the only two at the jobsite. We started early that morning and headed off into the woods in different directions. Just a short lesson, when you are cutting trees down, for obvious reasons, you put some distance between yourself and whoever is working with you. So, we had just started working and I wasn’t at all into it. I had cut a tree down and walked up the tree cutting the limbs off of it. As I reached the top of the tree, I reached down with my saw and cut the top off the tree. As soon as I cut it, the tree kicked back and pinned my foot underneath the log. I wasn’t paying attention and hadn’t seen that the tree was in a bind against another tree.

So there I was, my foot pinned under a log. It didn’t hurt a lot, but it was definitely uncomfortable. I was trying to think of what to do, but my mind was racing and I was beginning to panic. My brother wasn’t close by, and no one else was there. There were many thoughts running through my head. Should I yell for help? If I do yell for help, will anyone hear me? It’s really hot out and I have no water nearby, will I dehydrate and die of thirst? Will they find my lifeless body still pinned beneath the log? So, in full panic mode, I started yelling for help. My brother heard me and came running. he had stopped to refuel his saw, so he was able to hear my desperate yells for help. As he approached me, he looked confused and asked me what was wrong. I told him my foot was pinned beneath the log. He laughed, started his saw and cut me loose, still laughing and shaking his head. It really made me angry, I told him that it wasn’t funny and I didn’t appreciate him laughing about it. He asked me if my foot was alright, I walked around a minute and said yes, I think I’m fine. Before he walked away, he asked me “why didn’t you just pick up your saw and cut yourself loose?” I don’t know? Maybe I just needed the embarrassment of being a complete idiot. My foot wasn’t hurt nearly as much as my ego.

As I think about that embarrassing episode in my life, I realize how often we let our emotions override our intelligence. The answer to solving the bind I was in was laying right next to me. But instead of calmly reaching down, picking it up, and cutting myself loose, I panicked. How many times do we do that in our daily lives? The answers we are looking for could be staring right at us, but we are blinded by emotion and can’t see it. We can not problem solve or even think rationally when we allow our emotions to take control of us. Emotions are a human trait, and they are needed in our lives, in the proper context. With God’s help, we can learn to master our emotions and keep them in the proper context. So I’ve learned that if I remain calm, pray, think things through, God will calmly bring me the peace that I need as an emotional human being.

I have many responsibilities at my current job, all involving programs aimed at assisting Volunteer Fire Departments. One of the programs allows us to acquire surplus military equipment, such as trucks that we issue to vfd’s. The vfd will take the trucks and convert them to fire fighting brush trucks. One of the many responsibilities I have is to pick up the trucks from the military bases and also deliver them to the vfd’s.

Several years ago, I was on the road delivering a truck to a vfd. I remember the day very well as it was the day before my youngest daughter was to graduate from high school. It was a beautiful sunny day, I was about an hour into my trip when things changed for the worse. There was road construction happening on the highway I was traveling on. They were repaving the road, so there was a bigger than usual drop off on the edge of the road. As I was traveling through the road construction, a car was coming in the opposite direction. The car ran off the side of the road, which caught my attention. I remember thinking, “they need to get their car under control.” Then, in a split second, the car lost control and before I could react, was in my lane and hit my truck head on. At that point I had no control over the truck, I was just hanging on for the ride. The only thing I remember thinking was “I hope this truck stays upright” as I rode it into the ditch.

As I finally came to a stop, the truck was in the ditch with the trailer across both lanes of traffic. I took a moment to check and make sure I was alright, and then looked back to see the car that had hit me. I could tell right away this wasn’t going to be good. I quickly called 911 and let them know what had happened, then jumped out of the truck to check on the occupants of the car. As I approached the car, I couldn’t find anyone, anywhere. I began looking under the car and in the roadway, still, no one. Other cars began to arrive at the scene, and a man walked up to me and ask if I was alright. I told him I was fine, but couldn’t find the person who was driving the car. He told me to go to the other side of the road, sit down and try to relax. The emergency vehicles started arriving and it took a couple of hours to clear the scene. The lady that had been driving the car didn’t make it, she had been ejected from the car in the accident.

I struggled with several emotions for the next few weeks. Could I have done something different? Why did the lady driving the car not make it and I walked away without a scratch? I replayed the accident over and over trying to answer those questions that really couldn’t be answered. It took me a while to get past those emotions.

Fast forward a couple of years. After Church one Sunday morning, I was talking to a friend of mine. He had worked for a local manufacturing company for many years, the company had shut down, so he had taken a job driving a truck for a oilfield company. He and I talked about the dangers of driving, I shared the story of my accident with him, we both agreed how cautious we needed to be. It wasn’t but a few months later that I came home to the tragic news that my friend had died in a accident that was eerily similar to the accident I was involved in a few years earlier. A pickup had crossed over into his lane and hit him head on. He wasn’t able to make it out. He left behind a wife, two sons and a young granddaughter. The news of this tragic accident caused me to relive those same emotions again, why? Why did my friend not make it out as I had? Why was I still here and he’s gone?

A few month later, I got a call from a friend that had lost an infant granddaughter to cancer. He just needed to talk, try to understand why his daughter had to lose a child so young. I didn’t have any answers for him, I just tried my best to help with his pain. But, once again, I’m left with the same question, why?

Later that same year, I went to visit another friend that had been diagnosed with cancer. He wasn’t expected to make it, so we just sat and talked about old times. I let him know how much I loved and respected him. He passed a couple of months later, leaving a wife, son and beautiful granddaughter. Once again, that nagging question came up, why?

Why did my friends that had so much to live for have to go? Why does an innocent child have to get a horrible disease and leave family to suffer the pain? Why did I walk away from a accident that took the life of the other person involved? Why? That year made me do a lot of soul searching. I am a Christian, I can’t say that I questioned my faith in God, but I did have one big lingering question, why? I never got the answer I was searching for, I still don’t understand why. But the one thing I did get was peace. I finally came to the realization that it wasn’t my place to know why. It’s my place, as long as I am here, to try to show Jesus to the world around me. As long as I have breath in me, I should strive to make someone else’s life better. The why in life will never be answered this side of eternity. There are people who will say they know the answers to all these questions. I don’t pretend to know the answer, but there is one thing I do know. We live in a fallen world and all of the tragedies, including death, are a result of this fallen, broken world.

During this trying time in our world, remember, this is your time to make a difference in someones life. I want to leave you with one of my favorite Bible verses. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world. James 1, 27.

As long as I can remember, my Dad and my Papaw worked together in the pulpwood/logging business. They were working together right up until Papaw passed away. Dad and Papaw were not only Father and Son, they were business partners (and best of friends). That being said, growing up we spent a lot of time at Mamaw and Papaw’s house. Almost every Sunday afternoon or evening we would make the trip over to their house. Dad and Papaw would sit and drink coffee and discuss what needed to be done in the upcoming week. Us kids would play outside while the adults were in the house discussing business. Ever so often, we would go in and watch “The Wonderful World of Disney” on the old black and white tv. If you’re not old enough to remember, “The Wonderful World of Disney” came on every Sunday evening. They would have different movies or just short films and sometimes they showed cartoons. Mamaw and Papaw only had one channel, there wasn’t much to watch, so when Disney came on it was a treat.

I still remember one of our visits in particular. All of us kids were still kind of young, not sure exactly how old we were. We were all inside along with Mom, Dad, Papaw and Mamaw. We were watching “The Wonderful World of Disney” on tv. I don’t even remember what the show was about, but we were all focused on watching it, not just us kids, but the adults also. While we were watching, there were these “hula dancers” came onto the show. They were dressed in the traditional hula costumes and were dancing the traditional hula dance. Now if you are not aware, hula dancers have bare midriffs and move their hips a lot. So as the hula dancers appeared on the show, Mamaw quietly got up from her chair and without saying a word, she turned the tv off. She went and sat back down and never said anything. No one else said anything either, they just got up and went about their business. Of course us kids didn’t really understand, but we weren’t about to say anything. As we grew older, Mom and dad would joke about it and we began to understand where Mamaw was coming from.

You see, Mamaw was a very modest, God fearing woman. If you remember the “Church Lady” on Saturday Night Live”, well, that was Mamaw. Although they made fun and mocked the “Church Lady” on Saturday Night Live, we never made fun of Mamaw. It was quite the opposite, we treated her with the utmost respect. And as we grew older, we understood why she turned the tv off when the hula dancers came on. Even though it was innocent enough, She was not going to allow that into her home. While we didn’t understand as children, my parents and Papaw understood completely. That’s why nothing was ever said to Mamaw when she turned the tv off, they understood.

Like millions of other Americans, I watched the Super Bowl Sunday evening. It was an exciting game (Congrats to KC). When the first half was over, as I have done for several years now, I went about my business and didn’t start watching again until the second half started. I’m not the least bit interested in the halftime “performers.” Apparently, the halftime show wasn’t really “family friendly.” Seeing all the comments about it reminded me of what Mamaw had done years ago when the hula dancers came on. She quietly turned the tv off, and never said anything else about it.

I see all the social media post about the halftime show and wonder, did anyone think to just turn it off? I see all the “raging” on social media about how immoral and inappropriate the performers were. Well, did you not know who was going to perform? If you knew, then what were you expecting? News flash, that is how sinful human beings act, lost people are going to act like lost people. All the raging on social media doesn’t change, or help, anything. As long as the entertainment industry is run by non believers, this is what we are going to get. Nothing will change until they are convicted and have a heart change. The long raging post on social media may make us feel better, but it helps nothing.

When are we finally going to wake up and realize that we have the power over what we allow into our homes. Turn the tv off… or just get rid of it altogether. We cannot control what these “Hollywood” types do, but we can control what comes into our homes. Instead of pointing out how immoral these people act or perform, why don’t we pray for them. Pray that God would convict them of sin and change their hearts. I know one thing for certain, they will not be convicted by someone trashing them on social media. Just like Mamaw did all those years ago, she just quietly turned the power button to off… so can we, we have the power.