Good Blog - Great Blog

A good blog is the storefront window of the bloggers mind. A great blog is the storefront window of the bloggers heart.

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Opportunities

Your biggest opportunities will be conceived not in your head, but in your heart.

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Athiest Heaven

Athiests look at Heaven as a phenomenally unlikely payoff.

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Greatest Teacher

The greatest teacher of them all was never given any degrees or diplomas, just scars.

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Five Pianos

A guy by the name of Michael Levin once said, "Having children makes you no more a parent than having a piano makes you a pianist." Maybe so, but I can tell you this. Someone with five children better be a parent just like someone with five pianos better be a pianist.

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A Girl Thing...A Boy Thing

I just finished reading a question posted on Facebook from a young mom friend of mine. She asked, "Why do little girls scream so much?" And a young mom friend of hers commented, "If you figure it out tell me why little boys roughhouse so much?" The answer to both questions is very simple. Screaming is "a girl thing" and roughhousing is "a boy thing". Now you're going to ask me how I came to such a profound conclusion. The answer is I've got two daughters who have blessed me with seven and soon to be eight grandchildren. And my five year old grandson Ben gave me probably the most important illustration of what a girl thing is compared to what a boy thing is. Read on and I'll tell you why.

I have had the wonderful experience of helping my wife raise our two daughters. We are also in the process of helping our oldest daughter raise three of our soon to be eight grandchildren. Those three live just down the street. The other four soon to be five live 300 miles away. As for the three down the street, Brooke is fourteen, Bentley is twelve, and, as I've mentioned, five year old Ben. Since his mom is a single mom and Nana takes care of him when mommy is working he is surrounded by all girls, except Papa. Therefore, there have been times in the past couple of years when I have had to explain to him that there are certain things that girls do and there are certain things that boys do. Let me illustrate.

Once his sisters dressed him up in girls clothes. I told him boys don't wear dresses, only girls wear dresses. He kept on wearing the dress and having a blast, but I'm sure he understood it was a girl thing. Another time one of his sisters painted his toes with fingernail polish. Papa said, "Only girls wear fingernail polish". He still thought his toes looked cool, but I'm sure he understood it was a girl thing. And then there are times when I tell him that there were things that boys do that girls don't do. Like the time when Papa and Ben went fishing off the dock and Ben had to pee. There was no one around and there was no potty to be found. Well, you get the picture. It's a boy thing.

So what does all of that have to do with Ben telling Papa what "a girl thing" is? Please read on.

Monday was the first day of school and Ben's first day of kindergarten. We had decided that Papa would pick up the kids in the morning and take them to school on his way to work. But being such a big event, mommy arranged to go into work a little late just to take Ben and his sisters to school the first day. The next morning I drove down the street and picked them up to take them to school. Mommy gave Ben a big hug at the front door and said, "Love you". Ben gave his mom a big hug in return and said, "Love you mommy". Ben got in the car in his seat in back next to his big sister. His other sister rode up front with me for the five minute ride to school. It was a foggy morning so we had a detailed discussion about the differences between fog and smoke. Like, you can smell smoke but you can't smell fog. Then, out of the blue and just as we were pulling into the school parking lot, Ben said to his older sister, "Love you Brooke". Then he said to is younger sister, "Love you Bentley". I waited a second and said, "How about me?". There was a slight pause and Ben replied, "Papa, that's a girl thing".

See, even Ben lets Papa know that certain things are a girl thing and crtain things are a boy thing. And now I don't worry as much about wether or not I'm doing a good job helping my daughter raise her son (the son I never had). Oh, and you folks don't have to worry either. When there are no other boys or girls around Ben wraps his arms around me and says, "Love you Papa".

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Disabilities

Albert Einstein claimed that science without religion is lame, and religion without science is blind. Praise God that Christianity is a way of life and has no disabilities.

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Mental Health

My daughter is a mental health counsellor. She tells me that one out of every four people suffers from a mental illness. I guess I'm pretty lucky that all three of my golfing buddies are mentally stable.

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Sleepy Conscience Syndrome

You have Sleepy Conscience Syndrome when...
You put twenty dollars in the offering plate every Sunday and buy twenty dollars worth of lottery tickets every Monday.

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Eyes Closed

Most people who shoot themselves in the foot have their eyes closed.

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A Wise Miss

Sometimes it's wise to miss on purpose.
Especially if you're about to shoot yourself in the foot.

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The Winds of Grace

The winds of God's grace were always blowing.
I tried rowing against the wind and it was impossible.
I tried rowing with wind and that helped.
Then I raised the sails of Jesus Christ.
Halleluiah, Heaven is just over the horizon!

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Even Though We're All Americans

"It is so much easier to blame it on Them. It is bleakly depressing to think that They are Us, even though we're all Americans. If it is Them, then nothing is our fault. If it is Us, what does that make Me? After all, I'm one of Us. I must be, even though we're all Americans. I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one would ever think of themselves as one of Them, even though we're all Americans. We're always one of Us. It's Them that do the bad things."

— Terry Pratchett (with a twist)

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Comic Book Clarity

"Doesn't matter what the press says. Doesn't matter what the politicians or the mobs say. Doesn't matter if the whole country decides that something wrong is something right. This nation was founded on one principle above all else: the requirement that we stand up for what we believe, no matter the odds or the consequences. When the mob and the press and the whole world tell you to move, your job is to plant yourself like a tree beside the river of truth, and tell the whole world - "No, you move.""

— Captain America

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I Hope Not.

"If you make people think they're thinking, they'll love you; but if you really make them think, they'll hate you."

— Harlan Ellison

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Style Or Principle?

"In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock."

-Thomas Jefferson

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Meekness Defined

""For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline."

2 Timothy 1:7

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