After our wedding ceremony and brief reception, Kim and I left the church with all the typical birdseed-throwing and fanfare. Most of the car decorations blew off as we barreled down I-40 to our honeymoon in the mountains of North Carolina. Without any accrued...
The end of 2017 was only three years ago but is already difficult to recall in detail. Although I chronicle most of the paths I have traveled, I have avoided that period of time. I don't like to think about it. That life season seemed like a vivid nightmare that I...
This past week, the Salvation Army's Communication Team released a printed article and associated video announcing the opening of the Prayer Garden at the Service Center in Lewisville. I am prominently featured in each of them. Our local newspaper, the Lewisville...
Over the past couple of weeks, I've been trying to do a better job reaching out to the "forgotten" people in my life. They are people who are important to me, but that I have fallen out of contact with over the past months. The pandemic disrupted our routines, and I...
My job regularly carries me to northern Ohio. One of my frequent trips is to a one-million square foot facility that is located in an Amish community. The modern, automated, manufacturing facility provides a stark contrast to the lives of the people dwelling there. On...
I barely looked when my mobile phone rang. The meeting had already run for almost six hours and nobody knew when it might end. Regular business hours were over, but we were on a deadline that demanded total focus, and there was no time for interruptions. In my...
I needed to visit the chiropractor. The tweak in my back wasn't going away by itself. It was right in the center, all the way down at my waistline. It was more nuisance than discomfort, but ignoring it wasn't making it better. I mentally scheduled a brief trip to...
Rain in North Texas is unlike anywhere else I have lived. It is a rare day that sees a soft, steady rainfall that lasts for hours. Precipitation seems to explode out of the same wild passion that inspires Texans to behave as we do. A deluge had opened up as I tried to...
A few weeks ago, Steve Thomas and I started talking about building a prayer garden on Lewisville's Salvation Army property that he manages. It is a perfect spot - the gateway to Old Town Lewisville, adjacent to the Main Street sidewalk, built around the 9' tall cross...
I was in the front yard of the Salvation Army in Lewisville talking to Steve Thomas when my phone buzzed. We were excitedly making preparations to construct a Prayer Garden on Main Street and I had no intention of interrupting our discussion. I glanced at the screen...
On my trip to Tennessee a couple of months ago, Dad gave me Mom's journalings. They aren't a proper journal. She was wildly inconsistent in capturing her thoughts and only began the attempt at the age of fifty-seven. They are a jumbled assortment of stapled pieces of...
It has been almost twenty years since September 11, 2001. Everybody refers to that day simply as 9/11, but it wasn't always like that. That fated day started like any other, normal, autumn day. I was leaving my plant's daily production meeting when our HR Manager...