Jan 14 2010
We are already nearly two weeks into 2010 and it is time to decide something very basic. This year I want you to decide something that was first penned by Bob Dylan after he became a born-again Christian in the late 1970’s. In the song, “Gotta Serve Somebody,” Dylan wrote, “Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord, but you’re gonna have to serve somebody.”
Jul 31 2009
Whom do you turn to when times are tough? Let me tell you about my friend, Lt. Gen. Jerry Boykin (Ret.). He served as the United States Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence. It was Jerry who once said, “It was God whom I relied on when I nearly lost an arm in battle. It was God whom I prayed to when my men went to war. It was God whom I cried out to when my men returned maimed and bleeding. It was also God whom I cried out to when they didn’t return at all.”
May 31 2009
Okay, I’ll admit it, I am an Elvis fan! What is there not to like about Elvis? One of his great songs is titled, “A Little Less Conversation.” Part of the song goes, “A little less conversation, a little more action please.”
May 30 2009
Have you discovered during these difficult times in which we live in that you are in need of a little more backbone? Let me tell you about my friends in Monkey Point, Nicaragua who recently displayed amazing courage. These folks stood up to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers who visited their village by first giving them solar powered digital Bibles in the soldiers’ native language of Farsi. Since the intent of these soldiers is to build a dry canal across Nicaragua near Monkey Point, the people of this town made it clear that they were not going anywhere and they promptly threw the soldiers out of their village! When I first heard this, I thought it was incredible until I learned what these brave folks did next.
May 21 2009
The distance we travel in this life is sometimes measured by our difficulties rather than by physical miles. I was recently working in Monkey Point, Nicaragua, which is 35 miles south of Bluefields. I want you to envision traveling in an open boat in a driving rainstorm for 35 miles out on the open waters of the Caribbean Sea.
May 15 2009
With piracy in the news these days I’ve often wondered if I would ever end up confronting pirates on my travels along rivers and ocean coastlines. During my recent trip to Nicaragua, we were traveling in a boat in the open ocean off the coast when a ship came charging at our boat and I thought, “Well, here we go!” You could see the people in the ship were agitated and I thought, “They’re pirates.”
Mar 27 2009
If you happen to be driving through the Frankfurt, Ky. area, keep your eyes open for the White Light Diner, located at 114 Bridge Street in downtown Frankfurt. The historic diner has been in operation since 1943. My friends Rick and Zachary run the place. Specifically, Chef Rick Paul has been operating the diner for 20 years.
Jan 29 2009
Life is a matter of perspective, isn’t it? I was recently in the Middle East visiting my wife, Dr. Mickie Mathis, who is undergoing cancer treatments in a city called Doha where she lives. She had an opportunity to address students at the local medical school. The medical students wanted to know how she dealt with receiving the bad news that she had cancer. She really surprised them.
Jan 19 2009
The constant barrage of bad news makes me wonder which way our nation is going to go. There are so many devastating things happening in the United States and to our society that I question which direction are we going? Are we moving forward, backward, up or down? Whenever I ask this very same question in my own life I tend to remember World War II Gen. George Patton’s very simple formula. Gen. Patton is the one who said, “Forward, forward always forward.” He said we are to never go back, never give up and we are certainly never to surrender.
Jan 17 2009
You’ve heard the saying, “If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it.” Well I might add if something is broke, then obviously you fix it and get it going again. This can apply to our nation’s economy, our country and even our lives. My friends, Jerry and Sherry just got back from seeing my friend, Jo, who was in a terrible automobile accident.