I sat in my living room and watched as they brought the flag draped casket into the church. I’m not sure why I wasn’t in school that day.
Daniel R. Bodin was killed on February 20, 1968 in Binh Thuan Province in Viet Nam. He was 19 years old. He was a member of the church that my dad pastored and dad was leading the funeral. I remember him talking to mom about what a difficult service it would be.
Last summer I put up a bird feeder just outside my office window. I spend a lot of time at my desk and computer and thought I should try it and see what happens.
When I went to buy bird seed for the first time I asked what the person in the store would recommend and they steered me in the direction of a bag full of sunflower seeds, fruits, nuts and other assorted bird edibles. I was surprised at how quickly the dull, boring, brown sparrows were at the feeder and providing me with a show.
I once was hired by a national fast food chain to appear in a commercial advertising the roll out of a brand new biiiiiiiig, thiiiiiiick, juuuuuuicy burger. I was pretty excited by this opportunity. Free food, make some cash, be on tv. What could go wrong?
One thing I hadn’t thought of in answering the newspaper ad for the role was that I am a burger purist. I like my burgers with some cheese, bacon, mushrooms and maybe a little barbecue sauce. I do not like burgers with lettuce, tomatoes, mayo or anything that you see in the picture above.
When I was in high school I was fortunate to be part of a fairly successful basketball team. We were greatly supported by the school, the community and of course the families of all the players.
While I have great memories of those days one of my most vivid memories of this time, however, is not a very pleasant one.
For the last few years I have become almost obsessed with the topic of courage. As I’ve mentioned before it is a word that many people reserve for soldiers, firemen, policemen, people battling life-threatening illnesses and the like.
Yes, the word courage does apply to all of those. I also believe the word is applicable to all of us in sometimes simple and mundane situations. If you are facing something that makes your skin crawl or your hair stand on end and you choose to take it on I believe you are being courageous. What might require courage for me to do may not cause you any fear or anxiety.
We were blessed to have our family with us for the Easter weekend. As we sat around the living room visiting our two year old granddaughter spotted the little candy dish on the coffee table and approached it with widening eyes. My wife proclaimed to the room that the dish was filled with carrot cake M&M’s.
I quickly announced to no one in particular, “Those things are really gross!” Immediately my granddaughter turned and walked away from the candy dish. As I watched her reaction, I realized the power of my words and the message I had sent to her.
One of my biggest challenges in life is persistence. It seems I make what I believe to be valiant efforts at accomplishing goals or tasks but often find myself saying, “Well, I gave it a shot. I guess it just wasn’t to be.” I do believe I have grown in this area over the last few years but still have a long way to go.
One of my favorite stories of persistence is one that is fairly well known. It’s the story of Dr. Suess, Ted Geisel. He was rejected by 28 publishers before his first book went to press. TWENTY-EIGHT. Imagine if he had decided to do something else after ten or fifteen or twenty-five what we all would have missed.
I now have a new hero in my pursuit to be more persistent! It’s the honey badger. Check out this video:
When I was a young boy, I loved to grab my fishing pole and walk down to the lake at the edge of downtown and fish. This wasn’t worm and bobber fishing for panfish but casting with a daredevil to try and catch a big northern pike.
One evening I was sure I had hooked the biggest fish in the lake. Several other people who were fishing even stopped to watch as I tried to real the fish in with my old, cheap Zebco rod and reel. After several minutes of fight I got it to the shoreline. At ten years of age this was the biggest fish I had ever caught. In my nine or ten year old mind it had to be a five or six pound northern.
I love reading and studying on leadership and culture. With all that I’ve learned over the years you would think I wouldn’t mess up with people as often as I do. I need to be a better listener and I need to stop jumping to conclusions about situations and about people.
My wife and I were fortunate to have our family with us for the Easter holiday. On Saturday night we made some popcorn and watched Disney’s Saving Mr. Banks. If you haven’t seen it yet I would highly recommend it. If you have seen it you may want to see it again as I’m sure I will. I’ll do my very best to not give anything away in this writing.
A couple of years ago I had a conversation with a friend of mine who is in his 70’s. We had just finished a discussion with a larger group of people around things we would like to do or wish we had done.
During the larger conversation my friend didn’t say a word. He listened intently and seemed to be engaged even though he didn’t offer anything. As the group began to break up and go their separate ways we ended up next to each other reviewing the discussion. I commented to him that I noticed he didn’t say anything but seemed greatly intrigued.
