Category: Life

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Saturday Night Retro

This week on the ‘Retro’ I’m taking us back 38 years ago to 1972. Many of you reading this weren’t even alive back then, but I was an active 5-year-old kid roaming around my new Bowie Maryland house and yard off Peach Walker Drive. I can actually see our old family house and neighbourhood today on Google Street View. It looks like a 40-year-old neighbourhood. I could fly to Washington D.C., drive to my old ‘hood in Bowie, walk up to my old house, knock on my old front door, and introduce myself as the guy that lived in that house as a little boy 35 to 38 years ago – and it would be the eeriest thing that I’ve ever done. You always hear of older people doing that – returning back to a home that they grew up in some 40 or 50 or 60 years ago – but a 43-year-old ?  38 years ago seems like such an eternity for me. I can’t believe that I’m now two generations old. I don’t feel old, but numbers don’t lie.

All we’ve got is the uncertainties of the future and the memories of the past. No matter how far we’ve come. No matter how much time has passed. We should never forget where we came from. We should never forget what we once were.

In 1972 I liked to play with my German Shepherd ‘Brandy’ out in the backyard. He loved to run. I loved to chase him. I just wished that he would stop digging holes underneath the fence and escaping into the outside world around him !

On WWDC AM-1260 (before FM radio hit it big) Raspberries were near the top of the pop charts with back-to-back hits. You may not remember the name of the band, but how about its lead singer – the legendary Eric Carmen – who enjoyed a late-1980s comeback courtesy of the “Dirty Dancing Soundtrack”. Here he is leading his band back then with two rockin’ hits – “Go All The Way” and “I Wanna Be With You”. Let’s Rock the ‘Retro’ !

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Tuesday Night Grab Bag O’ Thoughts

Summer In The City – The consistently hot and humid air has arrived aqui en el sur de Florida, and it’s here to stick around – guaranteed – for at least the next 6 months. After enjoying / enduring the coldest winter season that we here in South Florida have ever experienced in our lifetime this hot and humid weather feels even more uncomfortable than usual. A look at the tropical Atlantic Ocean reveals this rather startling fact – well above normal sea temperatures already into the 80s that are more typical of the middle of June rather than the start of May. It’s the perfect breeding ground for a very active tropical storm and hurricane season. Last summer the effects of the El Niño phenomenon fortunately ripped and shredded most of the developing storms out at sea, but it’s history now. While we won’t have a La Niña phenomenon in-place until perhaps next Summer we will have a fairly typical tropical scenario for this Summer – and that’s a far busier scenario than what we experienced last Summer. Now is the time to prepare for the upcoming season – not when one is bearing down on the U.S. East Coast. Be prepared. Act smart. Don’t panic.

Oil In The Gulf – We are witnessing one of the greatest ecological disasters in a lifetime. When the oil rig explosion and fire in the northern Gulf Of Mexico was first being reported as ‘breaking news’ during the early morning hours of the 21ST of April most of us didn’t think much of it. But now we know the devastating effects of it, and the story is still developing. The blame game is in full effect. Democrats are blaming Republicans for encouraging the drilling of oil in the Gulf. Even former President Bush is getting blamed for the disaster. I get the feeling that he will get blamed for everything that goes wrong in this world for as long as he lives. I also get the feeling that our current President Obama can do whatever he feels like – or do nothing at all – and still be loved and adored by the world because he’s just such a nice and friendly guy. I didn’t vote for him. I didn’t vote for the popular guy. I voted for the guy who was ready with the experience needed to be the President on Day 1.

Hangin’ At The Hampton – Tonight I’m living in luxury at the sparkling new Hampton Inn here on the east side of Homestead. The Hampton Inn is by far my favourite hotel chain in the entire world, and I try to stay at one whenever I’m on the road on vacation. I’m also a Hilton HHonors card-carrying member. I get perks – eventually. This Hampton Inn is exactly what this area has needed for a long time – since well before Hurricane Andrew – a moderately-upscale hotel. By the looks of the rather full parking lot every work day morning when I pass right by it we (natives and tourists alike) are apparently supporting it at an average pop of $150 per night (substantially higher during special events). It’s always great when big companies come to Homestead to build their respective product chains (whether it be stores, restaurants, or hotels), and then they thrive. Build it and we will come. Anyway I’m staying here tonight because I still have no working A.C. in my home. A brand new compressor had to be ordered and delivered from the southwest coast of Florida. It was supposed to arrive late this afternoon, and hopefully it did. Right now I have a 9 AM appointment tomorrow (Wednesday) back at home to get it installed, get my A.C. back up and running again, and bring those unbearably stifling temperatures down from the upper-80s to the mid-70s where they belong. Even though it’s really nice and comfortable here at the Hampton I really can’t wait to return back to my air conditioned home again and reestablish my daily routine that was so rudely interrupted this past Sunday morning when I awoke in an unexpected sweat.

In less than 48 hours I’ll be posting my ‘Thursday Night Mini Thoughts’. They are spontaneous flashes of thoughts that hit you in 15 words or less. Be sure to check them out, and then stick around for history and inspiration this weekend as I blog my ‘Saturday Night Retro’ and ‘My Fantastic Journey’.

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God Life Music

My Fantastic Journey: It’s In The Lyrics

This morning at Life Pointe Church we kicked-off a 16-week message series on the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians.

We worship a Triune God – that is – a ‘3-in-1’ God, for He is God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We serve the will of God the Father. We are redeemed by the sacrifice of God the Son. We are empowered by God the Holy Spirit. THAT is who God is. The all-powerful God. The unlimited God !

He is the God that pulled me out of the darkness during the Summer of 2006. He led me into the daylight. He told me to follow Him – and trust Him. I did that. When the world used me, rejected me, and then threw me aside God picked me up and rescued me.  He ended my previous sad and miserable life as I knew it. He led me to this new Life – this ‘Fantastic Journey’. He can do the same for you. If you follow. If you trust.

Don’t ask my love. Where is it that your peace comes from ?  I found it in a disappearing world. I found it in the beauty of the world. I found it in a disappearing world.  It’s in the lyrics:

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Animals Career Health History Home Life Music People

Saturday Night Retro

This week on the ‘Retro’ I’m remembering the Summer of 2005. It’s a Summer in which I was generally not a happy person. I was miserable at my workplace at the time, and I dreaded each new work day. I didn’t like my job, and I didn’t like the people that I worked with. I was full of hatred. Life away from work wasn’t much happier either. I had very few friends, and little to no social life. I had a cat that was showing significant signs of dying. My life was dying. It was a forgettable summer. I wondered why I even existed at the time.

I can think of two reasons why I managed to stay stable enough to not do anything dreadful – my cat Boots at home and my brother Danny over a thousand miles away. Boots totally depended on me. He carried my personality in a feline body. If I had gone away forever he would have died as well. My brother Danny is my best friend in the entire world. He’s known me longer than anyone else (aside from other family members), and he knows more about me than anyone else. He is the funniest person that I know, and he knows what makes us laugh out loud. If I had done something regrettable during that lost summer then he would have been devastated for the rest of his life. Luckily that summer was not the end for me. The following summer (of 2006) was the end for me – and the start of something brand new and miraculous – a rebirthing.

Back during that Summer of 2005 this song captured my mood, my feelings, and my life at the time. It’s in the lyrics – but it was not a ‘Fantastic Journey’.  

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