Month: August 2025

I’m up early watching Saturday morning cartoons with my grandkids. What a flashback! I have vivid memories of Saturday morning TV when I was a child. But cartoons have changed a lot. We’ve come a long way from Looney Tunes, Mickey Mouse, Rocky and Bullwinkle and Huckleberry Hound.

For one thing, today’s animation seems so cheap and amateurish. Probably because it is computer generated instead of hand drawn. The characters and content are all tied to merchandising. Cartoons are basically one long commercial.

But one thing hasn’t changed. Kids still love cartoons. You just have to make sure the themes are wholesome and appropriate. Unlike my childhood, there are cartoons on TV today that are shockingly sexual, violent, and reflective of negative values. At least with Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote even us kids knew the violence wasn’t real.

One of the most frustrating things to deal with is when God says no. I have prayed intensely for certain things in my life. They never happened. God clearly said no. It’s disappointing and it will test your faith. May even create doubt as to whether He is listening. Or is there at all.

Then again, there have been so many blessings in my life that were totally unexpected, things I never prayed for. Didn’t even realize I needed. Things that took me in completely different directions from my plans. All of which led me to so much joy and fulfillment.

God will say no at times. But He probably won’t wait for you to pray for the right things. He will show them to you, if you’re paying attention.

I used to be uncomfortable with the concept of self driving cars. I figured it was one more submission to artificial intelligence, and one more step toward the dehumanization of mankind.

But the other day I was crossing the street in my neighborhood when a truck came roaring down the road. The speed limit in our subdivision is 25 mph, but this vehicle must have been going at least twice that fast. I had to literally break into a sprint to get out of the way to avoid getting run over. As the truck passed by, I noticed the driver was a young woman who didn’t even appear to see me. Our cars have become so powerful, and contain so many entertainment features, the actual process of driving has become an afterthought.

Maybe it’s not a bad idea to take away control of our cars from humans after all.

I was not one of those kids whose parents bought them a car when they turned sixteen. My mom and dad figured if I wanted a car, I would take better care of it if I earned the money to pay for it. So I went without one until I graduated school and got my first full time job.

The very first thing I did after getting hired was buy a car. It was a brand new 1971 Plymouth Gold Duster. It cost four thousand dollars. I paid for it in installments over the next three years. I loved that car. It was my treasure. I took care of it like a newborn baby. I washed it by hand because I didn’t trust a car wash with my precious possession.

My own children did get a car in their teenaged years, but they had to pay for part of it, and the result was the same. They really valued their vehicle. Kids are never too young to learn responsibility and work ethic. Thanks mom and dad.

When I was a boy, Superman was one of my TV heroes. Faster than a speeding bullet. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. How cool was that? Bad guy fires a bullet at him from point blank range, it just bounces off his chest. X-ray vision allows him to see through walls. Sign me up!

Yet even Superman had his limits. Kryptonite stripped him of his powers. He was helpless in its presence. But it was okay. He always managed to survive.

Got problems in your life? Worries? Stresses? Feel helpless to do anything about them? It’s okay. You don’t have to be Superman. You don’t have to have all the answers. Sometimes you run into your own kryptonite. You’ll survive. It will pass. God has you covered.

He’s the one who really wears the cape.

We human beings are complicated. Especially when it comes to social things. We have a need to feel connected to other humans. To feel intimate with someone. To be able to share personal feelings and thoughts with another. To belong and fit in with a larger group. If we don’t have any of these relationships, we can feel lonely and sad.

But then if there is too much going on in our lives, too many people interacting in too many ways, we can long to get away from it all. To spend some alone time to recharge and gather our thoughts. We crave solitude. We love our friends and family but sometimes we just need a break from them.

We all have to figure out some sort of balance to make life work. Just remember, as long as your faith is strong, you’re never totally alone.

I am writing this early Sunday morning. In a few minutes I will be getting ready to go to church. Just as I do every Sunday. I suppose I could try to live a Christian life without going to church. Many folks do that. But it wouldn’t work for me. I need to be with people who believe as I do, and who are openly vocal about it. I need to hear their prayer requests to help me realize how truly blessed I am.

I need to hear a preacher clarify spiritual questions for me. I need to be made aware of opportunities to serve others that exist all around me. I need smiles and friendly greetings, and to feel I am a part of something greater than myself. I need uplifting song, and the feel of an auditorium of people around me united for one cause. I need my spiritual battery recharged.

It’s Sunday. I’m going to church. I belong there.

On a recent car trip we had occasion to drive through the sprawling corn fields of Illinois and Wisconsin. It’s really quite a sight. Thousands upon thousands of acres of corn, stretching out literally as far as you can see to the horizon. I couldn’t help wondering how in the world people could eat that much corn.

Turns out, they don’t. The uses for corn have expanded far beyond food. Corn, and its byproducts, are now found in plastic, ethanol fuel, cosmetic and hygiene items including deodorant, cough drops, diapers, baby powder, matches, carpets, dyes, crayons, glue, even vitamin C supplements. The United States is the leading producer of corn, growing more than fifteen billion bushels every year, and looking at these spectacular corn fields in the Midwest, I can certainly believe it.

The world around you is cornier than you think. We should all be as versatile and useful.

I took my grandkids to one of those inflatable playground establishments recently. The kids love these places. They squeal with delight as they roar down steep slides, bounce off barriers of various shapes and sizes, and launch up to a soft basketball goal to dunk a shot.

The proprietors were smart enough to provide plenty of benches for old fogeys like me on which to sit down and observe the antics. But I couldn’t help but notice one woman who was in the middle of all the action. She had gray hair and lines in her face. Couldn’t have been all that much younger than me, I thought. Yet she had a toddler in her lap, and was cruising down the slides, as giddy as the children. She looked very happy.

We can’t do much to keep our bodies from aging, but we can do our best to stay young at heart. I’m going to work on that. Next time, I just may try going down that slide with my four year old grandson. I hope they don’t kick me out if I get stuck.

On a recent early morning I dragged myself into a local bakery to pick up something sweet to eat for breakfast. I was sleepy, grumpy and feeling the usual aches and pains of a senior citizen. There was a young lady behind the counter who flashed a huge smile that never disappeared throughout the ordering process. She was so polite, courteous, upbeat and friendly that I walked away actually feeling better and looking forward to the day. I don’t know her, and may never see her again, but that brief encounter made a difference in my life.

I couldn’t help thinking, if it had that effect on me, it probably did for others as well. How many lives will she brighten today? How many could we?

It’s amazing what just a big smile and a little kindness can do. People need a little pleasantness in their day. Be a source of it. In your own small but effective way, you’ll be making this world a better place.