Why Do People Play Games?

I wonder how many people think of golf as being "cowpasture pool?" Probably, a lot! I have been playing golf for almost fifty years and have loved every round I have ever played! Well, almost each of them! Is there any common sense reason for hitting a little white dimpled ball toward a flag and then walking a couple hundred yards and hitting it again? Probably not! At least, not anymore than kicking a ball through two stationary poles with a cross bar! Or, hitting a ball with a piece of wood and then running in a circle while others chase you! Or, rolling a big plastic ball at ten sticks to see how many you can knocked down! Get the idea? People don't play games because they make any "common sense!"


People play games for relief from the everyday grind of life! When one has gone to work every morning for 35 years and pushed the same button for eight hours and then returned home at the same time each afternoon...it can get a bit stressful, right? So, relief comes in the form of something "totally different!" A game! Any kind of a game!


What makes "a game a game?" Victories and losses? Rules and regulations? Competition? Imagination? Yes! All of the above goes into making "a game a game!" Isn't that a lot like life? As one said, "We win some, lose some, and have a few rained out!" That's life! We have to play by the rules and use our imaginations to survive! That makes life a game!


So, the next time you drive by a golf course and see some poor old guy about ready to hit that little white ball...resist the urge to honk your horn! That guy might be me and all I am doing is relieving a bit of stress!

Change In Our Lifestyle? It's coming!

Change! The first word that comes to mind when someone suggests change is, "Ouch!" That's right! Most of us resist change in any form! I have used Colgate toothpaste for most of my adult life and don't want to use any other brand. Why? Because I just don't! I am a Ford person! I have not purchased anything but a Ford product for the past 25 years or more. Is it because it is the best car on the road? Probably not! I just react slowly to change...very slowly!

That's why the coming changes in our lifestyle bother me and give me great reason to wonder how I will react! With fuel costs soaring at a record pace and $4.00 a gallon gasoline almost a thing of the past already, it means that I am going to have to change my driving habits! Slow down a little! Make fewer unnecessary trips to town! Rely on email or telephone communication to keep in touch with my family and friends! Get used to higher prices on every product due to the cost of delivery costs! Yes, change is coming!

Now, I know that I can adjust to these inevitable changes because I have done it in the past! Forty-three years ago today, I gave my heart and soul to a young lady that has been my bride ever since! I gave up a dream of being a high school English teacher that I had planned for in my youth. After five years of peace and quiet, Linda and I adopted two young boys with whom we have shared our lives! What a change! You see, I know I can adjust, the problem is that I don't want to change those things that are such a part of me!

This helps me understand the changes that people have made which are far greater and more difficult than the above. To be a better person some have given up friends, jobs, even neighborhoods! Others have replaced actions that have been a part of their lives for years with new and more blessed character traits! If my friends can adjust their lives so dramatically then I know I can do it, also!

Change is coming! Some "big" changes! So, get ready! It will not be "change for change" sake, it will be "change for necessity!"

You Can Be Too Big!

Have you ever wondered how some little things seem to bring some big things to a complete standstill? Often we make big plans to accomplish big things, but some little unforeseen problem brings our plans to a grinding halt!

Just this morning a friend of mine was ready to "head West" to New Mexico. He had talked about this trip for the past few days. He had his route laid out and the directions printed and "ready to roll!" After a couple of hours of picking up around his motor home and making sure that everything was secure, it was time to "hit the road again!" All was in readiness! Well, almost!

You see he had camped in the same spot for nearly two weeks and during that time his 42 foot motor home had sunk into the ground a bit...not a lot, just a bit! However, last night we had a pretty good rain here in the Williamsburg area and the grass was pretty damp. No problem! This big old diesel engine will begin to whine and off we go to that cement pathway!

The engine began to roar, the transmission was engaged, the side mirrors adjusted and...well, Mother Nature won again! All of those thousands of pounds were motionless! Oh, the wheels were turning, but nothing was moving forward...nor backward! That beautiful vehicle just sat there and spun its wheels!

From there it was trying to dig it out...lay something in front of the tires for traction...pushing it was out of the question! Nothing...nothing worked! After a wasted two hours trying to use the combined engineering skills (?) of three, the phone call was made for the big iron horse to come to the rescue! Within five minutes the rig was set and the motor home was set free!

A little water kept a huge vehicle from going anywhere! Just like life, huh?

Some of the biggest and most important plans of our lives are brought to a stand still by unexpected little things! Try as we will, nothing can help! We are powerless!

My friend, when you are powerless don't ever forget that God is powerful! He is all-powerful! The Bible says that He can do more than you and I can even think! That's power!

Old Television at the DAV Thrift Store...

I just returned from the DAV Thrift Store just down the street as I had some items to drop off. While unloading the stuff from my car I noticed an old (I mean "really" old) television setting in the parking lot. People had gathered around it admiring this piece of antiquity! They searched through some bins to find the "rabbit ears" that surely must go with it! I was amused at first, but then I wondered about the eyes that had viewed this unique piece of furniture.

I wondered when some technician assembled this video antique, probably in the early 1950s, did he ever think that his piece of equipment would end up in a parking lot in Williamsburg, VA? Probably not! The technician is probably long gone and any dreams or goals that he had are now history. He may have taken a great deal of pride in being among the very first people who worked on televisions, but his efforts ended up in a parking lot!

My thoughts went to the number of children that must have laughed with Howdy Doody and Buffalo Bob Smith and Phinias T. Bluster, the mayor of Doodyville! How many little boys had watched the Lone Ranger (and his faithful companion, Tonto) capture the bad guys and save the community once again? Did those folk thrill seeing "Father Knows Best" or "Ozzie and Harriet" as much as I did? Most of us boys had a little crush on Cathy and we never could figure out what Ozzie Nelson did for a living! Oh, what memories!

But, there it sat in the hot sunshine awaiting its fate! No more would it bring laughter and tears to a family gathered around it in the evening. No more sounds of Dennis James callling out the exploits of professional wrestler, Don Eagle. It was doomed to be put in the big old truck and hauled off to be priced and sold...maybe!

Such is life! We are so real, viable and alive, but there comes a time when we are passed over by the newer and more highly technical gadgets of another generation. Our joys, motives, and dreams were all so very real, but now are forgotten and many of our dreams left unfulfilled!

Unlike that old television, we have a wonderful destiny ahead of us if we believe in a heavenly Father! The one that gave his one and only Son for us! If we give ourselves to Him through faith and obedience, we will find our future is much brighter than our present and more glorious than our past!

"Lock your keys in your car?"

Have you ever felt the sense of helplessness by locking your keys in your car? The moment you hear the door shut there is a clear signal that the keys did not exit the car with you! What if you locked the keys in your car, left the motor running and the CD player blasting today's newest songs? Now, consider how you would feel if this were your mother's car and she was coming out of the store to go home and her keys were the ones you were using! Got the picture?

This morning as I left my Saturday morning hang-out... Cracker Barrel...a young man was standing between my car and a blue Chevrolet. His countenance was suggestive of someone who had just lost his best friend. He was trying to run a stick down between the rubber and glass in one of the car's rear doors. As I approached him, he asked, "Mr., would you happen to have a coat hanger in your car?" Now, in a moment of stupidity, I asked, "Lock your keys in your car?" My first thought was of the answer given by one of the "Blue Collar" comedians, "Nope, just washed it and I want to hang it up to dry! Here's your sign...!" Then, I checked through the stuff in the backseat and under my golf clubs in the trunk, but no coat-hanger! I told the young man that I would go to my office and get one and bring it back to him. "It will only take ten minutes and I will be right back," I added.

Ten minutes later, I pulled back in the parking lot and there was the blue Chevy, but another person had been added to the scene. Yep, his mother! Her expression was one of disbelief that a son of hers could be so foolish as to lock her keys in her car! The words were scarce between them as the young man was sitting on the front bumper and his mother was leaning on the trunk lid. I gave them the hanger, wished them well, and made a quick exit!

I wonder what the conversation was like on the way home? Did the son remind his mother that it was Mother's Day weekend and he hoped she had a wonderful day tomorrow? Did he load her favorite CD? Was their a mutual laugh at the son's expense? Will either of them share this story with the husband/father, so he can remind them of their stupidity for years to come?

Oh, well, I will never know! One thing I do know is that I feel a bit better for having taken a few minutes of my time to try to help out a friend! A friend? Yes! You see, I think a stranger is just a friend that I have not met! It was only a few minutes of time, fifty cents worth of gas, and a little inconvenience, but I have the rest of the day to enjoy the blessings of helping someone who was stuck in Cracker Barrel's parking lot!

It is a goooooood feeling!

Where is "Presidents Park?"

One of the more recent additions to the historical flavor of our area is "Presidents Park." I must admit that I have never visited this site, but have driven by it dozens of times and have admired it from a distance. Within the park are busts of all our presidents from the first to the current, Mr. Bush. They are made out of concrete and stand 25-30 feet tall. I am told the likenesses are very close and that the sulptor did a marvelous job!

The reason I mention this today is that I overheard a person trying to explain to one of our tourists how to find "Presidents Park." It was the usual turn right, go three lights, turn left, go straight for about two miles...," but then the local guide said, "Or, you could turn left, go four miles and then turn right, on and on." The guide's final comment was, "Either way you are going to end up in the same place!"

I wondered to myself how many times that is the approach to one's relationship to much more important matters in life! What if one were to say, "You date this person and then that one and a couple more...on and on! It really does not matter because you are going to end up married to someone!" Or, what if we were told, "Try out this car and then that one because they are all about the same and will not last too long anyway!" No doubt we would balk at such suggestions regarding a lifetime relationship or six years of car payments, but why are other matters of much more importance taken so casually?

What of one's relationship with God? Are we to assume that finding God is like the "hunt and peck" style of using a computer keyboard? You know, you will get the email written anyway, so what makes a difference how you type it! My good friend, seeking God is much, much more important than sending an email to a friend!

The Bible says that there is only one way to reach the Father and that is through Jesus Christ! It is said that Jesus is "the way, the truth, and the life!" There is no other way to God, except through His Son, Jesus Christ! No other way...none! Searching for God is not a matter of guesswork or unplanned action...it is a conscious search for divine leadership!

You may be able to get to "Presidents Park" a dozen different ways, but there is only one way to God!

"Super Cold Vanilla Ice Cream Cone!"

After church this morning, Linda and I ate lunch at the Golden Corral on ByPass Road as we do quite often. It is not that quiet little romantic spot for two, but it is pretty much a "family affair" for us because we have been going there ever since it opened in 1997, therefore, we know nearly everyone on a first name basis. Anyway, today was a bit different! One of the servers knew that Linda's birthday was yesterday, so she had some of her coworkers sing "Happy Birthday" (Golden Corral rendition) to her. She was so embarrassed, but I loved it!


But, later, a beautiful blue-eyed little girl in a long blue dress caught our attention. She was sitting two tables away from us, but she was just a little doll! As I went by, I spoke to her mother and another lady with her and the little one's face lit up as she smiled! On my way back to my table, the child was eating an ice cream cone. That's when she yelled with great excitement, "Super cold!" That's all, "Super cold!" Everyone laughed at the joy such a little thing could bring into a child's life!


I began to wonder how nice it would be if we all could get so excited over something as simple as a vanilla ice cream cone! Sounds to simple, doesn't it? With so many other more important things in the world, an ice cream cone is just not worth our thoughts.

Wait a minute!


Maybe it is all those other things that are really less important! Those things that we can do nothing to alter even if we wanted to do so. I am so disappointed in the quagmire in Iraq that I wish I could get all those brave warriors home today, but I don't know how to do that and I am not sure anyone else knows how! I cannot change their situation. There are those who are hospitalized with painful terminal diseases that I wish I could heal, but I cannot! Families are mourning the loss of a father and grandfather, but I cannot remove the empitness they feel! The list is endless of things that I cannot do, but one thing I can do is have a "super cold vanilla ice cream cone!" I can enjoy this little bit of life's delight!


Can you take the time today or tomorrow to pause and enjoy the blessings of the present without spoiling that precious moment with thoughts of a regrettable past or a hopeless future? Can you? No, will you?


Hey, Dairy Queen's open right now! Anyone for a "super cold vanilla ice cream cone?"