January 16, 1991, 4 PM EST I was sitting in my living room, watching on TV the beginning of the Gulf War. As a young teenager in the late 60s, I remember watching news clips of the Vietnam War, the death count for the day during Walter Cronkite’s Evening newscasts. But the Gulf War was…
I was asked to do several eulogies, as a young Baptist Minister, in the one-church town of Coahoma, Texas. I was asked to say some nice things for the recently deceased that were unchurched. This was during the bust of the 1980s and the joke was, “What do you call a Geologist in Midland?” Answer:…
House of Cards: Season “Hell at SBTS” Starring: Me, The President of The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary I am by nature, not a protester, but I have protested. And before you get all judgy, how many protests have you participated in? And if you say, yeah, I have, then good on you! My protest was…
My first two years of high school were a complete failure. Zero motivation. I wasn’t a smartass or anything, I just didn’t care. I remember sitting in the back of Miss Miller’s Spanish class and flipping nickels with my friend, Don. I didn’t learn a thing. I did just enough to pass. My grade point…
Camp Bullis, Texas, 1975 It felt like a death march. As part of our Airbase Defense Training, the Air Force required us to march 10 miles, which included other necessary skills like orienteering, weapons fire, and combat tactics. Today, I don’t think twice about a 10-mile hike. There’s a system of trails in the Jefferson…
Many years ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I was a young Southern Baptist Minister. I pastored two churches, one in Eastern New Mexico, and one in West Texas. The first was a very small church in the middle of peanut fields and the second was in the heart of west-Texas oil country. It…
There are 5 common mistakes that rookie-backpackers make in their early years. First, they lack physical conditioning. I have a backpack with 40 lbs. of cat-litter in the back of my Jeep. I strap it on and I do hill repeats once a week. Second, they forget an important piece of equipment. My first backpacking…
I was struck by lightning once. Well, almost. I was a 20-year-old Airman stationed at Rickenbaker Air Force Base, Columbus, Ohio. I was a Dog Handler tasked with guarding KC 135’s. Central Ohio, like much of the Midwest, can have some hellacious thunderstorms. During one stormy night, another Dog Handler and I were walking the…
I remember my first day of basic training. I remember learning how to tie my shoes. I remember being driven to kindergarten in the pouring rain by Pammy’s mom and saying, “Look at all that piss.” I remember walking across the stage and getting my Master’s in Social Work. I remember holding my mother’s hand…
“In advertising, sex sells, but only if you’re selling sex,” wrote Jef I. Richards, a professor of advertising at Michigan State University in 1998. But that was not the first mention of using sex in advertising. In 1871, Pearl Tobacco featured a naked maiden on its packaging. I think there are many advertising agencies that…
