This is my 500th post.
Fiat 500

#13: I'm thankful for mentors.

Those people who invest their time and their lives to help you become a better you. The best of these are mentors unaware. Aside from my real-life Dad (who is one of my constant mentors even today), my two best mentors and heroes in both ministry and faith have gone on to be with our Savior. I'll name them here: CT Perkins and W. A. "Bill" Solesbee. Neither of these men would take credit for molding me into the person I am today (or maybe they would rather not take the blame), but their unassuming commitment to faith and to sharing Jesus--the time they spent with me when I was still a student--continues to challenge me today to be a better me for the Glory of God.

If you have mentors--thank them. If you see others who need one on one time to be more than they are--mentor them.

#12: I am thankful for weekends.

Sundays on the front and Saturdays on the back--they keep the week from leaking out. Isn't it great to put caps on both ends of the week? Weekends give us an opportunity to recoup from the week and regroup for another. We have time to rest, relax, and restore.

After a long week where we didn't have time to do all that we wanted to do because we were tired at the end of a hard day at work (or school, or whatever) Saturday lets us rest, do something fun for a change. Then Sunday provides another day to rest and also to recharge as we go to our house of worship to meet with God Almighty. What a great way to start and end a week--with weekends.

For this I am thankful.

#11: I am thankful for our veterans.

Some days are easier than others. Because today is Veteran's Day it is just natural that I would be thankful for veterans (past, present and future).

I'm thankful for the American Vets of the past because they taught us that freedom was something worth fighting for, worth standing for, worth living and even dying for.They gave us principles--do the words "taxation without representation" mean anything to you? Later vets continued to defend freedom and to keep our country safe from invaders who would seek to remove from us the freedoms that had already been bought at an extremely high price.

Present vets are those who have retired from military service, but are still around for us to thank. Most served in battles like Viet Nam, and Desert Storm. Some may have even seen action in Korea (dare we reach all the way back to WWII--the Great War--or to WWI--the War to End All Wars). When you see them on the street, in the store, or at church this weekend, be sure to give them a hearty thank you for their service.

And let's not forget those who are currently serving our country--stateside, or deployed in places like Germany, Afghanistan, or elsewhere across the globe. You may know someone who's in one of our fine branches of the military so that you don't have to serve--thank 'em. You may be related (or perhaps even MARRIED) to one of these heroes (generic term)--thank 'em. You may not personally know anyone who is military, but when you see one as you travel around (you can usually point them out--they'll be the one in uniform) thank 'em. They don't get to be appreciated nearly as much as they ought.

Thanks Taylor, David, David, Beau and Jamie (some are present friends, others are former students, all are modern-day heroes).

I'm thankful for our Veterans.

It's Veteran's Day. So . . .




or . . .



or . . .

#10: I am thankful for Mulligans.

For those who are not part of the golf scene, a Mulligan is a "do-over". Don't ask me all the rules about Mulligans, when I discovered them as a novice golfer (which I never went beyond), I thought I'd apply them to all those bad shots I had. Truthfully, I think you are allowed one per round (not one per hole, like I used to play).

Why am I thankful? Not because of the golf industry--I haven't played a hole, let alone a round in over 10 years--but because of the principle. Sometimes I mess up, hit the ball at a really bad angle, and make a big mistake. It's nice during those times to know that, once in a while, I'm afforded a "do-over." An opportunity to tee up again and take another try. Those opportunities don't come with every mistake or obstacle, but every so often I find that I'm back at the starting point ready to try again. This time I get to take my time, adjust my stance, and follow through properly.

And for this, I am thankful.

I am not now, nor have I ever been (nor plan to be) a journalist. I've never had a course on headline writing, but I read them all the time, and I want to point out something that I think is relevant: headlines should be useful. My limited understanding of headlines brings me to the conclusion that they should be characterized by three things: (1)Headlines should be concise; (2) headlines should be complete; (3) headlines should be correct.

In our small twice-weekly hometown paper we are constantly treated to headlines like: "Tables Extracurricular Drug, Alcohol Test Proposed" which may or may not be correct, but is incomplete (you have to look at the sub-title line to realize the article is dealing with the local school board meeting). Another school board related article on the same front page (different district in the county) reads, "Unit 1 Discusses Bus Lease Changes" with a subtitle of "Could Mean Changes to Routes". My question here is were these two separate articles headlined by the same writer? If so, how could one be done so well (example 2), and one so disjointed? But this is not really my point--just an on-going gripe I have. (Just a note: the paper has been showing a larger number of good headlines of late.)

So what is my point, you ask? Simply this: in a blog article today I read a headline that had a difficult time reaching mark. While we are trying to boil the information in the article down to a few words that will pique the interest of our readers (and cause them to read the whole article), we want to be truthful and work at being unoffensive even if we want to shock the readers. The article is a political piece located on a site designed to speak to and for Southern Baptists. (I'm not waving the "Church/State" flag here. Political opinions are part of being a Baptist--always have been, and probably always will.) My issue is with the headline (post title if you're a purist) compares a political candidate with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I don't think that was the intention of the author of the article, nor do I think that it was the intention of the blog owners and contributors. The mistake was probably innocent enough, but if so they have inadvertently done it. In trying to be clever, they have equated the candidate with the Master--they may not even know it still.

So, be careful when you create your titles/headlines so that you make sure that they say what you want them to say, and if you choose to use puns or even literary reference you might be saying more than you intended something that you would be offended at having said yourself.

Just to let you know, I'm addressing this here because it's my beef, it's not really related to the article that got my dander up (so it wasn't the right place to throw into the 'comment' section), and it gave me another peeve to air in this format. Thanks.

#9: I am thankful for teachers.

Teachers come in all shapes and sizes, teaching all manner of material to their students who are (or are not) eager to be a part of the learning process. Some teach at church (those wonderful ladies and gentlemen who love our children during the Sunday school hour), some teach on the job--every new worker needs training, and still others follow the call to the classroom in a formal school setting (be it grammar, grade, high, or university). As an example, I'll just take a couple of examples from my own experience.

Mr. Young was a tall thin man of color who at some point before I knew him had somehow damaged the index finger on his right hand. The result was that, even when writing on the chalk board (it was the day before white or smart boards) he would point to nowhere in particular--that finger fascinated a variety of sixth-grade boys and perhaps some girls, too. Mr. Young taught sixth-grade spelling. What I remember most about him was that he took time during recess to help every one of the boys in his class celebrate their birthday. "Let's see, how old did you say you were today?" "Nine!" "Okay, hold 'im boys. One. Two. Three. Four. Say have any of you seen that new movie that's out. Wait, where was I, guess I'll just have to start over. One. Two . . ." Life was good, and we knew that we had a friend in our teacher (disclaimer: no students or teachers were harmed in the filming of the preceding scenes). It was Mr. Young who first called me "Professor"--which I hated (but secretly loved).

Mrs. Griffin. My 11th-grade English teacher identified in me a slight talent for the written word and encouraged me to exercise it. I still enjoy dabbling in writing (as you can tell). Mrs. Griffin is the one who entered my name in the National Council of Teachers of English annual writing contest. And the experience earned me the promise of possible scholarship from a number of prestigious universities (so I ignored them all and went to Howard Payne then OBU).

Bill Crider. I've made no secret about my admiration for my first college English teacher at HPU. Dr. Crider offered his unique sense of humor to his students (some of us still enjoy it as we read the adventures of Sheriff Dan Rhodes who was the brain-child of Dr. Crider and has kept the good doctor busy in retirement) as he taught us all about American Literature or the writing process.

I could go on--Dr. Ray Higgins, Dr. Bill Tillman, Dr. David Garland--but you get the picture.

Teachers are not in it for the money--if they were, they'd do something else. But aren't we glad they do what they do. For our own educations and that of our children, teachers are a must.

If you haven't seen the FB pass-it-on take a look:

Teachers' hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year. It's time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do - babysit! We can get that for less than minimum wage.That's right. Let's give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. T......hat would be $19.50 a day (...7:45 to 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and planning-- that equals 6 1/2 hours). Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to babysit their children. Now how many students do they teach in a day? 30? So that's $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days a year. I am not going to pay them for any vacations. That's $585 X 180= $105,300 per year. What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master's degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year. Wait a minute... The average teacher's salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days = $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student--a very inexpensive babysitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!

For all my teachers--past, present, and future--I am thankful.

[Please note that the following essay is posted all over the Internet in a variety of forms, and many of these postings attribute it to "anonymous" or "author unknown." The satire can be found in The Future of the Printed Word: the Impact and Implications of the New Communications Technology- Philip Hills, ed.]

#8: I am thankful for the publishing industry (specifically for books).

Books are cool--you can lose yourself in them, learn from them, and grow from them. I used to require my students to read the following essay that just about says it all:

A new aid to rapid - almost magical - learning has made its appearance.
Indications are that if it catches on all the electronic gadgets will be
so much junk.

The new device is known as Built-in Orderly Organized Knowledge. The
makers generally call it by its initials, BOOK.

Many advantages are claimed over the old-style learning and teaching
aids on which most people are brought up nowadays. It has no wires, no
electric circuit to break down, No connection is needed to an
electricity power point. It is made entirely without mechanical parts to
go wrong or need replacement.

Anyone can use BOOK, even children, and it fits comfortably into the
hands. It can be conveniently used sitting in an armchair by the fire.

How does this revolutionary, unbelievably easy invention work? Basically
BOOK consists only of a large number of paper sheets. These may run to
hundreds where BOOK covers a lengthy programme of information. Each
sheet bears a number in sequence so that the sheets cannot be used in
the wrong order.

To make it even easier for the user to keep the sheets in the proper
order they are held firmly in place by a special locking device called a
'binding'.

Each sheet of paper presents the user with an information sequence in
the form of symbols, which he absorbs optically for automatic
registration on the brain. When one sheet has been assimilated a flick
of the finger turns it over and further information is found on the
other side.

By using both sides of each sheet in this way a great economy is
effected, thus reducing both the size and cost of BOOK. No buttons need
to be pressed to move from one sheet to another, to open or close BOOK,
or to start it working.

BOOK may be taken up at any time and used by merely opening it.
Instantly it it ready for use. Nothing has to be connected or switched
on. The user may turn at will to any sheet, going backwards or forwards
as he pleases. A sheet is provided near the beginning as a location
finder for any required information sequence.

A small accessory, available at trifling extra cost, is the BOOKmark.
This enables the user to pick up his programme where he left off on the
previous learning session. BOOKmark is versatile and may be used in any
BOOK.

The initial cost varies with the size and subject matter. Already a vast
range of BOOKs is available, covering every conceivable subject and
adjusted to different levels of aptitude. One BOOK, small enough to be
held in the hands, may contain an entire learning schedule.

Once purchased, BOOK requires no further upkeep cost; no batteries or
wires are needed, since the motive power, thanks to an ingenious device
patented by the makers, is supplied by the brain of the user.

BOOKs may be stored on handy shelves and for ease of reference the
programme schedule is normally indicated on the back of the binding.

Altogether the Built-in Orderly Organized Knowledge seems to have great
advantages with no drawbacks. We predict a big future for it.

I'm thankful for books.

[Thanks also to my friend Robin (Lemma) Sellman who helped me find the info I needed to post this essay.]

#7: I am thankful for senses.

You have five of them: sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch. Barring accident or handicap that's how many I have too. I know, I know if I were paying attention, I'd take five days and focus on each one--check with me at the end of the month and see if I should have done. But, there I've started and there I'll stay. I'm thankful for my senses--all five of them.

Taste--(see my post here).

Touch--I'm thankful that I can feel my babies' hugs. My Blushing Bride's hand when she touches mine. I can feel all those "fives" that the children from church give and give and give.

Smell--the aroma of bread baking, or bacon sizzling, or coffee brewing in the morning. Sometimes this sense is not so much of a blessing (especially when I've stepped in something that I'd just as soon not have stepped in), but even then it is nice to know that something has happened that needs to be addressed.

Hearing--daily I hear my Bride declare her love for me, my children offer their own love for me. Even better, just yesterday when Bubba made supper (oven-baked fried chicken--which made me thankful for my sense of taste, I'll tell you), Little Bit said, "Good job, Bubba!" It's always nice to hear them compliment and love on one another.

Sight--the fact that mine is so bad makes me thankful for the bit that I have. I'm thankful that I can see colors and friend and nature and buildings and words on a page to read and read and read. I'm doubly thankful for my eye doctor who keeps my prescription up-to-date so that I can see all those things.

I've five--and I'm thankful.

Standard Time again!

#6: I am thankful for music

When I took an elective course in high school called "Music Theory" I learned that any noise, if properly arranged can be music. It matters not whether you like jazz or rock, country or rap, praise or punk, music is a strong part of our day.

The birds understand this and make music constantly. Some people can carry a tune, others claim they cannot. My dad is fond of saying that he has no problem carrying a tune in a bucket, it's just when he goes to unload it that he has trouble. Today, listen to your favorite music--instrumental or vocal, a capella or accompanied, radio, disc, or ipod, live or recorded--just listen to some music and be thankful. Here. I'll give you a start with Kiki Dee:

#5 I am thankful for my family of progeny.

I love children. They're like real people only smaller.

There are three that mean more to me than all the others. For their protection on the Internet I'll call them Puddin' n Pie, Bubba, and Little Bit. When you have your children in your old age, they are much more of a blessing to you. What I love about them is that they generally do what is expected of them in public (if not at home), they are excelling in their education--especially reading skills, and they dole out the very best hugs, especially to Daddy.

They are my pride and joy, and I am thankful for Puddin' n Pie, for Bubba, and for Little Bit.

Bubba, Puddin' n Pie, & Little Bit (Carmi, IL)

#4: I am thankful for my family of origin.

I am the third child (second son) in a series of four. My father was a Southern Baptist preacher and my mother, a school teacher. I was raised in an atmosphere of faith, love, and learning. At times my father also worked bi-vocationally as a teacher. Education was high on the list of what was important, and so I learned to love school.

My parents encouraged me at every turn--when I showed an aptitude in music, they supported my "career" in band, purchasing a student trombone for me and hauling me to early/late practices, putting up with personal "practice" time when the house would be filled with out of tune, off-tempo workouts. They knew I loved music and paid for piano lessons several times (I'll post about this later).

They taught us all to love--even when we didn't want to. Many was the time when my younger brother and I would be raising our voices on the way to fist city and my Mom would call from down the hall where she was actually being productive, "Boys, are you fighting?" (which of course, we were) and in unison, we would call back, "No, we're just 'play' fighting." (which we were definitely NOT) The result of the conversation took the wind out of our sails and we were fast friends again.

Finally, faith has always been important to my family. So much so that it reaches back for generations on both sides of my family tree. For an example of the influence of the Christian faith on my families consider this: in previous generations there have been lay-preachers/evangelists on both sides. From my parents' generation: my father, my mom's brother, my father's brother-in-law have all been preachers. In my own generation: not only am I a preacher, but one of my cousins on Dad's side is a preacher, two of my cousins on mom's side (three if you count the lay-preacher), one of my cousins has served as a missionary with her husband, and the list goes on and on.

I am thankful for the family from which I come--they gave me a solid foundation in a variety of ways.

[Note: since I discovered this wonderful idea of posting a daily thank you column during the month of November the day after it started, I've decided to do a catch-up day. I know that I posted a "thanks" this morning, but I'm doing one this evening as well, and then maybe I'll stay caught up.]

#3: I am thankful for food.

I don't know about you, but we pause before meals to thank God for our food. I'm reminded of the old black and white movie in which the farmer sits down to dinner with the family and they pause for a blessing. The farmer says, "Well, Lord, I tilled the ground, I planted it, I fertilized it, I cultivated it . . . as far as I can tell, You didn't really do anything, but thank You anyway. Amen." He missed the point, but then so do we sometimes.

The conversation goes: "Who'll say grace today? Jimmy?" To which Jimmy bows his head and says, "Grace."

Even so, we pause for thanksgiving before our meals. We do it at home, which I'm sure many of you do as well. We also do it in restaurants. I've been privy to conversations where people suggest that there is a pretension among Christians who make it a point to pause for prayer in restaurants. As if it is simply for show. And I guess that there are those among the number of Christians who would like others to see that they are doing their "Christian duty" even when they are out in public. However, to me it is the natural thing to take a moment to thank the Maker and Provider of all things (including the meal) as we sit down to consume the blessings.

After all, I like food (especially pie), and I like to be healthy and well-fed, so why shouldn't I be thankful? I'm thankful because it tastes good. I'm thankful that even when it doesn't taste good, it's still good for me. I'm thankful because I have the wherewithal to have the food supply on the table and the physical acumen to get it from the table to my face. And so I'm thankful. Most likely not always properly thankful--like the time that my older brother and I were having a nice dinner together (he was paying which made it even nicer) and he asked me to give thanks. I prayed (longer than usual at mealtime which is meant to be thanks for the meal, but I hadn't seen my brother for awhile), thanking God for the fellowship with my brother, for family, and for any number of other things. After "closing" my prayer with a hearty "Amen!" I looked at my brother and said, "oops, I forgot the food." To which he replied, "Well, if God doesn't know what to do with it, I'm sure not going to tell Him."

So when you sit down to your meal--any meal, be it breakfast, lunch or supper, meager or feast, baloney sandwiches or rib-eye steak--give thanks. It's okay. You won't embarrass anyone, and your food might taste better. If you need a little help, start with this one: "Bless the meat, bless the skin," now open the mouth and cram it in.

#2: I am thankful for my church family.

While I have been "in" church all my life--even those developmental months before birth--in order to truly be part of the church family, I had to say "Yes" to the saving power of Jesus Christ. This I did as a six-year-old boy.

Being a preacher's son, I found myself in church and loved by church as a baby. Consequently, I learned to love the church--the bald-headed deacons, the blue-haired ladies in orthopedic oxfords, the "Brother Bens" with pockets full of Double Bubble and Jolly Rancher (every church had one in those days). And when we would move to another town, there was another church, much like the one we left behind.

When I became a Christian, I was no longer just an observer of church, but a part of it. Part of an extended family that expands each time your job or circumstances move you to another place. So, let me tell you about my local church. I am privileged to be the pastor of a most loving congregation.Not only do they care for me, but they care for me! In the month of October (which the greeting card companies have designated as "Pastor Appreciation Month"--I think they just wanted another reason to sell cards and gifts) my local church family has never been remiss in expressing their love to me and my family. From the hand-made gifts and cards offered by the younger Sunday school classes to the more substantial--gifts of money, books, cards, and food--each year I feel more and more appreciated. One year a group conspired to write and present before the church body a dramatic presentation of what a pastor does as a "Thank You" to their pastor. I cried.

The interesting thing about my place of service right now is that they don't just wait for October. I receive these gifts and expressions of appreciation every month. I am not in the perfect church--we'll wait until the end of days for all Christians to find their place there--but I am in a loving family. And I love them, too.

Thank you, First Baptist Church of Mulberry Grove, my congregation, my family.

My beautiful friend, Elizabeth, has a super blog--she makes you laugh and pause and think, you really ought to check it out. And now she's stumbled onto a great idea, and I'm going to steal borrow snatch it up and perpetuate it here.

The idea: Thanksvember (sorry no graphic--any ideas, my ubercreative friends?), post something for which you are thankful each day in November.

Now, since I missed out on day 1, I think that I will be a bit "cheap" here and make an easy choice. Since this was Elizabeth's idea my first "I'm thankful for" is:

#1 I'm thankful for librarians.

These champions of all things reading often get a bad rap in life. You know the long, pointy nose made into a caricature by the half-glasses snugly pinching the ends of their nose and permanently attached to their person by that decorative rope around their neck. Just for the record, most of the librarians I know don't fit this description.

One excellent example of librarian with whom I have worked, was our excellent example of the profession at Linden-Kildare High School - Kay Stephens. Mrs. Stephens was the consummate librarian. Not only did she know where everything was in her library, she was more than ready to help the students find it (if she had a fault, it was that she did too much of the work for them: when she knew the students were coming and what their topic of study was, she would collect several books for them from the stacks before the students arrived). She was always professional. If I were to pass her on the street today she would smile her big smile and say, "Why hello, Mr. Potter. How are you today?" To top all this off, she voluntarily read manuscripts of my first books for the purposes of making editorial and stylistic suggestions--if you've ever attempted to write a publishable work you know just how important this is. All she asked in return is a copy of the book for her library (I gave her a personal copy as well).

Today, you should thank your librarian--regardless of setting: school, public, or private library--because he or she is there because they are there because they love books, they love students, and they love helping the two find each other.

I just want candy! (Happy Hallowe'en)

Read this post again.

10 Literary Trends that Need to Go Away

HT: Bill Crider