Ale for the Soul

          What a year 2018 has been!!  Even though I felt as if I had been on a crazy roller-coaster ride, the Lord Jesus was with me every step of the way.  The main cause for the sense of instability was the transition I experienced as I tried my hand at four different jobs.  As I gave up a merchandising job for a food service one with more full-time hours, I could tell the move was the right decision in spite of not being a good fit within the company.  Eventually, I did become distressed as the manager made me feel more and more alienated from the rest of the staff.  Moving on from the baker's job, I thought the promised land had finally arrived in the form of working for a shoe company.  Apparently a lot has changed in my twelve year absence away from the industry.  Either that, or I was the only non-childhood friend the manager decided to hire at her store.  (Again, an outsider!)  Ugh!  Thankfully this job only lasted about a month, but God was walking alongside me the whole

The holidays have come and gone, and humanity is probably none the wiser for the true meaning behind Christmas.  At any rate, I was able to spend four glorious days travelling to visit family and friends.  On the day after Christmas, I headed to Victoria, Texas, in order to meet a long-time friend I hadn't seen in well over a year.  We are both getting older and experiencing health issues.  That's only one more thing we have in common.  Ha ha!  After a great time of fellowship over lunch, Mom and I went shopping at the local mall, Wal-Mart, and the neighboring Goodwill store.  In spite of a bad back acting up, we both enjoyed the time spent together.  Thursday the 27th was my 45th birthday!  Woohoo!  Hopefully I don't look as old and I feel.  Once Mom and I bid our farewells to each other, I headed to Austin to spend the morning and part of the afternoon.  Genuine Joe, my favorite coffee house, had my favorite blend brewed: Guatemalan Antigua.  I'm sure it was merely co

          The Christmas season is upon us once again.  Seems like time passes by faster and faster every year.  Maybe the advancement of age has something to do with that.  Anyway, looking around to see people scurry for the latest deal or that one perfect present makes me realize how selfish humanity has become.  In cases such as this, Christmas ought to come around every day.  And let's not forget what the holiday is all about.  It is (Jesus) Christ-mas!!!  The King of kings came to save us from the wrath of God.  As a result, we ought to give freely of ourselves every day.           I ended up with four days off for the holiday this week.  Of course the store is closed for Christmas, and I'm usually off on Wednesdays.  In addition, I asked for time off to celebrate my 45th birthday on Thursday.  To have Monday off was simply a bonus as the owners were planning to work only until 6 p.m.  To maximize the opportunity, I left Fort Worth early Monday morning, around 5:15 a.m., a

For almost the entire tenure of my residence in Fort Worth I have attended Christ Chapel Bible Church.  Recently, this all came to an end.  Every Wednesday for the previous few months, the internet campus pastor has held a time of fellowship for those who attend via online.  After our time together this previous Wednesday, I decided to walk the campus in order to take pictures for my own photo collection.  While doing so, one of the lead pastors called security on me.  Apparently there is a no picture-taking policy in place at the church.  That would have been nice to know beforehand.  To the security guard's credit, he was real nice and diplomatic about the situation.  He did recognize me as an attendee of the church and a friend to the internet campus pastor.  However, I thought the actions taken by the lead pastor were crappy.  I am already overly sensitive about stuff like this considering my legal background.  Even though I understand the premise behind what happened, I have d

The President of the United States and the Prime Minister, Mr. Churchill, representing His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom, have met at sea.  They have been accompanied by officials of their two Governments, including high-ranking officers of their military, naval, and air services.  The whole problem of the supply of munitions of war, as provided by the Lease-Lend Act, for the armed forces of the United States, and for those countries actively engaged in resisting aggression, has been further examined. Lord Beaverbrook, the Minister of Supply of the British Government, has joined in these conferences. He is going to proceed to Washington to discuss further details with appropriate officials of the United States Government. These conferences will also cover the supply problems of the Soviet Union.  The President and the Prime Minister have had several conferences. They have considered the dangers to world civilization arising from the policies of military domination by co

Yesterday was my last day off till next Wednesday.  I was scheduled to have a day off on Saturday, but I agreed to work for a fellow co-worker.  (Plus, I really need the extra money.)  At least it was a beautiful day.  Mother Nature has yet to make up its mind as it transitions from Fall to Winter.  I can handle almost any type of weather.  What I do have a hard time with is all the "in-between" temperatures and precipitation: hot one day, cold the next, raining the day after, and so forth.  After two personal obligations in the morning, I visited a local city park I had never been too before.  What's sad is I formerly lived blocks from here but never took the time for a visit.  Unity Park is the name of the city park.  This was formerly named Jeff Davis Park, but historical revisionists have decided to rename it for the sake of sanitizing history.  (To these people, if you don't see or hear about it, the event didn't happen...and you can go away not having

          By age sixteen, George Washington had copied out by hand, 110 rules of Civility & Decent Behavior in Company and Conversation. They are based on a set of rules composed by French Jesuits in 1595. Presumably they were copied out as part of an exercise in penmanship assigned by young Washington's schoolmaster. The first English translations of the French rules appeared in 1640, and are ascribed to Francis Hawkins, the twelve-year-old son of a doctor.           Richard Brookhiser, in his book on Washington wrote, "all modern manners in the western world were originally aristocratic. Courtesy meant behavior appropriate to a court; chivalry comes from chevalier - a knight. Yet Washington was to dedicate himself to freeing America from a court's control. Could manners survive the operation? Without realizing it, the Jesuits who wrote them, and the young man who copied them, were outlining and absorbing a system of courtesy appropriate to equals and nearequals.

Last year I wasn't able to travel for the holiday due to the type of job I held at the time.  This year I was blessed to spend two days with family in Yoakum, Texas.  As soon as I clocked out from work on Tuesday, I took to the interstate for the five-hour trip.  Since it was fairly late in the evening once I arrived, I didn't stay up very long but conceded to the desire for sleep.  Overall, Mom and I had a good visit.  There wasn't anything new or exciting to share; however, the simple fact of spending time together was important.  She accessed the situation accurately when stating, "We are too accustomed to living by ourselves."  The observation was made in the context of not having much substance or subject matter to our conversations.  Regardless, the trip was good, and I look forward to the next time I can visit.  Of course I can't revel in my holiday experience without declaring what I am thankful for: family and friends, fairly good health, a job that

Seems to me I am making a regular habit of travelling to Dallas.  This previous Saturday I had made arrangements to meet a friend for an hour or two of fellowship.  Not wanting anything to go to waste, I made a day of it after bidding farewell to my friend.  With smartphone in hand, Siri gave me directions to the Historic West End.  To honestly confess, I have visited this area a few times before; however, I always seem to find some new twist during my excursion.  It is in the Historic West End that Dealey Plaza, the place where John F. Kennedy was assassinated, is located.  People are continually mesmerized by the allure of the "who-dunnit" mystery.  (If Lee Harvey Oswald had anything to do with it, he was only a small figure in the greater cover-up and conspiracy.)  After walking around snapping numerous pictures, I found another memorial to JFK.  Satisfied with my adventure, I grabbed lunch at The Spaghetti Warehouse.  Fond memories soon began to flood my consciousn

We're here to mark that day in history when the Allied armies joined in battle to reclaim this continent to liberty. For 4 long years, much of Europe had been under a terrible shadow. Free nations had fallen, Jews cried out in the camps, millions cried out for liberation. Europe was enslaved, and the world prayed for its rescue. Here in Normandy the rescue began. Here the Allies stood and fought against tyranny in a giant undertaking unparalleled in human history. We stand on a lonely, windswept point on the northern shore of France. The air is soft, but 40 years ago at this moment, the air was dense with smoke and the cries of men, and the air was filled with the crack of rifle fire and the roar of cannon. At dawn, on the morning of the 6th of June, 1944, 225 Rangers jumped off the British landing craft and ran to the bottom of these cliffs. Their mission was one of the most difficult and daring of the invasion: to climb these sheer and desolate cliffs and take out the enemy gu

Thursday seemed like any other day as I headed in to work.  About an hour after I arrived, one of the owners showed up asking what I was doing at the shop.  Gently responding I was there to work as scheduled, he told me to take the day off.  Well, to have the day off at that point was irrelevant as I had already invested an hours' worth of work.  Considering this is how my luck usually runs, I simply took it in stride as this is an example how quickly things change in my life.  The day was not a complete loss as I had made arrangements to meet a friend at Noon.  My friend, Randy, wanted to meet for a smoke, see the shop where I worked, and to catch up on old times.  We formerly worked together downtown at Tobacco Lane on the Square and hadn't seen each other in well over two years.  Up till today, we would briefly chat via Twitter, but today we had agreed to meet for a time of fellowship.  What a time of blessing this was for us.  God was kind enough to bring me to an oasis, a

A few months ago, there was a wonderful write-up about Interabang Books in Dallas, Texas.  Immediately upon reading the article, I knew this was a place I wanted to visit.  The time to finally do so came this previous Saturday.  Needing a few hours away from my much-despised home in Fort Worth, I hopped in the truck and set sail across the Interstate.  With many thanks to Siri and her voice-guided help navigating the streets of Dallas, the place was easy to find.  I must have walked in on the tail end of a book signing, which would have been great to attend had I known about it.  The author had written a children's book covering the topic of bullying.  The turn-out of attendance seemed high.  Taking my time to shop around, the staff was very friendly and helpful.  I honestly can't remember the last time I paid full price for a book, but I wanted to honor my gracious host by making a purchase.  Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five was my newfound treasure from the book

Recently I found myself with two back-to-back days off from work.  The schedule was posted for two weeks in advance, which meant I had no excuse in not planning my time.  Knowing myself full well, the time would be wasted away in utter laziness if I didn't force myself to engage the outside world.  The morning began with treating myself to a full-body massage at the local community college's massage therapy clinic.  This really primed me to enjoy the day God had given.  Then, at the spur of the moment, I decided to take a drive to Grand Prairie in order to tour the Ripley's Believe It Or Not! museum.  As many times as I've driven past this place, I had never taken the time to stop by.  I was so glad a point was made to do so.  Ticket prices were tiered depending upon how many features I wanted to take in.  For roughly $30, I was able to take advantage of seeing the Oddities Museum and the Wax Museum.  Both were worth seeing, but the Wax Museum was the better of th

Thank you, Gene [Eugene Meyer], for your kind introduction. I want to thank Gene, as well as Dean Reuter, for the invitation to be here today. It is a true honor to address all of you this afternoon. I am here to make a major announcement on U.S. policy toward the International Criminal Court, or ICC. After years of effort by self-styled “global governance” advocates, the ICC, a supranational tribunal that could supersede national sovereignties and directly prosecute individuals for alleged war crimes, was agreed to in 1998. For ICC proponents, this supranational, independent institution has always been critical to their efforts to overcome the perceived failures of nation-states, even those with strong constitutions, representative government, and the rule of law. In theory, the ICC holds perpetrators of the most egregious atrocities accountable for their crimes, provides justice to the victims, and deters future abuses. In practice, however, the Court has been ineffective, una