Ale for the Soul

What is a man worth?  What attributes does one have to embody for the world to assign value to another?  Is it the ability to provide for one's family?  What about the ability to feed and clothe oneself, and to put a roof over one's head?  This morning I had an interview with Coca-Cola for a part-time merchandiser position.  Without knowing how the other candidates interviewed, I felt as if I nailed it.  I definitely have the experience and wisdom to far exceed the expectations of the job description.  However, considering my legal baggage, I can't help but to feel I still don't have a chance.  In other words, I'm probably dead in the water already, before ever having had the interview.  I could have had many jobs a few times over if not for the black mark on my legal background.  Usually there isn't any opportunity to discuss my skeletons in the closet with the interviewer, and, if so, it is only out of nosiness knowing full well their ...

I've seen seeds fall from calloused hands; I've prayed and prayed for rain. I've got blisters on my heart, Where I've been raking weeds away. I've seen souls sprout up from the soil in rebirth, And reach their roots out across the earth, Growing wild, wild, yea. There's no better feeling when you see the tears Fall down as evidence that He is here. Jesus keeps changing lives When we spread the Word and watch the number climb. Oh to be a link in this line of faith, To help steer somebody to see His face; Then watch them turn around and do the same thing, In this chain of grace. He said take My Word and spread it out, Go cultivate some fields. Raise babes into their servanthood, Until they're ready to take the wheel. I praise the Lord for those I may never meet Who some time and place I may have reached, Through Your perfect love. There's no better feeling when you see the tears Fall down as evidence that He is here. Jesus keeps changing liv...

O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you,   my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me. They who seek my life will be destroyed; they will go down to the depths of the earth. They will be given over to the sword and become food for jackals. But the king will rejoice in God; all who swear by God's name will praise him, while the mouths of liars w...

Recently, over the previous few weeks, I have been looking for additional employment to supplement my part-time income with the smoke shop.  Thankfully I have been blessed by the current job in that it literally fell in my lap.  At the time I was hired, I had been passively looking for employment and really lucked out by the owner's offer of a job.  Three years later I am now actively looking for employment and find it a difficult ordeal.  Maybe my luck ran out, who knows?  Nothing ever came from the last two interviews I had in Frisco with the shoe store.  Egads!  Is this what many people face in pounding the pavement looking for work?  No wonder many people simply give up and choose to live off the government dole.  (Pardon me if I offend anyone by the previous statement.)  Every day I determine to make at least four online applications with various companies.  The days of filling out an application and speaking to a manager in pe...

Yep, you read it correctly, today is National Salesperson Day.  First, allow me to sum up the obvious.  There is a huge difference between a clerk and a salesperson.  A clerk is merely engaged at the whim and fancy of the customer seeking merchandise or goods.  This type of scenario does not require any thinking or assessment concerning the nature of the relationship employed.  The person seeking something simply asks, and the clerk retrieves.  No analytical thought is set in motion.  Clerks, in my opinion, are mere automatons performing the bidding of the potential buyer.  Salespeople, on the other hand, are true artisans of selling.  Yes, salesmanship is an art, one finely honed and implemented.  Salesmanship involves: reading the customer, both verbally and in body language, establishing a rapport, and always looks for both the up-sell and add-on sale.  In other words, salesmen do not let the customer control or dictate how much ...

Most every year I make it a point to send out Christmas cards to friends and family.  This year is no exception; however, the list of people I send to will be dramatically shortened.  Quite frankly, the cost of postage is what has finally driven me to do this.  So allow me to clear the air right now.  If you don't get one this year, it isn't personal.  Our friendship has already made it past the test of time, so calm down.  Everything will be okay.  Ha ha!  Holidays such as this one are fun.  Over the course of the previous few days I have been working at sending out Christmas cards.  I only have a few more to send, so today is the day to complete the task.  To be honest, I wasn't planning on sending out any cards this year, but a long-time friend told me recently she looks so forward to my Christmas card every year.  Well, how could I disappoint?  Today may be the day for me to rekindle a friendship or family relationship...

Today I honor two anniversaries: one very public occurrence, and another a private remembrance.  The first, of course, is the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941.  A lot of speculation has been spun indicting the government it had foreknowledge the foreign power would attack.  Regardless, many lives were martyred for our great country.  The attack woke a sleeping giant to enter a worldwide war for freedom.  The current equivalent of Pearl Harbor is the attack on and destruction of the World Trade Center in New York City, New York.  These senseless attacks were more ideological and religious in nature, but appalling none-the-less.  The second anniversary I celebrate is the earning of a black belt in Tae Kwon Do twenty-six years ago.  I was a few weeks away from my sixteenth birthday and in a heck of a lot better shape back then.  I look back in nostalgia as I think how I had mastered a particular martial art.  Wi...