Where oh where are you tonight?

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That’s a line from a comedy skit I heard so many times, I can still sing it by heart from the long-running TV show – “Hee Haw.” “Why did you leave me here all alone? I searched the world over and thought I’d found true love. You met another and th… you were gone.”
February always brings on thoughts of romance. I never realized when I was younger that skit would be a comedic commentary on my own love life or lack thereof.
Sometimes though God gives us ways to find humor in all aspects of what we face.
It is better to be able to laugh at ourselves rather than be settled in a rinse and repeat cycle of frustration, sadness or anger.
Over the years, I tried my best to learn how to be a good potential suitor.
I was taught how to act around females, what to wear depending upon the occasions, how to dance, and how to eat depending on the level of formality. Manners were the key I thought.
Then I realized many of the prettiest girls were drawn to the bad boys who seemed not to have any.
I could never pull that act off. Just wasn’t in my make up.
Although once I studied acting, I could manage a decent stab at it.
Early in my life experience, I tried but found no takers.
Then when I got a little older, I tried but wasn’t much interested in finding any takers that held on.
None really seemed like they wanted to anyway.
Once I did start trying harder, is when I seemed to be into repeating the lines of that song again and again.
I got so tired of the experience; it eventually became a comedy of errors that seems endless.
But despite my losses, I was comforted in knowing that marriage is an institution and I never want to be institutionalized anyway.
I know that love exists, otherwise folks wouldn’t spend all that money on those greetings’ cards with hearts and all those heart shaped boxes of candy, and dozens of red roses. Those must be the cement upon which hearts with initials are drawn upon.
“She took my heart out and stomped that sucker flat,” Lewis Grizzard joked.
I can say for sure that experience is not exclusive to the late columnist. Many of us have found our hearts on the floor.
But no matter how many times it hits the floor, you know, it has the ability to bounce back.
The right smile, the right look, the right words, a perfect song and your heart soars again to new heights.
And within you, you find the hope and the dream that love is possible.
You know, with God all things are possible.

Is it a God thing?

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Whenever I find myself facing an uncertain future, whether it’s in work or my personal life, ultimately, I always find myself praying for Divine intervention.
I ask for guidance. I ask for forgiveness. I ask for patience. I ask for inspiration.
It always seems I am asking Him for something. But seldom am I thanking Him for what He has already given.
From my personal experience, I know He hears and in His own way answers our requests. Sometimes the answer is no. We seldom understand that result. In fact, sometimes we interpret it, as He is not there. He is not listening. He has forsaken us.
From our own actions, many of us deserve to be forsaken but thankfully, as part of His family we will not be. We may not always get what our hearts desire. Our lives may not be easy. And sometimes they may be downright miserable. He is still with us.
In the face of what seems to be an ever-increasing presence of things that are ungodly being placed in front of us through media and in our own vision of the world around us,
I must conclude if there was ever a time for us to cry out to Him and ask His mercy upon us, it is now.
In recent weeks, I have been in prayer over lack of direction in my life, over falling short in His service and in trying to walk ever closer to Him. We all fall short of His love.
Yet, in the simplest thing, He can remind us “I am here, and I love you.”
I have a small golden key chain I was presented when I graduated from high school. I had never used it, only pulled it out and looked at it, thinking I will use it for a special occasion. Despite many years coming and going, I had not used it. I finally pulled it out and put my car keys on it. A small golden ball that served as a nut held the mechanism into place, thus holding the key ring into the golden circle into which it was mounted.
One day I went to the post office, I got out and the key ring fell apart dropping pieces to the ground. I bent over picked everything up and went on my way. I did not realize that the small golden ball that served a nut was not among what I picked up. I realized later at home it was gone. It could have unscrewed and fell off anywhere, I checked my clothes, the floorboard of the car, around the house, to no avail.
A couple a weeks passed when the thought hit me as I pulled into the post office again, go and look where you were parked that day. So, I did. I walked over to the empty parking space, took two steps beyond where my driver’s door was and there it sat. It had rolled and sat there for two weeks with no vehicles rolling over it. Not a soul had noticed this little golden ball the size of a large bb. After I had become acclimated that I would never be able to use the key chain again. God sent a thought, moved my body, and there was something I had lost, a piece of something I cherished just lying on the ground safe in a place it should not have been.
I have spent a lifetime in the music industry. I have strived to attain recognition for my music on the mainstream charts. That, along with awards is one of the ways we gauge our acceptance and success. I can tell you; those things just do not just happen. Behind the scenes, there are many actions taken by you and folks who support you which facilitate such an opportunity. I have been praying tirelessly for career guidance for months. This past week, I was notified that I had topped the Cashbox Magazine music charts with a song I wrote with Cotton Carrier and released years ago – “God’s Children” performed with the Watkins Family.
Never in my life had I been on the Cashbox charts, and then out of the blue I was number 1 on a mainstream entertainment chart with a song picked out of the blue by radio presenters with no behind the scenes promotion, no single release, not even trying. If that is not a God thing, I don’t know what is.
Look for the God things in your life. They are there, big and small. And when you find them, don’t forget to thank Him!

Dreams that inspire

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I ran down the dark corridor. My heart was beating fast as I heard footsteps rushing towards me from behind. I opened the door at the end as it swung inward and next, I found myself dangling from the doorknob over a dark pit that seemed bottomless.


I held on for dear life trying to pull myself back up into the hall.


Which was worse? Falling into the dark unknown or making it back to the solid hallway where I was being chased by who knows what.


Thankfully, I didn’t have to find out as my alarm went off bringing me safely back into my bedroom.
Dreaming can sometimes bring us to smiles, sometimes to fear, sometimes in between.


I have spent time in many dreams sitting and talking with loved ones who were long passed. Those moments are usually cherished opportunities to spend a few more minutes with a dear friend or relative.


Other dreams have found me in places I have never been experiencing new adventures with people I have never known or with faces I recognize. Those are usually quite comforting as well.


As a youth I saw dreams as roadmaps to where God wanted to take me, and often he placed the footsteps out ahead of me as if they were flashing in neon.


Those took me places I could have never dreamed of in my waking hours.


Are dreams simply our imagination running wild?


Are messages from our past, our future, or from our loved ones gone on hidden within?


I know that people in various forms of study have spent endless hours trying to answer those types of questions. From the Biblical stories of Joseph interpreting the dreams of pharaoh, to whatever scenario one might surmise from their own research, dreams play a vital part in our lives.


They give us relief, sometimes hope, and sometimes fear. No matter what they provide, if you are blessed with a good dream experience, be thankful for what has passed. Perhaps it is a God wink to uplift.


If it’s not such a good experience, maybe that is an inducement to examine your life and find where you might improve to clear your heart and mind, so next time it can be.


For me, despite a few frightening ones along the way, the good ones outweigh those, and from time to time, I do believe God’s drops in a bit of guidance here and there to make my life better, if I only recall it.
So, get a good night’s rest…

Stuck in a rut

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I have often heard a comment when people seem to be immobilized in life about them being “stuck in a rut.”

Another adage equates the rut with a grave suggesting that covering oneself up and relenting to your demise may be the best course of action.

Since there is only a slim chance any of us reading this are likely driving a covered wagon to get stuck in the rut, and even a lesser number are actually grave diggers, I will suggest, we have the ability to change our direction without filling our own grave with us in it.

However, often we might seem to be like the proverbial mouse on the turning wheel, getting nowhere in our efforts to redirect our lives.

Can we get out of the rut and “In the groove?” That’s another one of those descriptors meaning we have everything going our way. It reflects the needle within the jazz record groove moving smoothly over the surface of the album or the jazz talents being in sync with one another. A later adjective would have simply been “groovy.”

But for our analogy, its predecessor fits as we are seeking the right path. But unlike the needle going around the circles on an album, we do not know where our groove will lead.

However maybe all it will take is for us to get up and turn the crank on the Victrola to give us that momentum to find out.

What do you want next in life?

Is there a new job which is your hope?

Do you have your eyes on that perfect person to share your life?

Maybe its smaller, a few repairs, a part-time job, or simply studying a new subject that will give you skills needed for a better life.

I have often found myself seated on the precipice, trying to decide whether to jump into the unknown or remain safely perched on my solid rock watching the world roll by.

It is only when I had the strength to push off from safety that I actually began to see that forward momentum impact what was to come.

Safe is a nice thing. Comfort is a nice thing. We all have aspects of our life in which we desire those adjectives to dominate. Sometimes though we must strive away from the safety and comfort to help us find those new adventures which will forge what is ahead of us.

My multiple great uncle John Shields stepped into the unknown beside Lewis and Clark as they explored the interior of the continental United States for my third cousin Thomas Jefferson. How could he decide to embark on such an arduous adventure. I am not sure but when he was asked, he went.

My first cousin (13-removed) Sir Walter Raleigh embarked on numerous adventures, some which could have easily ended in his death, but yet he went, with his final one resulting in English execution at the behest of Spain.

Jumping bravely into the unknown does not always result in happy endings but it does add variety in the tapestry within which the threads of our life are depicted.

So, is it better to stay in the rut or to rock with all our might to force ourselves out of it, so we can gain forward momentum?

I can’t speak for you, but for me I will rock with all my might until I am able to push on to reach whatever God has in store. I pray those things are blessings and He protects me from all harm which could befall me.

But if that not be my fate, then I only ask the Grace to face the adventure with dignity, patience and understanding in whatever comes my way.

What will be your fate? Are you filling the dirt in around you with each day or does your groove show you a way out?