Where do the years go?

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Throughout my life, even in childhood, I was fascinated by time travel.

I watched any movie or TV show associated with the topic. From H.G. Wells “The Time Machine” to the series The Time Tunnel, a short-lived series that I watched in reruns growing up. Even “Fantasy Island” or “Sliders” would occasionally have a show that crossed into history that impacted their story lines.

While these were all a pleasant diversion in my childhood, thinking of being able to augment time in the past or visit the future was always an adventure of hope in my mind.

Changing little things in our life that we did wrong. How would that impact our world today.

We avoided an accident, we bought a winning lottery ticket. We avoided a heartache in our love life.

Would our life be better. Who else would our tweaks impact. Could we go back and save a love one’s life?

So many times, have I imagined making such changes.

I recently had the opportunity to look into faces of people I have known through much of my life.

As I stood next to each, shook and how-deed making small talk, I thought back upon the early natures of our friendships. Where we were then and where we are now. How God had moved our lives in different directions. How we once saw each other with regularity now decades later, if once or twice a year comes to pass, it is unusual. While I often long for those days of old in my mind, we have all moved to different places in life. The years are filled with facial lines, life experiences that have built character, deepened our faith stories, changed our lives and made us different people. Do we still care for one another as we once did?

I would say somewhere within our soul, the once existing connections remain allowing us to find the moments of camaraderie and friendship again as we pass the time of day.

I think about how time has moved so swiftly. Lives have flown through decades, many called home, many others remain and grow where they have set roots.

Is looking back at our past good thing or a bad thing? Is dreaming of time travel to impact the past a good fantasy? Should we be looking back or staring into the future?

I think when you stand in a particular place in life, whether your spend your time looking forward or looking back depends upon your own life. If you have created a wonderful life, raised a family and they are successfully traversing the world, you do tend to focus forward with one’s gaze.

If you are a creator, then you also tend to have a forward outlook seeking that next opportunity to make something new. You keep trying, hoping some invention or idea with bless the future and the world.

If the circumstances have placed you elsewhere in life and you find the future to be less interesting, you spend time looking back.

You cherish the people and the times now behind you. You relish the good times and those who were part of your life. Does looking back uplift you? Do you feel more able to face the day and walk through all that is coming at you?

If the answer is yes, then, whether you look backwards or forwards the exercise is productive for you and thus all you touch as long as you do not forget to live today, in the moment that God is giving you.

You have life in your hands. Every moment, everyday, you can make a difference. Even in the greatest disadvantages, you can impact people for the greater good of us all.

Looking in the past, hoping for the future, dreaming of a day that we know our efforts impacted the world and all those around us for good. That’s my hope for you and for me. As we travel through time, let’s enjoy the ride, we only get one turn on the ride.

Let’s walk forward bravely

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To say I am a patriotic person would probably be an understatement. The American Republic, the American Dream, ideals enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence burn within me.

While its inappropriate for a man to say, I tear up when I hear certain combinations of words that reflect these things. There is music and movies which evoke an emotional response within my soul.

At the bedrock of these feelings is the faith which my family instilled in my life and the blessings that Jesus Christ saved me so I might live a joyful life in Him no matter what I might endure on earth until eternity comes.

Over the last few years, I have seen people like me considered as being out of fashion because a group of revisionists, academics and politicians wish to make America something other than the shining city on the hill.

Well, we just saw a return to an advocacy for being proud to be American. The bullies who would say our ancestors were not exceptional in the legacies they passed to us will now no longer own the sole soapbox of modern viewpoint. Their stories, their successes, their goodness will once again not be erased by the shortcomings that so many wish to point towards.

We gave the blood of hundreds of thousands of men and women to end slavery in our country while it remains alive and well in countries across the world to this day. That is not to say, that there are not those in our country today who are not enslaved within our borders. My prayer is the current administration will free those women, children and men, wherever they are and whomever may be responsible to receive punishment for their actions.

We gave the long-termed toil, suffering and blood of men and women to uplift and enforce the civil rights of people of color, and women.

I can look back upon my family and proudly point to those who participated in these efforts.

I know of at least 19 of my grandfathers who fought to provide this American experiment to exist giving a new level of hope to serfs and slaves around the world.

The future of America has many possibilities. I want to see it last well beyond another 250 years. My people deserve that for their sacrifices.

So, for me watching the inauguration of a president is a moving experience, as it should be. Several of the men who have stood in that spot carry the same blood in their veins that I do as we share ancestral grandparents. Despite that being the case, even if there was no connection, I would still be moved by all that surrounds it.

I pray for our country. I feel there is a great sense of unity which is moving across our land. We see that those that want to divide us by age, education, wealth, color, religion, or other factors, are losing their grip upon our attention. The future of America is in our strength together. It’s America and Americans that should come before any other country or nationality. Before a dime is spent for anything, it should be asked, “How does it help America and Americans?” If it does not, it shouldn’t be spent or sent to anywhere in the world.

Our focus needs to be inward – our country needs to strengthen our infrastructure of all types to last for decades to come. We need to make choices that improve our country and bring it back to success economically. When I was a boy, I watched helplessly as our politicians sold our small towns and true Americans out, as plants across the country closed and jobs went elsewhere. We need to see that reversed enormously. Our focus should extend throughout our hemisphere, much as my ancestral cousin created the Monroe Doctrine, we should once again see our focus in this hemisphere rather than in the fields and deserts of Europe, and the Middle East.

I pray for our leaders as we all should. Their success is our success. Besides a praying America may be better blessed than a country that turns its back upon God. God Bless America, our leaders, our people, our future. Let’s walk forward bravely!

A life touching others – Grand Ole Opry star Buck White

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Buck White

Friends often come into our lives and have an impact, some just walk through and move on while others stay and sit a spell.

These impacts can be minor or can be major and can even change your life. I have been blessed with many people stepping into my circle of life who I have described in my books as Encouragers.

Whether for a long walk or just a moment, we can change people’s lives with our walk, our words, our intervention, our gifts, and our love.

On January 13, I heard of the passing of the oldest living member of the Grand Ole Opry. Buck White, 94, and his family The Whites – Sharon, and Cheryl celebrated 40 years as members last March.

I have been honored to have them in my life for longer than those 40 years when Buck’s late wife Pat took an interest in my music and life. By extension that brought Buck into my life and he also became an encourager as did their family and that’s why their actions prompted me to include them in my Encouragers book series.

The Whites, collectively Buck White and daughters Sharon White-Skaggsand Cheryl White performed together as a family act since the mid-1960s, and came to Nashville to pursue a career in music in 1971. Other family members also joined in through the years.

When I made my debut for the Grand Ole Opry in 1984 with my teenage bluegrass band the same year the Whites joined the Opry.

Just a few years earlier our group had recorded one of Buck’s mandolin tunes “Fancy Dan,” which appears on our “Country Kids” release.

In the early part of the 1980s, The Whites delivered favorites like their first Top 10, “You Put The Blue In Me,” as well as “Hangin’ Around,” “Give Me Back That Old Familiar Feeling,” and “Pins And Needles,” – the latter all produced by Sharon’s husband, country and bluegrass legend Ricky Skaggs(the two married in 1981).

A few years later, the group agreed to join me on the “In the Heat of the Night” “Christmas Time’s A Comin’” CD on my song “Let’s Live Every Day Like It Was Christmas.” While the album became a huge seller benefiting charity, the song for us made its way to be included among the top country vocal collaborations of the year. The album made the list of Top 50 Christmas Recordings in history.

The Whites, hand-picked for their involvement in the movie and soundtrack, O Brother, Where Art Thou? led to considerable industry recognition – including the greatest honor possible – a GRAMMY win in the esteemed ‘Album of the Year’ category. They also received ‘Album of the Year’ trophies from the ACM (Academy of Country Music), the Country Music Association (CMA), and the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) Awards.

Many music industry folks refer to The Whites as the “new first family of country music.” I would have to agree with that statement. They have definitely earned seats at the front of the table.

Buck and Pat were dedicated followers of Jesus Christ. They walked, talked and lived their faith. Whenever I was in Nashville through the years, they invited me to church. I was raised in church, and often performed sharing gospel songs in churches, gospel concerts and festivals. But it was at one of those church services where they brought me, that I rededicated my life to Christ. Their son-in-law Ricky Skaggs was there participating in the service and was there with me at the alter. So, Buck not only uplifted my life with encouragement, helped raise my career with his musical gifts, but he invested in me spiritually, ensuring that I would have eternal life in Christ. For all these things I am thankful, but for the latter, there is no amount of appreciation which could repay that investment in my walk towards and with Jesus.

My prayers are with his daughters Sharon, Cheryl, Rosie and Melissa and all their families and all who loved Buck. I know he was universally loved throughout of industry. The family shared this comment on social media:

“The Lord answered our prayers and took our daddy home peacefully this morning at 8:00 a.m. We are so thankful for his 94 years on this earth. He was a great Dad who taught us by example to put Jesus first always. His great loves were the Lord, our mother, his family and music. Most people will remember him not only for being a great musician and entertainer, but also for being fun-loving and full of mischief. He lived a full life and finished well.”

If you have never listened to the Whites, I encourage you to check out their unique blend of bluegrass, country, folk, gospel and Texas swing. I think their top-notch instrumental work and striking family harmony will make you want to hear them more! Thank you Buck for being my friend and encourager.

The Whites and Randall Franks backstage in Owensboro, Ky. in 2010.

Uncle Dud Doolittle and the rickety ladder

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As I begin the new year, I am always led to clean, I find myself reaching up into shelves, hitting all the spots neglected through the rest of the year. It’s times like these, I tend to desire a good laugh to take away the mundane of such activity. So, I got to thinking
upon my Uncle Dud, and before you know it there was a smile as wide as a whale which formed across my face, Here’s one that got me to laughing:

My great Uncle Dud Doolittle was an entrepreneur extraordinaire who operated the little general store at Flintville Crossroads. Now Uncle Dud was as swift as could be. He stood about five-foot-five and was wiry as a well-strung bed frame. His circular Ben Franklin spectacles offset his gray hair, and he was seldom seen outside his wool, dark green-striped suit and favorite gray beaver hat.

When working in the store, he also wore a black visor on his head that looked odd because it made his bald spot shine as he worked below the store’s light bulb.

With the variety of folks who made his store a regular place to be, he was always finding himself in unique and unusual situations. Folks were always eager to give a hand, especially Cousin Clara who made a drop by the store a daily ritual.

It was a quiet Friday afternoon in July of 1948. Uncle Dud stood on a rickety wooden ladder putting a shipment of canned peaches in his favorite pyramid display. As he drew his task to close Cousin Clara came in saying, “Sure is hot out there.”

She noticed a can lying below the ladder so she walked over and stepped under the ladder to pick it up. As she raised up, she knocked over the ladder sending Uncle Dud to the floor.

“Doggoned it,” Dud said. “I told you before to stay away from that ladder. Don’t you know it is bad luck to walk under a ladder?”

“I didn’t know you were superstitious,” Clara said.

“About the only time I am superstitious is when somebody like you walks under a ladder and deliberately sends me to the ground,” he said.

“Do you believe it is seven years bad luck to break a mirror?” Clara asked.

“No sireee! My Uncle Corn Walter broke a mirror, and he did not have a bit of bad luck,” Dud said.

“Why didn’t he?” Clara asked.

“He got bit by a rattlesnake and died two days later,” he said.

Throughout the conversation, Dud remained as he had landed on the floor — standing on his head.

“Why are you still like that?” she asked.

“When I stand on my head the blood rushes to my head, but when I stand on my feet the blood don’t seem to rush to my feet,” Dud said. “I didn’t know why, so I wanted to just stay here and think about it a minute or two.”

“Why, that’s easy to figure out in your case Uncle Dud,” Clara said. “Blood can’t go in to your feets because your feets are full, but it can go into your head cause your head’s empty.”

Is there an opportunity ahead?

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I once walked through some of the most amazing imaginable moments a human being could dream upon.

Many of the legendary stars of yesteryear were part of my life sharing their energies, advice and day-to-day existence with me. I have rubbed elbows with some people blessed with resources beyond our imagination.

What has those past experiences provided me? A life which has yielded many books and stories shared in columns and on radio and television interviews.

Their investment has allowed me to excel in so many areas of life through the work I have done in film, television, radio, writing and on stage.

Has that made a difference? Perhaps to someone, perhaps a person was touched by something offered up through God’s gifts to me.

What do I do with it though, going forward. With the change of the years, I often find myself reflecting on what I might do to make the next year more successful, more financially solvent, and more positive for all impacted.

Despite all my best efforts as months of the calendar turn faster and faster, I realize that my best plans often fall by the wayside as I live life. But at least, if I make the effort at the beginning by planning on what I’d like to do, creating lists and schedules, then maybe a percentage of those items will get done.

Each day or week or month, I can take out my pen, check or strike something off the to-do list.

Those moments always bring me a moment of great satisfaction.

With each passing year, sadly, I realize some of the things on my long-term goal list become less likely to occur in my lifetime. But regret accomplishes nothing but building a barrier to slow our progress in other paths we must travel.

Despite seeing those things fall from my list, it allows me to focus upon other ones which have a higher likelihood of coming to pass.

The new year is here. What are you going to do with this opportunity? Are you going to use it to strengthen your mind, your body, your relationships, your strength, your faith, your hopes and dreams?

Choose a path with a goal at it’s end, and run towards your goal. You can make it! You can change your life. You can uplift others that God sends your way. You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.

So at the end of this year, some goals will be accomplished. For me, if I am successful, I will have made a bit of money, paid all my bills, and along the way, made some folks smile or encouraged them in their walk for God.

If I do that, its been a good year. I hope your year and life is more than you can imagine.