Have you ever wondered whom your walk each day impacts? Are you a leader in your community or your church? How about in your family? Do you set the pace that everyone else follows? What does it mean to be a leader? As I look back at those in my life who inspired me to […]
I don’t know much about my Grandpa Harve’s childhood, although I am told his tales of life on the Tennessee River rivaled Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn. When my dad was a boy, Harve gathered the children around the fireplace and, before bed, told a story of an orphaned boy named A.J. (his real initials), filled […]
From my earliest days of watching Westerns, sci-fi shows, and family sitcoms, I was inspired by heroes who stepped up for the underdog, brought the bullies down, put criminals to justice, and defended the innocent. Those lessons came from a generation of men and women who had fought World War II alongside America’s allies, then […]
Sometimes I wish I could find my way back to a simpler time, when things felt good, problems belonged to someone else, and worries were few and far between. Lately my memories keep reaching back to the days when I was a boy and my father still held the center of the house. Upon his […]
We all face major conundrums in life that leave us wondering what we should do next. I have been blessed with only a handful of such moments. Day-to-day matters usually require a quick decision and then forward momentum. Sometimes, though, we encounter an issue—in our personal life or our business—that sends our minds into overdrive. […]
About 15 years ago, my writing path took me into the life and times of an amazing woman. I have co-authored three autobiographies, and with each one I have learned so much. Through other people’s lives and experiences, lessons pile up like cordwood near the axe stump. These lessons can sneak in through a story […]
You’ve probably heard the expression “They have something stuck in their craw.” It’s one of those old sayings that essentially means someone is mad or upset about something. There’s not a day that goes by when such an occurrence can’t seep into your being and take over your thinking. It might be a passing statement […]
We crawled out of the tent and started a fire. The goals were simple: warm up and cook some breakfast. The chattering of our teeth, despite the long johns and layers of clothes on top of them, wasn’t helping as we tried to endure the freezing cold of the mountains around us. We broke the […]
Life is filled with tasks that, as time goes on, we can feel increasingly annoyed by. Who loves doing the daily household chores—cooking, washing dishes, sweeping the floor—or the weekly ones—washing clothes, cleaning the bathroom, working in the yard? As the world keeps spinning and our days begin to pile up, sometimes you just look […]
The dust of the dirt road rose around my sneakers as I walked from Aunt Lockie’s house. My Aunt Lockie—my maternal grandmother’s sister—was one of a kind. To call her “unique” would be an understatement. She had a gift for finding fun in any situation. When I was a child, my mother made a point […]
