I was working behind the desk at the hotel Memorial Day when a guest came through the lobby with a large, flat-screen television set. It's one thing to walk out with some of the items we offer for guests who forget things. You know, combs, razors and such. It gets a bit sketchy when they begin to walk out with towels and wash cloths ~ but a flat-screen television was a bit much!
He proceeded to tell me that it was his own set. His son insists on bringing their own TV set for video games; just in case the hotel's isn't compatible. I thought, "Wow, that's a first!" He invited me to go and check the room to make sure he wasn't walking out with ours. He said the door was unlocked. I politely waited for him to return to the lobby, and walked down to the room with him. Sure enough, our TV was still in its proper place.
I asked how old the son is. Are you ready for this one? The SON is 26! That's 26 YEARS OLD! It was hard work to keep my customer service mouth shut at that bomb that was dropped. I thought on the way back to my post at the front desk. This is really sad. Only trouble, I don't know which is worse ~ a 26 year old man insisting on bringing his own large flat-screen television on a trip for gaming purposes, or the dad being the one lugging it out to the car (limping, by the way), or the dad for agreeing to do it.
We are fast approaching Father's Day 2010. I wonder what this dad will get from this son for Father's Day?
Yep, I just THOUGHT I'd seen it all!
Monday, May 31, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Character Building in Sports
Although I'm not a huge fan of the NBA, I am a sports fan. I'm a regular viewer / listener to ESPN television and radio. One of my favorite segments of ESPN's Mike and Mike in the Morning is What People Are Talking About. This is where they give the 'headlines' of the sports world. If you want to know what the hot topics are for that morning around the water cooler at work, they can summarize them for you in five minutes or less.
The Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics are playing a playoff series. The Cleveland star is a native-son of Ohio, Lebron James. With the best of seven series tied at two games apiece, playing on their home floor, Mr. James and Cavs just didn't play to their level of ability. The Celtics dominated and travel home to Boston and need to only win one of the next two games to advance to the next round.
What's the big deal, you may ask? The city of Cleveland hasn't had a championship for their city in a long, long time. This is their best chance in the minds of many. What's even more antsy is the contract of Lebron James expires this year. Will he be back next year? After all, without him, there is absolutely NO CHANCE of Cleveland winning.
James didn't give his best effort. The team didn't rally around him while he was having a bad night. I even heard some say he did this on purpose. People are beginning to question the legacy he will leave behind. His response to that last line actually impressed me. Summarizing what he said, I'm only 25 years old. I've got plenty of playing time left. It's too early to think of my legacy as a basketball player.
Everyone will have a bad day. It is physically and humanly impossible to be on top of your game every night. Cleveland fans, be thankful this is the NBA and not the NCAA. One bad game in the NCAA tournament of March Madness and your toast! So, if this were the NCAA, the Cavs would be done. Finished. Packing up their lockers. If the Celtics win the series, that means they're probably the better team.
The overall point of this is to remind you that Lebron James is not the only person on the Cleveland Cavaliers team. If the Celtics win the series, chances are they are the better team. And Cleveland, there is life after getting so close ~ again. Let's face it, I'm a fan of all teams Georgia. I know plenty about waiting til next year. The best thing about being a Braves, Falcons, Hawks, and DAWGS fan is not being a Mets/Yankees, Patriots, Lakers, and Gators/Jackets fan. OK that last line is just in jest, but seriously, as much as I want my favorite teams to win, life does go on. There's winning, and there's character-building. Sometimes, our character needs just a little fine-tuning.
The Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics are playing a playoff series. The Cleveland star is a native-son of Ohio, Lebron James. With the best of seven series tied at two games apiece, playing on their home floor, Mr. James and Cavs just didn't play to their level of ability. The Celtics dominated and travel home to Boston and need to only win one of the next two games to advance to the next round.
What's the big deal, you may ask? The city of Cleveland hasn't had a championship for their city in a long, long time. This is their best chance in the minds of many. What's even more antsy is the contract of Lebron James expires this year. Will he be back next year? After all, without him, there is absolutely NO CHANCE of Cleveland winning.
James didn't give his best effort. The team didn't rally around him while he was having a bad night. I even heard some say he did this on purpose. People are beginning to question the legacy he will leave behind. His response to that last line actually impressed me. Summarizing what he said, I'm only 25 years old. I've got plenty of playing time left. It's too early to think of my legacy as a basketball player.
Everyone will have a bad day. It is physically and humanly impossible to be on top of your game every night. Cleveland fans, be thankful this is the NBA and not the NCAA. One bad game in the NCAA tournament of March Madness and your toast! So, if this were the NCAA, the Cavs would be done. Finished. Packing up their lockers. If the Celtics win the series, that means they're probably the better team.
The overall point of this is to remind you that Lebron James is not the only person on the Cleveland Cavaliers team. If the Celtics win the series, chances are they are the better team. And Cleveland, there is life after getting so close ~ again. Let's face it, I'm a fan of all teams Georgia. I know plenty about waiting til next year. The best thing about being a Braves, Falcons, Hawks, and DAWGS fan is not being a Mets/Yankees, Patriots, Lakers, and Gators/Jackets fan. OK that last line is just in jest, but seriously, as much as I want my favorite teams to win, life does go on. There's winning, and there's character-building. Sometimes, our character needs just a little fine-tuning.
The Beauty of Childhood
My not quite two-year old great-niece is visiting her grandparents this week. Because they live a good distance away, I don't get a chance to see her very often, so quite honestly, I wasn't sure how receptive she would be to her Uncle Steve.
I was pleasantly surprised that not long after we were in the same room, she held out her arms to come to me ~ with no coaxing from me, at all! Then I was quickly reminded that I was the closest person to her sippy cup of chocolate milk! So much for that shot of grown-up confidence.
After church, several friends and family members made the trek to our local McDonald's for ice cream. Obviously the little one was the center of attention. Cameras were constantly pointed in her direction. She noticed a camera pointed at her, stopped what she was doing and, without prompting at all, yelled, "Cheese!"
My wife and I have two daughters of our own. One is about to graduate from High School. My wife and I reflected this evening at McDonald's about how we can remember various things that our daughters did at that age, but it is so hard to remember life with them that small.
Its really a weird feeling. There's almost a glaze of memory of them being toddlers. I know I changed my share of diapers, put them in and out of car seats, remember them crying and laughing, bottle-feeding ~ the works. But to look at a picture of them individually as babies, its hard to tell which one is which. If my life were to depend on my remembering specifics about our lives when they were toddlers, go ahead and shoot me now.
The beauty of childhood is found in them growing up. The past 17 1/2 years of parenting have certainly had its ups and downs. As I reflect on those years, now with my eldest about to graduate from high school, God has been gracious. As I think about the love for Christ that my daughters exhibit, I'm thankful. It isn't uncommon to knock on the bedroom door of one of my daughters, and when I walk in, find them reading God's Word. Wow.
Was parenting my daughters all peachy? Do I want to re-live any of it? No, and no. There were heart-wrenching decisions that had to be made that I do not want to make again. There were times I had to say, "No." I didn't always enjoy that. But my daughters are becoming young ladies, and I'm proud of them. Both of them.
The beauty of childhood is being able to share the importance and opportunity of enjoying a relationship with Christ. As young children, I had the priviledge of pointing my children to that relationship and leading them to an appreciation of Him. I had the opportunity of being their pastor for 10 years, and baptized each of them.
Where did the time go? I suppose it's flowed under many bridges. I'm just thankful that we got an early start on the finer things of life. Not money and fame, but the quality time of sharing and pointing them to Jesus. And that little neice of mine? She's well on her way to the same type of childhood / adolescence. Gotta love the beauty of childhood!
I was pleasantly surprised that not long after we were in the same room, she held out her arms to come to me ~ with no coaxing from me, at all! Then I was quickly reminded that I was the closest person to her sippy cup of chocolate milk! So much for that shot of grown-up confidence.
After church, several friends and family members made the trek to our local McDonald's for ice cream. Obviously the little one was the center of attention. Cameras were constantly pointed in her direction. She noticed a camera pointed at her, stopped what she was doing and, without prompting at all, yelled, "Cheese!"
My wife and I have two daughters of our own. One is about to graduate from High School. My wife and I reflected this evening at McDonald's about how we can remember various things that our daughters did at that age, but it is so hard to remember life with them that small.
Its really a weird feeling. There's almost a glaze of memory of them being toddlers. I know I changed my share of diapers, put them in and out of car seats, remember them crying and laughing, bottle-feeding ~ the works. But to look at a picture of them individually as babies, its hard to tell which one is which. If my life were to depend on my remembering specifics about our lives when they were toddlers, go ahead and shoot me now.
The beauty of childhood is found in them growing up. The past 17 1/2 years of parenting have certainly had its ups and downs. As I reflect on those years, now with my eldest about to graduate from high school, God has been gracious. As I think about the love for Christ that my daughters exhibit, I'm thankful. It isn't uncommon to knock on the bedroom door of one of my daughters, and when I walk in, find them reading God's Word. Wow.
Was parenting my daughters all peachy? Do I want to re-live any of it? No, and no. There were heart-wrenching decisions that had to be made that I do not want to make again. There were times I had to say, "No." I didn't always enjoy that. But my daughters are becoming young ladies, and I'm proud of them. Both of them.
The beauty of childhood is being able to share the importance and opportunity of enjoying a relationship with Christ. As young children, I had the priviledge of pointing my children to that relationship and leading them to an appreciation of Him. I had the opportunity of being their pastor for 10 years, and baptized each of them.
Where did the time go? I suppose it's flowed under many bridges. I'm just thankful that we got an early start on the finer things of life. Not money and fame, but the quality time of sharing and pointing them to Jesus. And that little neice of mine? She's well on her way to the same type of childhood / adolescence. Gotta love the beauty of childhood!
Loving God Leads to Loving People
I remember well seeing pictures of the flood in the St. Louis area back in the 90s. Albany, GA had their share of flooding a few years earlier, and then another flood in the 90s that didn't do quite the damage to the southwest region of GA. I remember seeing the devastation caused by hurricanes ~ Andrew, Francis and Jeane, and Katrina.
There have been tornadoes across the plains, hurricanes along the coasts, mining accidents in the mountains, explosions and oil spills in the oceans / gulfs. There are earthquakes (typically) out west, and yes, also in Haiti. Volcanoes make up much of Hawaii, and apparently northern Europe, too. We cannot outrun weather, natural disasters, and unfortunate occurances of human error or other accidents.
As I watched film and looked at still photos of the flood in Nashville and the tornadoes in Oklahoma, my heart went out to my friends there. I suppose there is a distinct difference when friends are involved as opposed to seeing something on the news and being desensitized by it all. Yes, they suffered in the earthquake in Haiti. Yes, it was a terrible tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico. It was heart-wrenching watching the rescue efforts in the West Virginia coal mine.
But as I thought of the Hunters, Jones, Deels, Greenwoods, Carmacks, Markins ~ the list goes on and on ~ my heart hurt. Yes, there were many other names I could put on that list, but it would take more space than you would want to read. These are real names of real people with real homes. Some homes were damaged, some essentially destroyed. Some were spared, and for that we are grateful.
The one thing that has, and is, characterizing the people of Nashville, is their pro-active manner in cleaning up and reconstruction. The general population of Nashville did not sit on their hands waiting on the governor or President to authorize financial aid. They began the work on Monday morning. Churches and families came together and helped. Strangers who were spared damage got out and helped those who were hurting. People from across this great land of ours came to the aid of people in Nashville.
Its good the government can help. I'm sure the people there are thankful for it. But the strength of these people are not in how fast the government financial aid can arrive. The strength of these people is in the character of helping one another. One church in Nashville has as its slogan this year (even before the storm), Loving God, Loving People. That's what Christianity is all about. That's what a relationship with Jesus will produce.
Bill and Gloria Gaither wrote a song by a similar title ~ Loving God, Loving Each Other. We're praying for you, Nashville and Oklahoma City. Thank you for teaching America that loving God leads to loving people.
There have been tornadoes across the plains, hurricanes along the coasts, mining accidents in the mountains, explosions and oil spills in the oceans / gulfs. There are earthquakes (typically) out west, and yes, also in Haiti. Volcanoes make up much of Hawaii, and apparently northern Europe, too. We cannot outrun weather, natural disasters, and unfortunate occurances of human error or other accidents.
As I watched film and looked at still photos of the flood in Nashville and the tornadoes in Oklahoma, my heart went out to my friends there. I suppose there is a distinct difference when friends are involved as opposed to seeing something on the news and being desensitized by it all. Yes, they suffered in the earthquake in Haiti. Yes, it was a terrible tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico. It was heart-wrenching watching the rescue efforts in the West Virginia coal mine.
But as I thought of the Hunters, Jones, Deels, Greenwoods, Carmacks, Markins ~ the list goes on and on ~ my heart hurt. Yes, there were many other names I could put on that list, but it would take more space than you would want to read. These are real names of real people with real homes. Some homes were damaged, some essentially destroyed. Some were spared, and for that we are grateful.
The one thing that has, and is, characterizing the people of Nashville, is their pro-active manner in cleaning up and reconstruction. The general population of Nashville did not sit on their hands waiting on the governor or President to authorize financial aid. They began the work on Monday morning. Churches and families came together and helped. Strangers who were spared damage got out and helped those who were hurting. People from across this great land of ours came to the aid of people in Nashville.
Its good the government can help. I'm sure the people there are thankful for it. But the strength of these people are not in how fast the government financial aid can arrive. The strength of these people is in the character of helping one another. One church in Nashville has as its slogan this year (even before the storm), Loving God, Loving People. That's what Christianity is all about. That's what a relationship with Jesus will produce.
Bill and Gloria Gaither wrote a song by a similar title ~ Loving God, Loving Each Other. We're praying for you, Nashville and Oklahoma City. Thank you for teaching America that loving God leads to loving people.
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