David N. Walker's Blog, page 11

Roads

A few years ago, Texas opened a much-ballyhooed tollway to bypass the parking lot called Austin. I have no idea how many billions of dollars were spent on this tollway, but it’s only two lanes each direction.

There was easily enough right-of-way to build three or four lanes each direction, but we only built two. In a few years, someone will wake up and realize two are not enough. Then we’ll screw up traffic for some number of years while we add another lane or two each direction, and we’ll spend several times as much money as it would have taken just to build three in the first place.

More recently, we opened the Chisholm Trail Parkway, a toll road running from near downtown Fort Worth to Cleburne, a distance of some 28 miles. Most of this road is two lanes in each direction, but for the southernmost 10 or 12 miles it contains only one lane in each direction. How short-sighted is this? This road was basically insufficient the day it opened. Again, widening it will involve both screwing up traffic and spending several times as much money as it would have cost to do it right in the first place.

As tollways have proliferated in the last few years, taxpayers have begun grumbling about paying tolls on top of taxes. There’s a movement afoot to cease building roads involving tolls. Some are even suggesting abandoning the tolls on the existing ones.

If we tried to implement this last idea, we would run into two monstrous problems. First, we have contractual obligations to the companies that built the roads. We would have to dedicate huge sums of taxpayer money to buy out their interests. Secondly, we would immediately open these roads to many times the volume of traffic they now carry.

These and other toll roads around the state may be able to handle traffic volumes for the foreseeable future as long as the tolls remain, but how many people refrain from using them today because of the cost of the tolls? Anyone now driving through Austin on the way from here to San Antonio—or points in between—would avoid the horrible traffic on I-35 and bypass Austin if it weren’t for the tolls.

Without the Chisholm Trail Parkway, a driver has a choice of using a road that involves many traffic lights and a lot of heavy traffic, or adding another 10 miles to the trip to use I-35 and still end up with a lot of heavy traffic. If the parkway were available without a toll, how many people would opt for longer, slower routes? The parkway would be inundated with much more traffic than present lanes could handle.

It’s not just these two toll roads. It seems that every time a new road is built, the planners figure on yesterday’s traffic volume. We’re in the position of playing catch up practically from the moment a road opens. Why don’t we design our roads for the volume of traffic realistically expected 10 or 20 years from now? It would be cheaper and less interruptive than what we do now.

And when we do have to upgrade a road by widening it or avoiding crossroads, why must we tear up 30 miles of road at once, adding 30 minutes or an hour to the time it takes to get somewhere, and aggravating every driver on the road in the process? Why can’t we mess up maybe five miles at a time and get that completed before we mess up the next five miles?

What insanity do you experience in trying to use the roads of your city or state? How do you think they could do it better?

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We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.

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For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.

For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.

Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Advice, Authorship, Caring, David N. Walker Christian Author, David N. Walker Historical Fiction Author, Fancy Series, friends, Heaven Sent, Life, Life experience, Life lessons, Life truths, Life values, People, Personal development, Self-help

The Holy Spirit

Every Christian, along with a hefty portion of non-Christians, knows who God is and who Jesus is. They could tell you that God is the Father and Jesus is His Son, and most could tell you that it is Jesus—through His incarnation, life, death and resurrection—who provides our salvation. The person, position, and work of the Holy Spirit, however, are much less widely known and understood.

His first job in the lives of Christians is to serve as God’s guarantee of our salvation. Talking about the Holy Spirit, Paul says in Ephesians 1:13 & 14:

In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation—having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise,

who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of His glory.

At the moment of our salvation, the Holy Spirit is sealed inside each of us as the evidence of God’s promise that our names are in the Book of Life. A Christian doesn’t need to wonder whether or not he is going to heaven. That’s established when we accept Jesus as our Savior, and it’s guaranteed by the presence of the Holy Spirit in us.

While this sealing is the Holy Spirit’s first job in dealing with Christians, it’s not our first exposure to Him. God knows who will and who won’t accept the gift of salvation He offers through His Son, and He sends His Holy Spirit to deal with those of us who can be drawn to Jesus. We accept Jesus as our Savior only after the Holy Spirit works in us to draw us to that point of acceptance.

Once we’re saved and He is sealed in us, He has other jobs that relate to us. He serves as both a transmitter and receiver between a Christian and God. Paul says in Romans 8:26:

In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words

We don’t know how to communicate with a Holy God, but the Holy Spirit serves as our mediator in that communication. He knows what to say to God, and He helps us understand what God is saying to us.

Another important function of the Holy Spirit is to provide unity within the body of Christ. Left to our own devices, we establish sects and denominations and all sorts of divisions within the body, but the Holy Spirit cuts through the divisions to provide a level of unity.

Our unity is not perfect, because we are not perfect. We still wear these fleshly bodies, and we are at all times subject to our own desires and egos. But within that framework, the Holy Spirit provides a level of unity that can be surprising at times.

The lady who runs my mother’s assisted living home is a devout Christian. When she interviews potential caregivers to hire, the Holy Spirit in her identifies the presence or absence of the Holy Spirit in the interviewees. Relying on that, she has a very high batting average in identifying and hiring Christians to work there.

This post is not intended as an exhaustive study on the Holy Spirit. We’ve only touched on a few things He does in our lives. What other things can you think of the Holy Spirit does for you? What examples come to your mind of things He’s done for you?

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If you abide in Me and My word abides in you, then you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

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For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.

For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.

Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.

Filed under: Christian Thoughts Tagged: Bible, Christian, Christian Fellowship, Christianity, David N. Walker Christian Author, David N. Walker Historical Fiction Author, Faith, Fancy Series, Forgiveness, God is in control, Godly Wisdom, Grace, Heaven Sent, Holy Spirit, inspiration, Jesus, Sins, Works

G.R.O.S.S.

Prepare to be grossed out. I was. We’ve probably all experienced this, most of us more than once, but that doesn’t make it any less unpleasant.

Yesterday, I had to use the toilet in a public restroom, as people my age often do. When I opened the stall door, I discovered that the last person who used it left me a wonderful present. Having gone number two, he left without flushing. Eeeewww! Both the visual and the odor were gross.

What kind of person does this? You might expect a toddler to behave in this manner, but how many toddlers go into public restrooms without parental supervision? Especially when the door requires someone to come enter a combination just to let you in? No, I don’t think the culprit here was a toddler.

So was this some teenager who thought it would be cute to do this? Could it have been someone so uncouth he didn’t know any better? I have trouble imagining that either of these could be the case.

Why anyone would do this is completely beyond me. I guess someone who grew up using an outhouse and wasn’t aware toilets could be flushed might do it, but are there really any such people in the United States today? I doubt it.

Of course, this isn’t the first time I’ve ever come upon this situation, but that makes it no less disgusting. I’m glad it wasn’t in a restaurant. I don’t think I could have eaten after that, and if I’d just finished eating I might have lost whatever I ate.

What do you think of people who do such things? Can you think of anything to do about it—other than flush? I can’t. Please share your thoughts on this sorry subject.

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We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.

——————————————

For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.

For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.

Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Advice, Authorship, Caring, David N. Walker Christian Author, David N. Walker Historical Fiction Author, Fancy Series, friends, Heaven Sent, Life, Life experience, Life lessons, Life truths, Life values, People, Personal development, Public toilets, Self-help

Blind Bartimaeus

There’s an interesting passage in the 10th chapter of Mark in which a blind man seeks to have Jesus heal his blindness:

    46     Then they came to Jericho. And as He was leaving Jericho with His disciples and a large crowd, a blind beggar named Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, was sitting by the road.

     47     When he heard that it was Jesus the Nazarene, he began to cry out and say, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!”

     48     Many were sternly telling him to be quiet, but he kept crying out all the more, “Son of David, have mercy on me!”

     49     And Jesus stopped and said, “Call him here.” So they called the blind man, saying to him, “Take courage, stand up! He is calling for you.”

     50     Throwing aside his cloak, he jumped up and came to Jesus.

     51     And answering him, Jesus said, “What do you want Me to do for you?” And the blind man said to Him, “Rabboni, I want to regain my sight!”

     52     And Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and began following Him on the road.

There were many instances of Jesus’s healing in the Gospels, but verse 50 differentiates this healing from any others. It starts out, “Throwing aside his cloak . . .”

Blind people in this time and place had special cloaks that identified them. When people saw an individual wearing that particular type of cloak, they knew he was blind, and they gave the person special consideration. The cloak, for a blind person, was like a crutch for someone with a broken or lame leg. Throwing the cloak aside would have been like a lame man’s throwing aside his crutch.

This action on the part of Bartimaeus was a major step of faith. Without the cloak he would forfeit whatever special consideration it entitled him to, but he believed enough in Jesus’s healing power he was willing to forego it.

God often expects us to give Him some sign of our faith, and He rewards us richly when we do so. There’s no formula that if I always do this, He will always do that. He asks different things of different people in different circumstances, and it’s up to us to discern what He expects when.

At times there’s a fine line between following God’s lead and doing something foolishly of our own volition. I can’t say that I’m sensitive enough to God’s will to do this perfectly. Sometimes I get it right, and often I get it wrong, but whether or not I do this properly doesn’t alter the principle. We all—especially yours truly—need to hone our ability to hear God by practicing the art of listening to Him. The better we become at hearing and discerning His voice, the more we can receive His blessings.

What has God told YOU lately to do in order to trigger His blessings?

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If you abide in Me and My word abides in you, then you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

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For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.

For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.

Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.

Filed under: Christian Thoughts Tagged: Bartimaeus, Bible, blessings, Christian, Christian Fellowship, Christianity, David N. Walker Christian Author, David N. Walker Historical Fiction Author, Faith, Fancy Series, Forgiveness, God is in control, Godly Wisdom, Grace, Heaven Sent, inspiration, Jesus, Mark, Sins, Works

Newspaper Foolishness

The newspaper industry is hurting. Circulation is in a long-term downward trend for almost all major newspapers. The Fort Worth Star-Telegram recognizes the problem and has a unique solution.

The solution is to cut back on customer service. Antagonize the customer in any ways possible and let them know they are unimportant.

Sounds insane, doesn’t it? But that’s what’s happening.

When my wife and I go out of town, we always call to stop the paper until we return. We used to talk to a live person when we did that, but, of course, it’s become de rigeur for all businesses to impersonalize everything as much as possible, so for several years now, we’ve had to press ‘one’ for this and ‘two’ for that in order to get it stopped.

Although impersonal, the system worked. They would stop delivery until the date we told them to restart, and they would credit our account for the cost of the days missed.

Sometime recently, they stopped this with no announcement. When we returned home from a weekend trip, we found three papers scattered on our porch, so my wife called the newspaper office. After several attempts, she managed to get through to a live person, who told her our only options now are either to have them saved and delivered when we get home or donate them to some program of theirs. Since she had not chosen either option, they ignored the stop.

They have a special aggravation for crossword and anagram users. They print them on page two of a section, so that the reader is forced to refold the paper to work them. I don’t know about you, but I can’t fold them exactly along the crease, so I end up with the paper all antigoggling.

It would be so easy to put them on page three so we could just slip that part of the paper out of the section, or—even better—on the back page, where they could be accessed without any problem, but they won’t do it. I’ve talked to the Senior VP/Executive Editor, a man named Dim—oops, Jim—Witt, and his attitude is basically that of Marie Antoinette who, when told the peasants didn’t have enough bread to eat, said, “Let them eat cake.” He made it clear that he was not concerned with the convenience of his customers.

I guess these people are all hoping the whole industry will go broke so they will lose their jobs and can draw unemployment or welfare or something.

What insane experiences have you had with your local newspaper or with other companies intent on cutting their own noses off to spite their faces?

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We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.

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For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.

For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.

Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Advice, Authorship, Caring, David N. Walker Christian Author, David N. Walker Historical Fiction Author, Fancy Series, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, friends, Heaven Sent, Life, Life experience, Life lessons, Life truths, Life values, Newspapers, People, Personal development, Self-help

How Blessed I Am

Although I live in a metropolitan area with a population of some seven million people, many of whom seem to drive two cars at the same time, I normally manage to avoid the worst of rush hour traffic. I stay in my part of town and don’t usually venture out of the house between 6:00 and 9:00 a.m. or between 3:30 and 7:00 p.m. If I have to be out during those rush hours, I can usually pick my way along back roads and quiet neighborhood streets.

The other day I had to take my sister Barb to DFW Airport. I normally avoid that place like the plague, since it seems to be busy 24 hours a day, but she needed to catch a plane back home to Spokane.

Knowing my aversion to traffic, Barb always arranges her flights so I won’t be out during the rush hours. This morning, her flight left at 6:45, so we left the house about 5:00 to get her there around 5:30, and I was amazed at the amount of traffic on the freeways at that hour.

As I drove south through Arlington on SH 360 looking at the thick traffic on the northbound side and the almost equally thick traffic ahead of and behind me, I began to reflect on how fortunate I’ve been to avoid that sort of thing. Passing the huge parking lot at the General Motors assembly plant, where cars moved about as the shift change took place, I thanked God I’d never worked at a company where I had to compete with thousands of other drivers for a parking place or work my way through a madhouse of vehicles trying to enter or exit at the same time.

Continuing that train of thought, I recalled that the only time in my life I had to contend with real traffic getting to and from work was my first year out of college, when I worked for a CPA firm located in a bank building in downtown Fort Worth. And in 1964 and 65 traffic was nothing compared to today.

The next 20 years after that, I struggled financially with highly undependable commission income, but at least I was spared from the worst of traffic. The second half of my career, the income situation improved dramatically, and I still worked during non-rush hours and/or out in rural areas, once again avoiding the kind of traffic so many people face every day.

The experience this morning served to remind me once again how truly blessed I am and have been all my life. God has been so good to me, and I’ve done so little to deserve it. All I can do is maintain a thankful heart.

What ongoing blessings are you thankful for?

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If you abide in Me and My word abides in you, then you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

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For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.

For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.

Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.

Filed under: Christian Thoughts Tagged: Bible, Christian, Christian Fellowship, Christianity, David N. Walker Christian Author, David N. Walker Historical Fiction Author, Faith, Fancy Series, Forgiveness, Fort Worth, God is in control, Godly Wisdom, Grace, Heaven Sent, inspiration, Jesus, Rush Hour, Sins, traffic, Works

Speak Up

It pays to speak up when you’re involved in a situation that’s really wrong. I’m not talking about nagging and griping about every little thing that doesn’t go your way, but when something is truly unfair, we should not just suffer in silence.

Three weeks ago, I posted a blog about my complaints about my experiences the day my wife Sharon had hip replacement surgery—and about the hospital’s response to my complaints. They took what I said seriously and began an in depth study to see how best to correct the problems.

As I mentioned in that post, they invited me to a meeting of senior department heads to discuss it. In fact, a follow-up meeting was scheduled to take place as I write this, but they postponed it to keep me from having to drive on snow and ice to get there. They will reschedule for next week and still want me to attend.

More recently, I wrote a letter to the president of Care ‘N’ Care, the insurance company that provides our Medicare advantage plan. Both Sharon and I had spoken to lower level employees about grievances that had gone uncorrected. I was angry and wanted something done.

Fortunately, I managed to maintain a level of calm while I wrote the letter, but I did spell out the grievances in some detail. I assumed my letter would be recycled into some employee’s trashcan, but it wasn’t. I received a call from the president a week or so later. When I told him I was in a meeting and asked if I could call him back, he said he would call me back around the time I told him I’d be available.

He was going to the airport later that day to fly somewhere, so I didn’t really think he’d call me, but he did. He told me he was in the car en route but wanted to address my complaints. We had a very good conversation in which he agreed to pay a claim that had been held up for six months by the dental insurance company his company dealt with. He also told me they realized my complaints about the dental company were well deserved and that they were in the process of replacing that company as we spoke.

By the time we finished our conversation, he had addressed every issue I had raised. Lacking a magic wand, he couldn’t promise to make every change I requested, but he told me what they could and would change and gave me solid reasons why they couldn’t change the ones they couldn’t.

Before we hung up, he thanked me for my letter. He said that when people call or write to say everything is wonderful it makes them feel good but that it doesn’t help them identify problems and search for solutions. He said letters like mine were very helpful in pointing toward things that needed to be changed.

Neither the hospital nor the insurance company has suddenly attained perfection, but that’s okay. I’m not quite perfect either. The point is that in both cases, what I had to say was important enough that they gave me a fair hearing and told me what changes they would make and why they couldn’t change the rest. In the process, they made me feel much better about them.

How do you deal with shortcomings of companies you deal with?

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We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.

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For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.

For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.

Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Advice, Authorship, Care 'N' Care, Caring, David N. Walker Christian Author, David N. Walker Historical Fiction Author, Fancy Series, friends, Heaven Sent, Life, Life experience, Life lessons, Life truths, Life values, Medicare, Medicare advantage plans, People, Personal development, Self-help

Thanking God

You probably have no trouble thanking God when you recognize a blessing. Your child is healthy, you got a raise, you found the right mate—these and other blessings just naturally evoke our thanks. But do you thank Him for a flat tire or for delaying your plans or for other such things? Probably most of us don’t, but I remember vividly a story that happened to a real life family and which bears on this situation.

This family was traveling northbound on US 287. I don’t know their point of origin or their destination, but they were headed toward Wichita Falls. Just outside of Bowie, Texas, they had a flat tire.

Even though they were traveling at highway speed, they were able to maintain control of the car and get stopped. They got the tire changed and resumed their trip after a delay of some 20 or 30 minutes. About 35 or 40 miles later as they neared the tiny town of Jolly, they came upon a horrible wreck in which several people were killed.

The highway was blocked anyway, so the man got out to see if there was anything he could do to help. In talking to others, he learned the time the accident had taken place. He realized as he stood there that if he had not had the flat tire he would have arrived at that point just as the accident took place. He and his entire family would likely have been killed.

That story has stuck with me for many years now. In all honesty, I can’t say I thank God for red lights or slow drivers, but I do frequently thank Him for things which don’t appear on the surface to be blessings. Probably because of that story, flat tires have always been an easy one for me, and I have some stories of my own where I was thankful for a flat tire.

Once, I was leaving Corpus Christi near dusk, headed back to Fort Worth. I’d just returned from an extended vacation and had failed to notice that my tires were wearing thinner than they should be. A few miles out of Corpus I had a flat just as I came to the entrance to a rest area. I was able to pull into the rest area instead of stopping on the side of the road to change my tire. I pulled into a tire place in San Antonio just before they closed, where I discovered all four of my tires needed to be replaced. If I’d gotten there 15 minutes later, they would have been closed. I would either have had to stay overnight or else proceed on worn tires without a spare.

Another time, Sharon and I left Fort Worth in mid-afternoon to head for California on vacation. We had a flat tire about an hour west of home, and the blown tire came apart and damaged the rear fender and rear air conditioner on my van. If I’d gone even 20 miles farther before the blowout, I wouldn’t have been able to get back to town to a tire store before it closed.

This happened on a Friday, and I was able to get into an auto repair facility the next morning to get repairs done on the damage the tire had caused. Heading west from Fort Worth toward California, there’s a lot of empty space where there are no cities large enough to have the repairs done—particularly on a weekend—so once again I was glad not only to have a flat, but also of the timing.

What seeming bad things have you realized you needed to thank God for?

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If you abide in Me and My word abides in you, then you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.

For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.

Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.

Filed under: Christian Thoughts Tagged: Bible, Christian, Christian Fellowship, Christianity, David N. Walker Christian Author, David N. Walker Historical Fiction Author, Faith, Fancy Series, Forgiveness, God is in control, Godly Wisdom, Grace, Heaven Sent, inspiration, Jesus, Sins, Works

Smells of the Past

Does the past have an odor? To me it definitely does. Certain things I smell always remind me scenes from my childhood.

The most prevalent one is the smell of freshly mown grass. I played a lot of golf when I was growing up, and from late spring until early fall, mowers were always at work somewhere on the course. I guess the cutting of the blades of grass must release some chemical into the air or something, because the smell was pervasive—and pleasant.

So much of my childhood and teenage years involved golf courses that any such memory gives me warm feelings. They take me back to a time when my biggest worry in life was getting home from school in time to be able to play football with the neighbor kids or getting home on Friday or Saturday night early enough not to get into trouble with my parents. And, of course, there’s the smell itself. Such a sweet, pungent odor. I still love what it does to my senses.

What gave me the idea for this post was a smell I encountered on the way to meet a friend for breakfast this morning. I don’t know how this smell came to me with the car windows rolled up and the heater on, but I caught the smell of clothes being ironed. Weird, I know, but it was there somehow.

When I was a kid, before the day of all the synthetic no-iron fabrics, most clothes had to be ironed. I have wonderful memories of walking through the room when my mother was ironing and smelling the fresh smell made by the iron on the shirts or whatever she happened to be ironing.

Baking smells remind me of my maternal grandmother. She was a wonderful baker, and I have sweet memories of the odor of her cinnamon rolls or homemade yeast rolls wafting from the oven.

What smells take you back to treasured days of your childhood?

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We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.

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For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.

For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.

Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.

Filed under: Uncategorized Tagged: Advice, Authorship, Caring, David N. Walker Christian Author, David N. Walker Historical Fiction Author, Fancy Series, friends, Heaven Sent, Life, Life experience, Life lessons, Life truths, Life values, People, Personal development, Self-help, Smells

Beauty from Inner Strength

Because of today’s special post, I won’t be posting my regular Christian blog tomorrow. I don’t know why I didn’t enter the first Beauty of a Woman blogfest, but this is my third one. I wouldn’t miss it. To me, the true beauty of a woman is her inner strength, not her surface appearance. My novella series, Fancy, and my current WIP are both celebrations of women’s strength.

In case you’re not familiar with it, this is an annual blogging event put on by August McLaughlin – http://www.augustmclaughlin.com/boaw15/ – honoring real women rather than the idealized version the entertainment and modeling industries put forth. If you go to August’s website after you finish reading this, you will find a number of links to other posts honoring women.

Most of these posts will be about woman, per se, rather than any individuals. For this year’s fest, however, I’ve elected to honor three specific women as examples of womanhood.

Since most of you know Kristen Lamb, I’m going to start with her. When I first met her, no one knew her. She was president of a writers’ group I joined, and she had her hands full dealing with a few dissidents whose main purpose in life, apparently, was to give her a hard time. I soon became her ally, and many times I practically had to dry the tears from her eyes because of the way they treated her.

After a few years of that, we both decided enough was enough, and we started our own group, specifically designed to teach the fundamentals of writing novels. We called our new group the Warrior Writers’ Boot Camp.

About that same time, she was learning to use social media and soon wrote the book We Are Not Alone. The rest has been history. She has become widely known as an expert in the field and has thousands of fans around the world. She could easily have given up and turned her back on writing, considering the way people were treating her, but she didn’t. The strength she exhibited in going forth from there is a great example for women everywhere.

While just about everybody who reads my blog posts knows Kristen, very few, if any of you, know my other two examples of the beauty of strong women. Well known or not, they both exemplify everything good and positive about a strong woman.

My sister Barb Estinson has known—and risen above—sadness and adversity in her life. She married her high school sweetheart and raised four kids with him. He was a Methodist pastor, and pastoral salary was always on the slim side. Barb had to dress and cook a lot of fish and game to feed the family. She also bought powdered milk and mixed her own, and she made her own homemade bread. BTW, her bread was much better than any bought in stores.

After a number of years as a homemaker, divorce threw her out onto the job market to support herself and one to three of her kids, depending on which ones lived with their dad at any given time. She managed to keep her head above water somehow as she finished raising the kids, undertook a second marriage, and moved several times to satisfy her husband’s wanderlust.

Just as life seemed to be settling down for her, her oldest child took her own life, leaving behind three daughters—one age ten and two age nine. I can’t pretend to know how Barb felt as she went through the experience of losing her daughter. I’m only thankful I haven’t experienced such a thing.

In her later fifties, she found herself raising one of these granddaughters. While she was doing this, her second husband decided to leave. Once again, she faced life alone and managed to deal with it.

Barb has now been married for ten or eleven years to Joe Estinson, and life seems to have settled down pretty well for her. She has a good husband, loving stepchildren, a reasonably comfortable—if not plush—retirement, but nothing has ever come easily for her. She truly represents the beauty of a strong woman.

Please indulge me while I submit my wife Sharon as my third example. She grew up in a middle class family where no one suffered, but money was never plentiful. She worked part of the time as she got her teaching degree, and then got married and supported her husband as he finished dental school.

When their son was a toddler, her husband moved on, leaving her to raise him on her own. He did pay child support, but did little more. She had to take over the house payments, car payments, and everything else to support herself and her son.

While teaching school to support the two of them, she drove countless 90 mile round-trips to Denton, Texas, to get her master’s degree and then continued there to get an administrative certification so she could make more money. Somewhere along the way she also became certified as a counselor, because she did that for several years before she became an assistant principal.

When I met Sharon in 1990, she’d been single for16 or 17 years. She was spending over half her take-home pay to put her son through the University of Texas, where he spent five years earning a B.A. and Master’s in accounting together.

She worked ten- to fourteen-hour days most of the time both before and after we married. Her principal and her fellow assistant principals always went home long before she did, because they knew they could dump whatever work on her they needed to. Although she’s now been retired for nearly 14 years, she still works four days a week. That’s just Sharon—my beautiful wife and one tough lady.

I’m sure most of the women reading this have had to stand strong through the years. Whom do you know who is a female example of this kind of spirit?

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We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.

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For more information about David N. Walker, click the “About” tab above.

For more information about his books, click on “Books” above.

Contact him at dnwalkertx (at) gmail (dot) com or tweet him at @davidnwalkertx.

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