David N. Walker's Blog, page 17

Abuse of Political Power

In Czarist Russia, it was common for people out of favor with the czar to be put in prison or sent to Siberia—or just summarily executed. When the Bolsheviks took over in 1917 and set up the U.S.S.R., the practice was carried forward by the Communists.

In dictatorships around the world, this practice has also been common. The most sure-fire method for quieting opposition has been to imprison or execute anyone who causes trouble for those in power.

Throughout history, it’s been much safer to be a peon keeping one’s head down than a prince losing favor with the king. No one worries about the person with no power or platform. It’s the rising stars, the members of the opposition’s power structure, that paint targets on their backs for those in power to aim at.

Supposedly, our country is a free, constitutional republic. Our forefathers came over here at great risk in order to escape the oppressive power structures so prevalent in other parts of the world. In the United States, prosecution for the purpose of silencing those with whom we disagree is strictly a no-no. Well, in theory anyhow.

Not so here in Texas. Sometime back in history, it was decided that the district attorney of Travis County, home of our state capital, should have the power to bring charges against political officeholders. I suppose this made sense at the time because of that D.A.’s proximity to the centers of state government.

This system worked well until a man named Ronnie Earle was elected to fill that office in 1976. Realizing that his constituency was overwhelmingly Democrat—his party—despite the growing Republican majority in the state, he decided to use his office as the czars and other tyrants used theirs.

For the first 15 or 20 years he was in office, state government was solidly in the hands of his own party, so he just did his job of prosecuting criminals. When his party began to lose its grip on power, however, Earle saw an opportunity to aggrandize himself by using his office to throw monkey wrenches into the Republican juggernaut.

The first major act he took to abuse his office for political gain was an ill-fated attempt to prosecute Kay Bailey Hutchison. The charges were so obviously trumped-up that the judge instructed the jury to return a “not guilty” verdict so double jeopardy would prevent Earle from pursuing the matter any further.

His most famous abuse occurred after the 2002 elections. Tom Delay became the Majority Leader in the U.S. House of Representatives after that election, and Earle decided he could harm his opponents by getting this man removed from office. His persecution prosecution of Delay was more successful than that of Hutchison. This time he found a more favorable judge, and the jury from the Democrat stronghold found him guilty. An appeals court, not subject to the political pressures of Travis County, reversed the conviction, but by then Delay had had to give up his position in Congress..

In 2010, the county’s voters elected Rosemary Lehmberg to succeed the retiring Earle. This stalwart was arrested in 2013 for drunk driving. A video showed her to be unquestionably inebriated and exhibiting extremely aggressive behavior toward the arresting officers, and she was sentenced to 45 days in jail.

Our governor, whom the people of Texas have kept in office for four terms, made the imminently reasonable request that this woman resign her office in light of her behavior. When she refused to do so, Governor Perry, exercising his authority under our state constitution, vetoed part of the state appropriation for her office.

Once more, this lady became an aggressor. This time she sought an indictment of the governor for doing his job. A grand jury filled with her partisans gave her the indictment she sought, and our governor is now forced to defend himself in a criminal case.

This isn’t Imperial Russia. This isn’t Maoist China. This isn’t some banana republic. This is the land of the free and the home of the brave. Except when some tinhorn politician manages to abuse a position of power to persecute his or her opponents.

What raw abuses of power have you seen in your state?

——————————————

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, Kay Bailey Hutchison, Life, Life experience, Life lessons, Life truths, Life values, People, Personal development, Rick Perry, Ronnie Earle, Rosemary Lehmberg, Self-help, Texas governor, Tom Delay

How Great Thou Art

Someone gave me a two-book series book called ­Then Sings My Soul, written by Robert J. Morgan. In the book, he gives background information on the authors of various hymns and the circumstances of their emergence into public acceptance. I find it interesting at times to read this information about some of my favorite hymns.

“How Great Thou Art” was first written as a one-verse poem in 1885 by a young Swedish minister named Carl Boberg. He called it “O Store Gud,” which translates “O Mighty God.”

An English missionary, Stuart Hine, heard the poem while in Russia, and he was moved to modify and expand it into a four-verse song, using the original poem as the basis for the fourth verse. He said he was inspired by the Carpathian Mountains.

Hine composed the first verse while caught in a thunderstorm in a Carpathian village. I can imagine his fascination with thoughts of God as he watched the storm and penned the words, “. . . I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed.”

Later, as he heard birds singing near the Romanian border, he wrote, “When through the woods and forest glades I wander, And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees . . .”

Upon his return to England, he recalled watching many Carpathian mountain dwellers come to Jesus, and this inspired him to write verse three, which is my favorite: “And when I think that God, His Son not sparing, Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in; That on the cross my burden gladly bearing, He bled and died To take away my sin.” He put the entire gospel in that one verse.

The song came to the attention of a music publisher named Tim Spencer, who got in touch with Mr. Hine and arranged to publish and record it. The copyright is dated in 1953.

We can probably thank George Beverly Shea for the song’s popularity. He heard it in 1954 and introduced it the following year during Billy Graham’s crusade in Toronto. He sang it 99 times during a crusade in New York in 1957.

It’s interesting how God gave the original idea to Boberg, inspired Hine to expand it and make it a full length hymn, and then used the magnificent voice of George Beverly Shea to popularize it. God truly does work in mysterious ways—and in his own timing. It took some 70 years for the song to be widely heard after the original poem was written, but in God’s timing that was mere seconds.

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

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: Billy Graham, Carl Boberg, Christian, Christian Fellowship, Christianity, David N. Walker Christian Author, David N. Walker Historical Fiction Author, Faith, Fancy Series, Forgiveness, George Beverly Shea, God is in control, Godly Wisdom, Grace, Heaven Sent, inspiration, Jesus, Sins, Stuart Hine, Tim Spencer, Works

Empathy for Whom?

I live in the most conservative urban county in one of the most conservative states in the country. I shouldn’t have to worry about out-of-control spending in local government, should I?

Surely the city leaders in Fort Worth must have respect for the taxpayers who fund all their projects. We’re not talking Washington, D.C. We’re talking about Main Street, U.S.A.

There’s been a recent controversy in our newspaper about a female police officer who was injured on the job and whether or not we should continue to carry her on the police payroll year after year when she can’t perform the duties of a police officer. The city council voted yesterday to continue carrying her.

Let me state clearly before I proceed that I support law enforcement. I appreciate the work cops do, and I respect them for it—well, except when they’re running speed traps. I realize their jobs are dangerous, and I think they should be paid well and should have benefits available to take care of them when they suffer on-the-job injuries.

That said, I also think we need to use a little common sense. I understand this officer is paralyzed from her chest down. She received her injury trying to make an arrest. Okay. No question she should be supported for the rest of her life. After all, she was injured because she was protecting us citizens.

But should that support be at a level of luxury far beyond the reach of most people? Do we owe her fine wines and caviar? Fur coats and jewelry?

In her current position, between her paycheck and her injury-related benefits, she makes $114,000 a year. If we quit carrying her on the payroll, she would draw disability benefits of only $86,000 a year, which she didn’t see how she could get along on.

Donald Trump would have trouble living on that, but for most of us that’s a pretty good income. My wife and I are both retired from successful careers, yet some years we don’t make the lower figure, much less the larger one—and that’s with her still working part time as an educator.

I want her to be paid enough to take care of herself and her daughter, but I don’t think we owe her the life of Riley. I’m glad our city council has empathy for people who protect us from criminals and from fires, but who empathizes with the taxpayers who fund all of this?

What do you think?

——————————————

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, Self-help, Taxpayers

Free Will Versus Sovereignty

As a part of the discussion in our Sunday School class Sunday, our teacher drew a continuum line on the board with “Free Will” at one end and “Sovereignty” at the other. The discussion centered on the idea that total free will would negate God’s sovereignty and that complete sovereignty would negate free will. Most of the thoughts expressed were that there must be a dilution of sovereignty in order for man to have free will and there could not be complete free will if God is sovereign.

My understanding of this doesn’t match either of these positions. I don’t see why either free will or sovereignty needs to be weakened in order for the other to exist.

As a Christian who believes that God created the heavens and the earth, including mankind, I believe He has total sovereignty. He can do anything He wants with His creation.

However, I also believe He had a purpose in creating mankind, and the only purpose I can glean from my understanding of His word as well as from the application of logic was to create a race of beings capable of choosing Him. In order for us to choose Him, we had to have free will. If He wanted servants, He already had millions of angels to fill that bill, but He wanted a family that would freely choose Him.

John 3:16 says that Jesus came so that anyone who believed on Him would be saved and would not perish. I had a free choice to believe or not believe. There would be consequences to my decision, but it was mine to make.

The thing that muddies the water here is God’s foreknowledge. He knew before He created Adam whether or not I would accept Jesus as my Savior. Since He knew that I would, He, in His sovereignty, brought about the circumstances necessary to bring me to that decision. Pure sovereignty. But it was still my decision to make. Pure free will.

Pure sovereignty and pure free will. To me, the two concepts are not mutually exclusive. I have no problem seeing the two working side by side.

What’s your opinion on this matter? Is God’s sovereignty lessened if man has free will? Is man’s free will abrogated if God is sovereign?

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

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: Christian, Christian Fellowship, Christianity, David N. Walker Christian Author, David N. Walker Historical Fiction Author, Faith, Fancy Series, Forgiveness, Free will, God is in control, God's Sovereignty, Godly Wisdom, Grace, Heaven Sent, inspiration, Jesus, Sins, Works

In Support of Art?

Anyone who read last Friday’s blog knows that I love Western art. Mountains, mesas, cowboys on horses, cattle drives, rugged canyons with lakes or rivers in them. I love all of that. I’m not so big on fuzzy pictures that make you think you’re seeing double or modern art that doesn’t depict anything recognizable to me, but I realize that such things are matters of taste. There’s not necessarily any right or wrong involved. Enjoy the art that appeals to you.

Where I draw the line is with the idea that government (read taxpayers) needs to support the artists who draw, paint or sculpt pieces that don’t sell well enough to buy the artist’s groceries and pay the rent. It has become common practice for the federal government, through the National Endowment for the Arts, to underwrite all sorts of art and artists.

My own city does the same thing. Every time we pass a bond issue, some portion of the proceeds will be earmarked to “support the arts.” Why is this? Why should taxpayers subsidize artists whose art—or promotional abilities—leave them without enough income to get along on?

As I say this, I realize that I’m an artist also. I don’t paint pictures or sculpt statues in my art. I use words to create those pictures in the stories I write. Unfortunately, I’m not a good enough promoter to bring flocks of readers to buy my books, but is that the fault of taxpayers? Should they be penalized for my lagging book sales?

The very thought of that is ludicrous. I’m in daily contact with dozens of writers through social media, and very few of them sell enough books to make a living, but that’s okay. We work day jobs or live on retirement resources or whatever we need to do while we ply our art. What justification could there possibly be for saddling taxpayers with the burden of supporting us?

Yet we think nothing of spending tax money to support people who can’t sell enough paintings or statuary to support themselves. We spend tax money to support local symphony orchestras which can’t raise enough revenue from ticket sales to allow their members to make a living. Why do these people have license to reach into your pocket for the money they can’t make with their art?

If you sell enough books to make a living, more power to you. But if you don’t, should big brother come along with money taken from taxpayers’ pockets and use it to support your writing? Why shouldn’t our writing—and painting and music—be supported by the people who enjoy reading or viewing or hearing it?

——————————————

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, National Endowment of the Arts, People, Personal development, Self-help

Understanding Me

We don’t really understand one another. In fact, we frequently don’t even understand ourselves. Over the weekend I got a glimpse of something that made me understand myself just a little better.

Seems like my preferences and opinions are usually at odds with most others’. Sci Fi and horror are huge genres with great popularity in today’s world, but I can’t stand either of them. Am I saying there is anything wrong with your enjoying these? No, just that I don’t.

Television has pushed the frontiers of sex and nudity to extremes we would never have even dreamed of back in the 50’s when I was growing up. While I have a normal male interest in the female form and such things, such television shows—and movies—are vaguely discomforting to me. When I watch a show or movie where a man and woman are hot and heavy with their kisses, I know where that would most likely lead in real life, but do I need to be shown the details on the screen? Can’t I be allowed to use my imagination?

Newspapers and magazines run ads for underwear, contraceptives, feminine hygiene products, male enhancement products for kids of all ages to see. Yes, I suppose these manufacturers need to advertize their products, but do we really need little kids seeing all these ads?

The oddity of my tastes doesn’t end there. Other people take vacations to go to cities they find interesting. I want to avoid cities on my way to remote mountains or maybe rugged coasts.

My wife Sharon—and most people I know—swoon at the sight of an old cathedral or museum. I want to get the heck outta there and go find some pretty scenery somewhere. Others enjoy seeing the Mona Lisa or the statue of David or other such art objects. I’d rather go to a Western art museum and see paintings of mountains or arroyos.

The other day, Sharon sent me an email containing mixed photos of buildings and scenery, and I found myself skipping over the buildings and lingering on the outdoor scenes. As I was doing that, it finally dawned on me why. I don’t know if God revealed this to me or I just figured it out, but this is what I realized.

Before I state my realization, I want to say very strongly that it’s not my intent to condemn or disparage anyone else’s viewpoint or motivations. I’m merely stating what I learned about myself.

When I see a building, be it a glass and steel skyscraper or an ancient cathedral, I see something man-made, and admiring it feels like I would be glorifying its creator. When I see a mountain or a river or a gorge or other natural phenomenon, admiring it glorifies THE Creator. I think this is why my tastes in planning vacations or looking at photos run the way they do.

Let me repeat my assertion that this is only a realization about my own tastes and choices and not an aspersion cast at yours. If you love going somewhere like Paris or Montreal and gazing at old buildings, going inside cathedrals and staring at the artwork and architecture, more power to you. Sharon does, too, and I’m sure a lot more people would agree with you and her than with me.

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

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: 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

Meeting Susie Lindau

In last Friday’s post, I talked about meeting Lara Schiffbauer and her family. Another writer I’d wanted to meet for a long time is Susie Lindau. I followed Susie’s blog long before she had her double mastectomy and the whole planet started following her.

My wish finally came true on this vacation. Pictured below, Sharon (standing) and I relaxed and visited with Susie and her husband Danny on an outdoor patio at her favorite restaurant, whose name escapes me.

A grin on his face, Danny introduced himself as Mr. Susie Lindau. I guess that’s the price of having a famous wife. Well, she’s certainly famous in our circles anyhow.

The Lindaus waited patiently as we chased our GPS up and down the street the restaurant was on. For a town its size, Boulder, Colorado, has a good bit of traffic, and it grew thicker as we finally approached the right end of the street. Crowds of pedestrians strolled up and down the block around our destination, and the city fathers picked up an idea from Boston, changing the street we were on to one-way against us.

It was well worth the trouble getting there. Susie and Danny are both delightful people who went out of their way to make us feel comfortable. Danny is in the real estate business, but both he and Susie make sure their work doesn’t interfere too much with their skiing. After all, they live next door to some of the best skiing on the planet, so why not keep their priorities straight.

Susie is over a year beyond her cancer and surgery, and she’s doing great. Both of them exude good health as well as friendliness. I’m so glad we managed to put this meeting together.

Arriving early in the afternoon, we decided to do a little sight-seeing before our dinner. Sharon found a couple of things that interested her in the AAA Tour Book we brought with us. She’s a fan of Celestial Tea, so when she saw their headquarters listed in the book, she had to see the place. It turned out we would have had to wait an hour and a half or so for a tour of their plant, so we passed on that, and I’m glad we did.

Had we waited there, we wouldn’t have had time to go to the Leanin’ Tree Museum, and that would have been a big loss. I’d never heard of Leanin’ Tree greeting cards, but apparently an awful lot of people have. Their plant is in Boulder a few blocks from Celestial Tea, and they operate a free art museum on the premises.

Most art museums I can drive by without slowing down, but I love Western art, and that’s what this place is all about. The lawn in front of the museum contains a number of Western statues, and the building itself houses dozens and dozens of high quality Western paintings.

When I think of Western art, the first names that come to mind are Remington and Russell, but I found a jewel here. I’d never heard of Bill Hughes, but his huge scenery paintings blew me away. I couldn’t quit looking at them.

If you ever have occasion to go to Boulder—or even Denver—don’t miss Leanin’ Tree. And arrange to meet Susie and Danny, too. I’d add Piper Bayard to that list, but you never know when she’ll be globetrotting to England or France.

What memorable vacation have you taken recently?

What memorable people have you met?

——————————————

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, Celestial Tea, David N. Walker Christian Author, David N. Walker Historical Fiction Author, Fancy Series, friends, Heaven Sent, Leanin' Tree Museum, Life, Life experience, Life lessons, Life truths, Life values, People, Personal development, Self-help, Susie Lindau

Non-Verbal Communication

A few weeks ago I posted about my 98 year-old mother and a caregiver in the assisted living home where she lives. I was surprised to hear Alysha tell me Mother had prayed for her, because Mother’s mind doesn’t appear to work much anymore.

About the time Sharon and I left on our vacation in early July, I received an email for this dear young lady telling me more about her experiences with my mother. Alysha is a young Christian feeling her way along on her walk with Jesus, and apparently God is using Mother to help and encourage her on that walk.

For the last couple of years or so, Mother’s life has consisted of getting up in the morning—with the assistance of caregivers—eating three meals a day, and sitting in a chair the rest of the time doing nothing. Her eyesight won’t let her read or watch television or work crossword puzzles anymore, and her knees won’t allow her to walk at all, so she sits with nothing to do.

Although I visit her several times a week and her various caregivers stop to chat with her when their workloads allow them to, she still spends hours every day bored to death for lack of anything to do.

I’ve wondered many times during these years why God leaves her here. If she can’t get any enjoyment out of life, why not just take her on home? It took Alysha’s arrival in her life to answer that question for me.

I now see that God has kept my mother alive and well—other than the knees and eyesight and memory, she’s healthy as a horse. He still has a use for her in the lives of others.

We recently moved her to a new assisted living facility, and since she got there, Alysha’s not the only one who has commented on Mother’s impact on her life. Several other caregivers and both the manager and assistant manager of the place have told me Mother has edified them just by being there.

She makes no long speeches. She doesn’t even talk about Jesus unless you count her constant singing of hymns. It’s a nonverbal communication that has impacted the lives of these women. Apparently my mother just exudes the Holy Spirit, and these women feel that spirit when they are in her presence.

It’s been a wonderful eye-opener to see and hear about this. I have a feeling approaching awe when I hear one of them talking about Mother’s effect on them.

I don’t really want to live to be 98 if it means not being able to walk or see or remember anything, but, if I do, I hope God will be able to use me as He uses my mother. In fact, right now while I still have my legs and my eyesight and a reasonable portion of my memory left, I hope He can use me in the lives of others like he does this lady who bore and raised me.

This sign has been posted on Facebook several times lately, and it expresses my desire precisely:

What examples of God’s using non-verbal communication to touch lives have you experienced—either in yourself or in someone else close to you?

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

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: 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, Non-verbal communication, Sins, Works

Finding Lara

My friend Lara Schiffbauer‘s first book is entitled Finding Meara. Since I finally got to meet last week after several years of online friendship, I thought I’d entitle this blog about that meeting “Finding Lara.”

When we planned our vacation to visit my sister and her family in Washington and Montana, one of my first thoughts was that I’d finally get to meet Lara. We would drive from Billings, Montana, to Cheyenne, Wyoming, and spend the night there. Wrong!

Little did I know that Cheyenne’s famous Frontier Days began last Friday—the night we intended to stay there. What few motel rooms were available were priced at double or triple their regular rates due to the demand from rodeo-goers who gather from all over the country for this event. We drove on down to Loveland, Colorado, to stay in a room that was only overpriced rather than ridiculously obscene.

Anyhow, we did arrange to meet Lara and her family at the Outback Steakhouse for supper. It was conveniently near I-25 and easy to find.

Lara posed for pictures with me after dinner. In the photo below, my wife Sharon joined Lara and me and Lara’s husband Rory and sons Spencer and Blake.

In addition to her book mentioned above, Lara blogs every Friday with funny photos of animals. Click her name to see her blogs. She also works full time as a social worker in addition to keeping house and raising two boys.

Several years ago Lara joined a group I belonged to called the Life List Club, which was founded by Marcia Richards and Jess Witkins. I’ve never met Marcia in person, but I’ve met Jess and Jenny Hansen, another club member, and now I’ve met Lara, too.

When I finished Fancy, the first volume of my novella series by the same name, Lara volunteered to edit it for me. Since then, she has edited each of the other volumes as well as the first volume of another series which I haven’t published as yet—and she has not asked for a penny for doing all of this. Her suggestions have been invaluable to me, not to mention her doing it for free.

The dinner was enjoyable. Spencer and Blake were probably less than thrilled to donate their time to meet with a couple of strangers, but they were friendly and well-behaved anyhow. Rory works for the state of Wyoming, but we were at opposite ends of the table and didn’t get to visit much. Actually, I guess Lara and I sorta ignored the rest of the group as we talked about writing.

It was a fun time, and it was great to meet this wonderful lady who has been so supportive of my writing. She keeps promising to let me help her with some editing when she gets her next book finished.

What social media friends have you met in person? Which ones would you most like to meet?

——————————————

WANA: 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, Lara Schiffbauer, Life, Life experience, Life lessons, Life truths, Life values, People, Personal development, Self-help

Fort Worth Tornado

This is the last of a series of posts suggested by a recent pictorial article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram about memorable events which have taken place here.

It was about 6:15 or 6:20 on the evening of March 28, 2000, when Sharon and I heard the sirens go off. It takes a pretty major weather event to make that happen, so we quickly glanced out our driveway door and looked to the southwest, since, as usual, that’s where the wind was coming from.

Seeing nothing in that direction, we moved to our back patio to look to the north. That’s when we saw it. We were in no danger, since it was some distance away and the wind was not blowing it toward us, but what we saw was a huge tornado.

It touched down just west of—and moving toward—downtown. The tornado was approximately a quarter of a mile wide, and it moved along the ground for some four miles before beginning to dissipate.

In its wake, it left 100 homes damaged, in addition to several major downtown buildings. Total damage is estimated at about $560 million in current dollars. For a storm that only lasted about ten minutes, that’s a lot of damage.

The Bank One Tower, pictured above in the wake of the storm, was one of the most beautiful in the area before the storm hit. This building, along with several other severely damaged high-rises, was eventually rebuilt and now houses residential apartments.

Calvary Cathedral, pictured below after the storm went by, wasn’t so fortunate. It was damaged beyond repair. The church eventually bought another building away from downtown and moved it, leaving this one to be razed.

One consequence of this disastrous ten minutes was the beginning of a new trend in city living. The rebuilding of the Bank One Tower with residential apartments sparked a major move toward downtown high-rise living. As a fan of the sprawling, low-density cities of the southwest, I personally find this trend sad. We are becoming more and more a high-rise, high-density city like New York. As usual, though, I’m in the minority on this. Most locals see this trend as a good thing.

What natural disasters have changed the character of your hometown?

——————————————

WANA: 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, Fort Worth Tornado, friends, Heaven Sent, Life, Life experience, Life lessons, Life truths, Life values, People, Personal development, Self-help, Tornado