David N. Walker's Blog, page 20

It’s Party Time

Instead of my normal Tuesday blog, we’re having a party today to celebrate the fact this is my 400th post. Ta-Da!!

  

Have a piece of cake and some ice cream—maybe a glass of bubbly. For those who prefer, you know I always have coffee, too.

Today, I’m stealing plagiarizing borrowing an idea from my friend Susie Lindau and inviting you to use me and abuse me. Comment below and include a link to one of your blogs so other readers can jump over and see what you have to say. As Susie always says, only one link per person.

While you’re at it, click on some of the other people’s links and see what they’re writing about. You might discover a new blog you want to subscribe to.

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WANA: 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, Susie Lindau

A Brief Word

As I mentioned last Friday, I’m working at the North Texas LPGA Shootout this week, and then Friday afternoon I’ll be heading to the DFW Writers’ Conference. I’m supposed to be at a parking lot at Texas Stadium at 6:00 each morning to ride a bus to the golf course. Since that’s about an hour away from my house, I’ll be leaving around 5:00 each morning, which means getting up at 4:00. *Yawns*

All this means I’m not going to have much writing time this week. It’s Tuesday afternoon now, and I’m preparing this ahead of time to be sure I have something to let you know I haven’t forgotten about you.

If I have a chance—okay, if I have a thought—tomorrow or Thursday, I’ll update this. Otherwise, enjoy my brevity and go read someone else’s blog.

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WANA: 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, DFW Writers' Conference, DFWCon., Fancy Series, friends, Heaven Sent, Life, Life experience, Life lessons, Life truths, Life values, LPGA, North Texas LPGA Shootout, People, Personal development, Self-help

Guarding the Tongue

My dear friend Charity Kountz has been going through a rough time lately dealing with the breakup of her marriage and all the myriad problems that can go along with such an event. She posted the following sign on Facebook.

I agree with her point, that it’s okay to walk alone and that it’s better to be alone than with an unloving spouse or significant other. We’ve all had people in our lives at one time or another who did nothing but drag us down. Such relationships are poison, and we need to escape from them as quickly as possible.

After reading it, I posted the following comment: “Buddha would not understand, but Jesus is willing to be your husband and companion. Buddha had to walk alone, but you don’t, Charity.”

Charity knows me well enough to know that my intentions were good, but after reading her reply to my comment, I saw that my comment could be taken as putting her down for posting the quote in the first place. Such was definitely not my intention, but it made me realize I have a tendency to speak too quickly at times, and I think a lot of Christians may share that fault with me.

My intention was to remind her that she was not alone—that Jesus was always with her and that she could count on Him for comfort and companionship. That’s absolutely true, but stating it as I did may have hurt more than it helped.

What have you said or done recently with the best of intentions that may have hurt the person you were trying to help?

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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: Charity Kountz, 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 Some Sports Idols

Golf has always been an important part of my life. My dad gave me a few mismatched clubs when I was eight years old and let me go with him sometimes when he played. He told me he would buy me a set of real clubs the first time I broke 50 for nine holes. I guess he felt safe, because he’d played for several years and never broken 50 before.

It took me a couple of years to win that set of clubs, and I used them all the way through high school and college and for another six or eight years after that. No serious golfer uses the same set of clubs that long, but I couldn’t afford a new set.

I played off and on for the next couple of decades, but it wasn’t until I took a series of lessons from an old high school acquaintance who had become a well-known teaching pro that I really developed my game. I’d always had an almost good game up until that, but I still shot over 80 for 18 holes as often as I shot below.

After those lessons, however, it began to come together. I rarely broke par for 18 holes, but I did settle into the range from about 73 to 77 most of the time. Not bad for a guy in his fifties and sixties. Due to some health problems, I gave the game up before I turned seventy, and I gave all my equipment to First Tee, an organization that helps and encourages underprivileged kids to learn the game.

Ceasing to play has not diminished my interest in the game. I’ve always enjoyed watching golf on TV. For years I just watched the PGA Tour, but about 20 years or so ago I got interested in the LPGA Tour. I found watching the ladies more interesting than the men, and not just to stare at pretty women. I really enjoy watching them play.

A little over a year ago, the LPGA announced a new tournament to be played in the Fort Worth-Dallas Metroplex—The North Texas LPGA Shootout. They needed to find volunteers to work the tournament, and they didn’t have long to put it all together. I volunteered and was assigned to be a marshal, which meant I stood beside one of the greens to be available for crowd control or anything else they needed me for.

At the Pro-Am the day before the tournament, I got to speak to Paula Creamer and Morgan Pressel, two of my favorites. I didn’t get to see any of the action except around the green I was assigned to, but it was great just being that close to these ladies.

Four of my favorites: Lexi Thompson, Paula Creamer, Morgan Pressel, and Cristy Kerr

The tournament is back this coming week. This time, my assignment is driving a golf cart. That could entail carrying players and their clubs in from the parking lot or just about anything else. I don’t really know what to expect, but I’m stoked about getting to be there again.

Must be either excited or crazy, because I have to be at Las Colinas Country Club at 5:30 a.m., and it’s an hour’s drive from here. Guess I’ll be getting up before the chickens.

The only bad thing is the scheduling. The DFW Conference is next weekend. I can work the tournament Wednesday through Friday mornings, but I’ll be at the writers’ conference after that.

Maybe next week I can tell you about what golfers I got to be close to.

What things have you done that put you in proximity with a sports star or entertainment personality?

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WANA: 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, LPGA, Morgan Pressel, North Texas LPGA Shootout, Paula Creamer, People, Personal development, PGA, Self-help

Trust

Sunday my wife and I went to church with our daughter and her family. They had also invited a young couple who recently had triplets. Not just triplets, but IDENTICAL triplets.

These girls are so identical even the parents have trouble telling them apart. Emma is a little smaller than her sisters, so it’s not too difficult to tell her from them, but Joy and Josh had their pediatrician pierce Kinley’s ears to differentiate her from Savannah.

Emma is on the left behind Savannah. Kinley is on the right.

Sharon and I had never met this couple, much less their daughters, but I ended up getting to hold Savannah anyhow. She was fine for a minute or two, but then she decided I was a stranger, and she didn’t like the idea. She started bawling until I passed her back to my daughter. She knows Lynn, and once I passed her back to her, she was fine.

As the church service progressed, I thought a lot about that. It’s such a typical reaction among infants that I became intrigued with the thought.

Savannah didn’t know me, so she had no reason to trust me. On the other hand, she knew my daughter, so she was fine with her. As I pondered on this, God used the occasion to preach me a little sermon.

Jesus wants us to trust Him, but how can we trust someone we don’t know? We all have a tendency to want to rely on ourselves anyhow, and it takes a lot to overcome that bit of human nature. What God was speaking to me as I thought about Savannah was that it’s only as we come to know Jesus that we can trust Him—and the better we know Him, the more we trust Him.

One of my sister’s granddaughters posted this on Facebook Monday morning:

Sounds kinda like the secret to inner peace and freedom from worry involves trust in Jesus. Trusting Him requires knowing Him well enough to be able to trust.

How well do you know Jesus? How totally are you able to give Him your cares and worries and let Him handle them?

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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: 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, Philippians, Sins, Trust, Works

Happy Easter

Due to houseguests and trip to spend Easter with my daughter and her family, I didn’t get a post ready for today. I be back with something fresh next week.

Meanwhile, remember:

He gave His life so you and I could have life.

Happy Easter.

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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, Easter, Fancy Series, friends, Heaven Sent, Life, Life experience, Life lessons, Life truths, Life values, People, Personal development, Self-help

Chick-fil-A

I recently came across this story on the internet. When I Googled it to find out who originally reported it so I could attribute it, I found a couple of different sources named, so I don’t know whom to credit. It was too good an example of Christianity in action not to report it, though, so here it is:

Two years ago Chick-fil-A made national headlines when company president Dan Cathy spoke out in support of traditional marriage. Liberals and gays  came unglued and launched massive protests against the  restaurant  chain.  Several mayors spoke out saying they would not  allow any more  Chick-fil-A’s to be built in their cities. They tried  boycotting the  Christian owned company, but that backfired. Instead,  Chick-fil-A had a  world record day with many locations selling out of food to the  hundreds of thousands of supporters. Is it any surprise that  the  only news the liberal mainstream media has reported concerning Chick-fil-A  has been the negative?

Remember the recent ice storm that hit the south? The mainstream media showed footage of miles of cars stranded on the frozen interstates.  Several national news broadcasts that I  saw reported about school kids trapped on buses for almost 24 hours because of all of the ice and parents going frantic wondering where  their kids were.

In all of the icy gloom and doom, I bet you didn’t hear about the heroic and generous actions of a Chick-fil-A along Highway 280 in Birmingham, Alabama, did you?

Mark  Meadows, owner of the Chick-fil-A closed early the day of the storm and sent all  of his employees home.  However, the employees and Meadows soon discovered that they were not going to be able to get home with all of the  stranded motorists stuck on the roads.  Some of the cars near the  restaurant had been stranded for up to 7 hours.

Audrey Pitt, manager of the Chick-fil-A described the conditions: “Our store is about a mile and a half from the interstate and it took me two hours to get there.  It was a parking lot as far as I could see. At one point there were more people walking than driving.”

Meadows and his employees fired up the kitchen and began preparing chicken sandwiches as fast as they could. They prepared several hundred sandwiches and then Meadows and his staff headed out and began distributing the hot meals to  the stranded motorists on both sides  of Highway 280.

Some of the drivers tried to pay them for the sandwiches, but Meadows and his employees refused to take a single penny. Pitt explained why: “This  company is based on taking care of people and loving people before you’re worried about money or profit.  We were just trying to follow the  model that we’ve all worked under for so long and the model that we’ve come to love. There was really nothing else we could have done but try to help people any way we could.”

However, Meadows and Pitt were not through with their Good Samaritan efforts.  They helped push cars off the roads, up inclines and whatever else they could do to help. Then they kept the restaurant open overnight so that stranded motorists could have a warm place to be.  A number of motorists slept in booths or on the benches.

In the morning they again fired up the kitchen and prepared chicken biscuits for their overnight guests, and once again they refused to accept any payment.  During that 24 hour period, this Chick-fil-A restaurant opened their kitchen, their doors and  their hearts to hundreds of stranded motorists, and they did so refusing to accept any payment.  As one source put it, Meadows and his staff  lived up to the words Jesus spoke in Matthew 25:35 which states:

“For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in…”

Their actions were truly generous and heroic as they also braved the frigid temperatures to hand out hundreds of hot meals to complete strangers.  And I bet you never heard anything about this from the mainstream media.  Had it been a group of homosexuals or atheists, it would have been on the front page of the newspapers. It was too much against their liberal standards to report a Christian company doing something so positive for so many.

[Christians] need to support this and all Christian companies.

How do you feel about the lack of coverage of the good deeds of Christians while the media pursue their agendas of political correctness?

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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: Audrey Pitt, Chick-fil-A, Christian, Christian Fellowship, Christianity, Dan Cathy. Mark Meadows, 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

The Weight of a Grudge

A grudge is a heavy thing to carry. It can have serious consequences not only for those involved, but also for innocent bystanders.

One of the Godliest men I know is the victim of grudge-carrying. Like many who answered the call to go to Vietnam, he developed a drug habit. For years he enslaved himself to heroin. Nothing in his life was as important as getting that next fix. Because of his lifestyle, he caused a lot of hurt to his family.

Some 25 or 30 years ago, someone at Union Gospel Mission led this man to Jesus, and he was marvelously born again. He wanted to put his drug addiction behind him and be the person Jesus would have him to be, but unfortunately, he was still addicted to the heroin.

For the next dozen years or so, he bounced back and forth between sobriety and addiction. He would go for months at a time not touching drugs, but then the addiction would rear its ugly head and draw him back in.

It was during this period that I really began to get to know the man. I’d known his father and his older brother and sister since before he was born, and I knew him as he grew up, but not well. I was much closer to his older brother. He was just a kid who happened to live in the same house with them.

He and my little sister, who was also a drug addict, somehow remained in touch through the years, and she invited him over to my home while she was visiting me. This was during his up-and-down period.

He joined my church, and I would see him at church frequently, but I would also go for months at a time not seeing him. As I learned later, these periods when I didn’t see him were when he had relapsed with his drugs.

About seventeen years ago, he kicked his heroin habit once and for all. I came across him about that time, and we began meeting weekly to share meals. He was a fairly new Christian—maybe I should say one who hadn’t grown much as a Christian—at this time, so I took him under my wing and began to disciple him. I know from our regular meetings that he has been off heroin and growing in his relationship with God all these years.

Sadly, his family gave up on him before he conquered his drug habit. None of them wanted anything more to do with him. They acted as if he no longer existed. None of them know the fine, sober Christian he has become, because they let their unforgiveness build a wall between him and themselves.

This week his older sister went to the grave bearing this grudge against him. She had so thoroughly turned her kids against him that he wasn’t ever listed as a relative in her obituary. This really bothered me when I read it.

I was never very close to this sister, since she was seven years older than I, but I’ve known her practically all my life. When I was two years old, she saved me from getting into a busy street where I probably would have been killed. I’ve always felt a lot of gratitude toward her because of that, and that made her attitude even harder for me to deal with.

It hurts me that her lack of forgiveness prevented her from having a relationship with her brother. She passed that feeling down to her kids and grandkids, cheating all of them out of the opportunity to know the wonderful man I know him to be. He still has the older brother I was close to growing up, as well as a younger brother and sister, but none of them know him.

God has given me the heart of a peacemaker. I’d love to be able to bring peace to this family, but I don’t know how. This man carries the burden of being an outcast, but the rest of his family carries the burden of having deprived themselves of fellowship with him. I think I hurt more for them than I do for him. He has found peace through his relationship with God. I don’t know what they’ve found.

Do you have any broken relationships with (former) friends or family members? What steps have you taken to heal those broken relationships?

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WANA: 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: Addiction, Advice, Authorship, Caring, David N. Walker Christian Author, David N. Walker Historical Fiction Author, Fancy Series, Forgiveness, friends, Grudge, Heaven Sent, Life, Life experience, Life lessons, Life truths, Life values, People, Personal development, Self-help, Unforgiveness

Daniel’s Gloves

The following story was posted on Facebook by Dominick’s Law on December 6, 2012. I had read it before, but I recently came across it again and thought I’d share it. It’s longer than most of my posts but well worth the read:

I sat, with two friends, in the picture window of a quaint restaurant just off the corner of the town-square. The food and the company were both especially good that day.

As we talked, my attention was drawn outside, across the street. There, walking into town, was a man who appeared to be carrying all his worldly goods on his back. He was carrying a well-worn sign that read, ‘I will work for food.’ My heart sank.

I brought him to the attention of my friends and noticed that others around us had stopped eating to focus on him. Heads moved in a mixture of sadness and disbelief.

We continued with our meal, but his image lingered in my mind. We finished our meal and went our separate ways. I had errands to do and quickly set out to accomplish them. I glanced toward the town square, looking somewhat halfheartedly for the strange visitor. I was fearful, knowing that seeing him again would call some response. I drove through town and saw nothing of him. I made some purchases at a store and got back in my car.

Deep within me, the Spirit of God kept speaking to me: ‘Don’t go back to the office until you’ve at least driven once more around the square.’

Then with some hesitancy, I headed back into town. As I turned the square’s third corner, I saw him. He was standing on the steps of the church, going through his sack.

I stopped and looked, feeling compelled to speak to him, yet wanting to drive on. The empty parking space on the corner seemed to be a sign from God: an invitation to park. I pulled in, got out and approached the town’s newest visitor.

‘Looking for the pastor?’ I asked.

‘Not really,’ he replied, ‘just resting.’

‘Have you eaten today?’

‘Oh, I ate something early this morning.’

‘Would you like to have lunch with me?’

‘Do you have some work I could do for you?’

‘No work,’ I replied ‘I commute here to work from the city, but I would like to take you to lunch.’

‘Sure,’ he replied with a smile.

As he began to gather his things, I asked some surface questions. ‘Where you headed?’

‘St. Louis’

‘Where you from?’

‘Oh, all over; mostly Florida.’

‘How long you been walking?’

‘Fourteen years,’ came the reply.

I knew I had met someone unusual. We sat across from each other in the same restaurant I had left earlier. His face was weathered slightly beyond his 38 years. His eyes were dark yet clear, and he spoke with an eloquence and articulation that was startling. He removed his jacket to reveal a bright red T-shirt that said, ‘Jesus Is The Never Ending Story.’

Then Daniel’s story began to unfold. He had seen rough times early in life. He’d made some wrong choices and reaped the consequences. Fourteen years earlier, while backpacking across the country, he had stopped on the beach in Daytona. He tried to hire on with some men who were putting up a large tent and some equipment. A concert, he thought.

He was hired, but the tent would not house a concert but revival services, and in those services he saw life more clearly. He gave his life over to God.

‘Nothing’s been the same since,’ he said. ‘I felt the Lord telling me to keep walking, and so I did, some 14 years now.’

‘Ever think of stopping?’ I asked.

‘Oh, once in a while, when it seems to get the best of me But God has given me this calling. I give out Bibles. That’s what’s in my sack. I work to buy food and Bibles, and I give them out when His Spirit leads.’

I sat amazed. My homeless friend was not homeless. He was on a mission and lived this way by choice. The question burned inside for a moment, and then I asked: ‘What’s it like?’

‘What?’

‘To walk into a town carrying all your things on your back and to show your sign?’

‘Oh, it was humiliating at first. People would stare and make comments. Once someone tossed a piece of half-eaten bread and made a gesture that certainly didn’t make me feel welcome. But then it became humbling to realize that God was using me to touch lives and change people’s concepts of other folks like me.’

My concept was changing, too. We finished our dessert and gathered his things. Just outside the door, he paused. He turned to me and said, ‘Come Ye blessed of my Father and inherit the kingdom I’ve prepared for you. For when I was hungry you gave me food, when I was thirsty you gave me drink, a stranger and you took me in.’

I felt as if we were on holy ground. ‘Could you use another Bible?’ I asked.

He said he preferred a certain translation. It traveled well and was not too heavy. It was also his personal favorite. ‘I’ve read through it 14 times,’ he said.

‘I’m not sure we’ve got one of those, but let’s stop by our church and see.’ I was able to find my new friend a Bible that would do well, and he seemed very grateful.

‘Where are you headed from here?’ I asked.

‘Well, I found this little map on the back of this amusement park coupon.’

‘Are you hoping to hire on there for a while?’

‘No, I just figure I should go there. I figure someone under that star right there needs a Bible, so that’s where I’m going next.’

He smiled, and the warmth of his spirit radiated the sincerity of his mission. I drove him back to the town square where we’d met two hours earlier, and as we drove, it started raining. We parked and unloaded his things.

‘Would you sign my autograph book?’ he asked. ‘I like to keep messages from folks I meet.’

I wrote in his little book that his commitment to his calling had touched my life. I encouraged him to stay strong. And I left him with a verse of scripture from Jeremiah, ‘I know the plans I have for you, declared the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you; Plans to give you a future and a hope.’

‘Thanks, man,’ he said. ‘I know we just met and we’re really just strangers, but I love you.’

‘I know,’ I said, ‘I love you, too.’

‘The Lord is good!’

‘Yes, He is. How long has it been since someone hugged you?’ I asked.

‘A long time,’ he replied.

And so on the busy street corner in the drizzling rain, my new friend and I embraced, and I felt deep inside that I had been changed. He put his things on his back, smiled his winning smile and said, ‘See you in the New Jerusalem.’

‘I’ll be there!’ was my reply.

He began his journey again. He headed away with his sign dangling from his bedroll and pack of Bibles. He stopped, turned and said, ‘When you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?’

‘You bet,’ I shouted back, ‘God Bless.’

‘God Bless.’ And that was the last I saw of him.

Late that evening as I left my office, the wind blew strong. The cold front had settled hard upon the town. I bundled up and hurried to my car. As I sat back and reached for the emergency brake, I saw them… a pair of well-worn brown work gloves neatly laid over the length of the handle. I picked them up and thought of my friend and wondered if his hands would stay warm that night without them.

Then I remembered his words: ‘If you see something that makes you think of me, will you pray for me?’

Today his gloves lie on my desk in my office.. They help me to see the world and its people in a new way, and they help me remember those two hours with my unique friend and to pray for his ministry. ‘See you in the New Jerusalem,’ he said. Yes, Daniel, I know I will.

‘I shall pass this way but once. Therefore, any good that I can do or any kindness that I can show, let me do it now, for I shall not pass this way again.’

What a beautiful story. I wonder how many of us would have gone back for this man. What would you have done?

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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: 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

Mess Transit?

In 1960, I was still in high school. The population of the Fort Worth-dallas metropolitan area (now called the Metroplex) was 1,435,000, ranking it as the 12th largest metropolitan area in the country. Current estimates of our population run from 6.5 to 6.7 million, ranking us number 4, behind New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

That’s nearly a five-fold increase in my adult life. We are literally choking on our own success. Seems like every week it takes a little longer to get from one place to another around here.

I’ve always opposed mass transit for places like the Metroplex. The population is just too widely scattered for it to be effective. It’s great for places like Manhattan and San Francisco, where at any given time there may be several hundred people wanting to go from the same station in the same direction, but we don’t have that situation here.

Realizing the problem of overcrowding on our freeways, our local authorities have taken a tentative step or two to get people off the roads. Several years back, the transit authorities of Fort Worth and dallas got together and created the Trinity Rail Express, or TRE. The idea was to offer an alternative for people who wanted to get from the downtown area of either city to the downtown area of the other, with a few extra stops thrown in.

What they didn’t do is create a way for people to make the trip rapidly. TRE uses ancient tracks of existing railroads and has numerous crossings where it relies on bells and red lights and lowering arms to stop vehicular traffic so the train can pass. This means the trains cannot move very fast, resulting in interminably slow rides between cities.

Now they’re working on a new train route to connect southwest Fort Worth, where I live, to dFW Airport and the suburb of Grapevine. Once again, they’re making the same mistake. Old tracks and street-level crossings, not to mention dealing with freight trains using the same tracks. No telling how long the trip will take.

Another reason Manhattan’s and San Francisco’s subways work is that they run underground. Tracks dedicated to rapid transit and no street-level crossings. If we really want to attract large numbers of people to ride these trains, we need to build similar facilities. Underground would probably be prohibitive because of the distances involved, so they would likely need to be elevated. I’ve heard of no such plans.

People drove nearly 56 billion miles on interstate highways in Texas in 2011. I-35 between the south edge of Bexar County (San Antonio) and the north edge of Denton County is one of the busiest highways in the country. I rarely make the trip from Fort Worth to San Antonio without running into stop-and-go traffic somewhere along the route, usually more than once.

It’s 243 miles from my house to my daughter’s house in a northeastern suburb of San Antonio, and the speed limit is 75 most of the way—85 on the tollway around Austin. That’s a 3:15 drive at 75—a little under 3:30 at 70. Yet it always takes at least 4 hours, and usually more. It’s been known to take over five hours—and I’m not including stops for food or restrooms. We keep adding lanes to I-35, but traffic seems to overflow them as fast as we build them.

Plans are moving along right now for a privately built high-speed rail from the Metroplex to Houston. They’re talking about 220 mph trains.

Good idea, but I-45 from dallas to Houston isn’t nearly as crowded as I-35. If we’re going to build a bullet train, it needs to service both of those routes. It could easily take a central route between I-35 and I-45 for the first hundred miles or so and then branch off into two routes to serve both needs. So far, I haven’t heard anything about any plans to meet the needs along the I-35 corridor.

As usual, we want to do too little, too late. We wait until long past the time we should have acted, and then we spend several times as much money as it would have taken earlier, and we end up meeting yesterday’s needs instead of today’s.

What are your pet peeves regarding transportation infrastructure or other such too-little-too-late projects?

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

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