David N. Walker's Blog, page 35

‘Tis the Season

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

Welcome to another Terrific Tuesday, where we take a look at God’s word, His kingdom or His people to see what we can learn about ourselves, Him and/or our relationships with Him.

Now that Thanksgiving is behind us, ’tis the season. Of course, merchants have been telling us that ever since Halloween—or the Fourth of July or whenever—but I’m not talking about the season to buy all kinds of stuff to take home and wrap in pretty paper and bows. Nothing wrong with that if you want to. But that’s not what I mean when I say ’tis the season.

To me, it’s the season to remember the birth of our Savior. To commemorate the voluntary incarnation of the Creator of the heavens and the earth to become human. All history up to that time had pointed to this event. This was the most important day in the history of the world, and although it most likely did not occur on December 25, that’s the day we celebrate it.

The essence of Christmas spirit, to me, is not “Here Comes Santa Claus.” It’s not eggnog and parties. It’s the celebration of the birth of Jesus. Over the millennia since His birth, many musicians have written songs, carols and symphonies to honor Him. I love listening to all this Christmas music. I don’t even mind a “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” now and then, as long as most of the music is to honor Jesus.

But there’s one work that stands above and beyond all others in my estimation when it comes to Christmas music. I’m not basically a classical music fan, especially vocal classical music. I’ll trade operas for Opry any day.

However, this season brings up one exception to my normal attitude toward the classics. I think Handel’s Messiah is beyond all competition when it comes to the most moving piece of music ever written. My first exposure to it came as a young teenager, just after my voice change removed me from the Texas Boys Choir. I sang bass with the Southwestern Baptist Seminary Choir’s performance of The Messiah. Must have been Christmas of 1957. I immediately fell in love with it. The piece most people think of when they think of The Messiah is the “Hallelujah Chorus.” Mine, however, comes right before that famous chorus: the soprano solo, “I Know That My Redeemer Liveth.” When a good soprano sings that, I always feel like I’ve been raptured straight to heaven.

Please listen as Lynne Dawson sings this glorious piece and see if you don’t get a little of that feeling, too:

I hope you enjoyed this rendition, and I hope you enjoy the music all the way through the holiday season—and have a Merry Christmas. Just remember Whom the season celebrates.

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: Terrific Tuesday Tagged: Christian, David N. Walker author, God is in control, Godly Wisdom, inspiration, The Messiah

Home Repairs

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

On Freestyle Fridays, we talk about whatever happens to pop into my head—or any suggestion you may have made for a topic.

If you’re a homeowner, I hope you’re smarter than my wife and I. Apparently we both have targets on our backs that say “Sucker” in the bull’s-eye. A few years back we hired a painter—recommended by neighbors—to do several hundred dollars worth of work on our home. Since he came recommended, when he asked for half-payment up front to help him buy the paint, we wrote him a check. We never saw him again.

That’s not really what prompted this column, though. We live in an area where the soil has a large clay content. When it rains, the ground swells, and when we have a dry spell, it contracts. Over a period of years, this began to produce cracks in our ceilings and walls and separation of our front porch from the wall of the house.

Five or six years ago, these problems began to bother us enough we called a foundation company out to the house. The man measured elevations all over the house and told us the back of the house had settled below the level of the front and that we needed a bunch of piers installed.

The price was high enough we told him we wanted to have an independent structural engineer come out and study it and make recommendations. He immediately offered the name and phone number of an engineer for us to call.

Don’t ask me why we didn’t question the engineer’s independence when a man seeking business from us made the recommendation. Anyhow, the engineer came out and did his survey and impressed us with his independence by telling us the foundation man had misinterpreted the data. We didn’t need piers to raise the back. We needed a French drain to keep the soil in front from getting so wet, thus lowering the front.

It just happened that the foundation company we’d called also installed French drains. Heh, heh, heh.

A couple of years after we spent thousands of dollars on that project, cracking in our walls and ceilings got worse. We decided to call a different foundation company out since the first one hadn’t eliminated the problem. We’ve had this second company out several different times and added a bunch of new piers to stop this or that. Spent some $12,000 trying to eliminate the problems, but each new bit of work seemed to bring up more problems.

Finally, we called an engineer who was recommended by a Realtor friend—a neutral party with nothing to gain from the engineer’s proposals. This man came out and showed us impeccable credentials, so we had him do a new study.

He told us several things I want to pass along to you, in case you ever find yourself needing to deal with problems such as this. First, he told us there was nothing structurally wrong with the house. Although it’s fifty-eight years old, it’s in excellent condition.

Secondly, he told us that none of the piers we’ve had installed were necessary. Fortunately, he also said they had done no damage to the integrity of our structure.

Thirdly, he told us the cracks we see are a natural result of the age of the house and the constant shifting of the soil. He reminded us several times, since my wife tends to get a little emotional about such things, that these cracks were cosmetic only and did not indicate any structural problem.

Much like our planet goes through eras of global warming and global cooling, the house goes through eras of ground expansion and contracting. Like global warming and cooling, it’s nothing to worry about. Just the nature of things. He told us if we wanted to improve the cosmetic appearance we could buy a flexible sealant to fill the cracks and then paint over them.

Does your house need additional piers? I don’t know. It’s possible. But bear in mind, if you call a foundation company out to make recommendations, that company makes its money installing piers. What do you think they’ll recommend? Call an independent structural engineer for an unbiased assessment of your situation.

——————————————

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: Freestyle Friday Tagged: Advice, Authorship, David N. Walker author, Life, Life experience, Life lessons, Life truths, Life values, Personal development, Self-help

Thanksgiving

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

Welcome to another Terrific Tuesday, where we take a look at God’s word, His kingdom or His people to see what we can learn about ourselves, Him and/or our relationships with Him.

Everybody in the United States knows what Thursday is, right? It’s Thanksgiving. All about eating a lot of turkey and dressing and giblet gravy, watching the Texas Longhorns beat the Texas A & M Aggies—oh, wait, the Aggies slunk away from that competition to join another conference.

Well, that’s not what it’s about anyway. Although some of us forget as time goes by, every school kid is taught that Thanksgiving was a special day to Pilgrims set aside to thank God for their bounty. For bringing them out from under the oppression of the feudal system. For getting them through their first year here without starving and without being attacked by the Indians who already lived here.

In recent decades it has become popular to mock God and His word. To claim that this is not a Christian nation and that it was not founded on Christian principles by Christian men. But I wonder how many of these mockers and scorners will demand to work Thursday and refuse to celebrate with their families over a Thanksgiving dinner. I doubt that many will take that stand.

This Thursday practically everybody in America will sit down to some kind of a feast in honor of the day. John Madden will have one of his six-legged turkeys. We’ll all stuff ourselves with too much dinner and too much dessert. And then we’ll munch on the leftover dessert the rest of the day. Most of us will probably watch a football game or two. We’ll visit with family and have a good time.

But let’s not forget what’s behind the celebration of Thanksgiving. It’s not just an excuse to eat too much. It’s not just the day before the Big Christmas Sale. It’s the day to recognize our blessings and meditate on how fortunate we are to be so blessed. A day to remember Who the source of those blessings is. A day to thank God and praise His holy name. A day to be glad that He is our God.

Do you have a New Testament passage or concept you’d like to see discussed here? Maybe something you’ve never quite understood. I’d love to hear from you about that, too. I’ll try my best to explain it.

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: Terrific Tuesday Tagged: Christian, David N. Walker author, God is in control, Godly Wisdom, inspiration

My Grandmother’s Pecan Pies

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

On Freestyle Fridays, we talk about whatever happens to pop into my head—or any suggestion you may have made for a topic.

With Thanksgiving around the corner, you’re probably thinking about turkey and dressing. Maybe some mashed potatoes and green beans. But I’ll bet you’d like to have a piece of pie or two along with it. Right?

My dad’s mother, whom we grandkids called Mama, died over forty years ago, but I’ve never found anyone yet who could beat her pecan pies. Everybody who ever tasted one of them agreed she was without peer in the pecan pie department.

Fortunately, my sister Barb is more organized than I am and has kept the recipe through all these years. Here is the recipe she sent me:

Mama’s Pecan Pie

3 eggs, beat slightly.

Add:  1 c. sugar

1 c. Karo Syrup **

1/2 – 1 c. pecans (broken)

2 T. melted butter

1 t. vanilla

Mix with as few strokes as possible.  Pour into uncooked pie crust and bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes or until filling seems stiff.

See the asterisks by the Karo Syrup? My sister and I have differing memories on this point. I’ve spent nearly 70 years explaining to her that when we disagree, she’s wrong and I’m right, but she’s never grasped that point.

Anyhow, the recipe she saved from Mama all these years calls for dark Karo Syrup, but I distinctly remember that Mama actually used the light syrup. One reason I’m sure I’m right is that the fillings of the pies she made were a very light color—much closer to yellow than the brownish color of most pecan pies.

Here’s what I believe happened. Mama was a very vain woman and used to cackle about the fact that no one else could make the pies as good as hers, even when they used her recipe. Family members all used to suspect she altered the ingredients slightly in the recipes she gave people just to be sure their pies weren’t as good as hers. After seeing this discrepancy between the recipe my sister kept and my memory of what Mama said, I’m convinced she intentionally put the wrong kind of syrup in the recipes just to be sure hers were better.

You can take our disagreement however you want, although I’ve never been wrong. In case you think my memory might be faulty in this instance, you’d probably better make two pies—one with dark Karo and one with light. Be sure to let me know which turns out better.

——————————————

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: Freestyle Friday Tagged: Advice, Authorship, David N. Walker author, Life, Life experience, Life lessons, Life truths, Life values, Pecan pie, Personal development, Self-help, Thanksgiving

Why Heaven Sent

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

Welcome to another Terrific Tuesday, where we take a look at God’s word, His kingdom or His people to see what we can learn about ourselves, Him and/or our relationships with Him.

A lady who has been working with me to set up a blog tour to promote my books recently asked me what I hoped to accomplish with them. That started me asking myself just what I did hope to accomplish.

Since putting Heaven Sent on the market a few months ago, I’ve mentioned it several times in my posts. I’ve even briefly described what the book consists of. But I haven’t ever shared with you what my hopes were in putting this book together and publishing it, so I thought I’d share that with you today.

My hope is first of all, to glorify God. That said, I see it as an inspirational or devotional book which will help readers climb out of down times and/or soar to new heights in their emotional and spiritual lives.

In a way, I wanted to serve the same sort of function the “Chicken Soup” books serve, leading people to feel better about themselves and the God who created them. Many of the stories included in this book show God at work on behalf of His people or show people being lifted out of down emotional times.

Other stories, including those written by my daughter and me, as designed to illustrate truths about God and His kingdom. With these, I hope the reader can learn something new or see a truth in a new light, thereby broadening or deepening his or her spiritual walk.

When I visit my 96 year-old mother at her assisted living home, I frequently read one of these stories to her and any of her housemates who are gathered in the living room, and every time I do, some of them thank me at tell me it was meaningful to them. I realize this is not a typical audience. Except for Mother and one man who is around 75, all the residents are in their eighties. They are also sort of a captive audience, since I enter their living room when I go there to visit. But I hope it will be meaningful to a younger audience also.

Church attendance and church affiliation are both in downward trends across the United States. As a percentage of the whole population, they may be at or near historic lows. Many Christians who actively seek to make Jesus the center of their lives shy away from church membership for a variety of reasons, but there are many more in our nation to whom the institutional church is anathema and who are kept from exposure to our wonderful Savior because of their dislike of that institution, or—as some would say—from organized religion.

While I have no interest in promoting religion, which is man’s effort to appease a distant God, I have a profound desire to promote Christianity, which is God’s reaching out to a lost race of people. Many of these will never be reached by what goes on in a church, because they aren’t interested in attending. They must be reached in other ways.

The best way I know to lead lost people to Jesus is to let them see Him is our lives and our actions. Hopefully, this book will also reach a few lost people and expose them to what Christianity really is, rather than preaching to them about what they are doing that’s wrong.

What reasons do you have for belonging or not belonging to a church? What do you do in the ordinary course of your life to show others the joy of a relationship with Jesus?

Do you have a New Testament passage or concept you’d like to see discussed here? Maybe something you’ve never quite understood. I’d love to hear from you about that, too. I’ll try my best to explain it.

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: Terrific Tuesday Tagged: Christian, Christianity, David N. Walker author, God is in control, Godly Wisdom, inspiration

Veterans’ Day

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

On Freestyle Fridays, we talk about whatever happens to pop into my head—or any suggestion you may have made for a topic.

When I was a child, we celebrated Armistice Day on the 11th of November. It paid tribute to the Allied victory and end of World War I. We had parades all over the country to honor those who served our nation in that war.

When I was eleven years old, Congress changed the name from Armistice Day to Veterans’ Day. A World War II soldier suggested the change to Gen. Eisenhower, and one of the first things he did as President was to get the change adopted. The idea was to honor ALL veterans of our armed forces, not just those who served in the fi8rst world war.

It was a big deal to me, to my family, to my hometown, my state and my nation. We realized back in those days that our freedom wasn’t given to us by the politicians in Washington, but by those soldiers who risked life and limb to keep aggressor nations and tyrants from taking it from us.

Back then, patriotism didn’t just mean you supported the Tea Party. It meant you supported this nation and the freedoms it was formed to protect. It wasn’t a nasty word used to belittle those who believed in it and paint them as right-wing extremists. It was a word proudly worn by Republican and Democrat alike.

It was a sacred trust passed down from those bold men who drafted and signed our Declaration of Independence and who created our Constitution to the future generations whose duty it was to uphold and protect what these forefathers left us. In today’s world, we’re so busy playing our video games, making multi-millionaires of men who happen to be able to handle some sort of ball and billionaires of the owners of the teams they play for, and idolizing people who appear on our TV screens and in our movies but are largely out of touch with mainstream America that we have little time or attention left to think about and honor those who make all of this possible.

This Sunday, we have an opportunity to honor veterans once more. Please don’t ignore these men and women who so richly deserve our thanks. Pray for them. If you see someone in uniform or someone wearing a funny hat that says “Veteran” on it or come across someone you know has served in our armed forces, thank that person. Tell him or her how much you appreciate the service. Pick up the meal check. Do something to let that person(s) know you remember.

——————————————

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: Freestyle Friday Tagged: Advice, Authorship, David N. Walker author, Life, Life experience, Life lessons, Life truths, Life values, Personal development, Self-help

Election Angst?

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

Welcome to Terrific Tuesday, where we take a look at God’s word, His kingdom or His people to see what we can learn about ourselves, Him and/or our relationships with Him.

Will you be staying up tonight to watch reports on election returns as they come in? Anxiously awaiting tomorrow’s newspaper to check the results? The Tuesday after the first Monday in November in even numbered years always brings with it a lot of angst for those of us who live in the United States. Even more so in Presidential election years.

Will the ins stay in power? Will the outs kick them out? Will we bring in a government where the White House and both houses of Congress are controlled by the same party, which can then pretty much steamroll everyone out of its way to achieve its goals? Or will we have a divided government, where each party can keep the other from going too far with its ideas?

People who know me know that I care—passionately—which party is in power. I want desperately for my party’s candidates to win. Among those who know me, I’m very outspoken in my opinions on this. So, the statement I’m about to make may come as a surprise to those who do know me.

It’s gonna be okay. By tonight we’ll either have a newly designated President, or else we will have given the current one a new term. We’ll either have the same parties in control in the respective houses of Congress, or we’ll have shaken up the lineup. I care very much which way it goes. Some would say I can be rabid on the subject. But I still say, it’s gonna be okay.

Regardless of who wins the White House or the local seat in the state legislature or any other race in between, Jesus will still be Lord. God will still reign throughout the universe. Ultimately, His will is going to be done.

I don’t know whether the next four years will bring the full implementation of the Obama healthcare program or it’s repeal. I don’t know whether we’re going to raise everyone’s taxes or cut back on spending to try to edge toward balancing the budget. I don’t know any specifics about what will happen as a result of this election.

However, I’ve read the end of the book. I know how it turns out. Regardless of what men do this and what men do that, Jesus wins, and Satan loses. That can be a very comforting thought as we face our biennial angst of election returns.

Do you have a New Testament passage or concept you’d like to see discussed here? Maybe something you’ve never quite understood. I’d love to hear from you about that, too. I’ll try my best to explain it.

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: Terrific Tuesday Tagged: Christian, David N. Walker author, God is in control, Godly Wisdom, inspiration

Announcing . . .

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

As I mentioned in Friday’s blog, I’m cutting back from three posts a week to two. Starting this week, I’ll be posting on Tuesdays and Fridays. Hope you can find profitable uses for the time saved by reading two posts a week instead of three.

See you right here tomorrow.

——————————————

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: Miscellaneous Mondays Tagged: Advice, Authorship, David N. Walker author, Life, Life experience, Life lessons, Life truths, Life values, Personal development, Self-help

Slow Blogging

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

You’ve all heard the term “fast-drafting.” I want to talk to you today about slow blogging.

After reading Marcia Richards’s post the other day, The Slow Blog Manifesto, I wonder if I owe you, the readers, an apology. Click her title if you want to read her post after you finish this one.

When I first began blogging a year and a half ago, all the advice I was hearing said I should blog a minimum of three times a week. Well, I was new, and they were experts, so I took their advice, and that’s what I’ve been doing ever since.

Between writing blogs, working on my WIP and keeping up with Facebook and Twitter, I found that I didn’t really have time to read all the blogs I subscribed to. Some I read every time, some only once a week, and some I only skimmed to see if anything jumped off the page at me.

Since I’ve been an extremely slow reader all my life, I assumed this problem was limited to me. Surely all those who read at normal speeds had plenty of time to read all the blogs they wanted to. It never occurred to me that others might have the same problem I did finding time to read the plethora of blogs that bombard us all the time.

Until I read Marcia’s blog. Wow! You mean other people—ever normal readers—have problems finding time to read all the blogs coming at them? What a concept. Maybe this is a case where less truly is more. Practically everyone who commented on Marcia’s blog thought so.

Maybe I’ve been shooting myself in the foot by posting more words in a week than most of you have time to read. I wonder how many of my subscribers have started either skipping my posts completely or just glancing over them and then moving on. If I have caused you to have to do that, I want to apologize for it.

As soon as I read Marcia’s blog, I decided to cut back on the frequency of my own posts. Expecting you to read 2,000 to 3,000 words a week from my blogs alone is a bit much. Today will mark the end of the last week in which I post three blogs. Now, I just need to decide whether to cut back to two or only one.

What do you think of the idea that we bloggers are clogging up one another’s computers with too many words, demanding that everyone spend too much time reading what we post?

How many times a week do you post, and why?

Any advice on whether I should cut back to two a week or only one?

——————————————

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: Forensic Fridays Tagged: blogging, David N. Walker author, writing tips

The Doctor’s Waiting Room

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

On Worshipful Wednesdays, we take a look at God’s word and His kingdom to see what we can learn about ourselves, Him and/or our relationships with Him.

The other day I ran across a post by April McGowan about something that happened when she took her son to the doctor’s office. Her son and all the other kids at that office suffered from gastrointestinal problems of some sort or another.

As they waited, the outer door opened, and a woman pushed her son into the office in a raised wheelchair. The boy was wailing at the top of his lungs, disturbing all the people in the waiting room—and probably up and down the halls as well.

Our normal human reaction to something like this is probably along the lines of, “I wish she’d get him out of here. He’s upsetting everyone.” I don’t know whether April had that thought or not, but her subsequent action was much more highly motivated than that.

She began to think about how everyone in the room shunned this woman and her son. Then the thought occurred to her that this probably happened to this mother everywhere she went. She realized that the mother must lead a very frustrating and lonely life. She probably devoted every ounce of her energy to her son.

With these thoughts in mind, instead of seeking to get away, April went over to talk to the woman. She continued to sit with her, talk to her and soothe her until the nurse called the lady and her son back to an exam room.

What a beautiful example of Christian love. It couldn’t have been comfortable moving over even closer to this young boy who kept crying as loud as he could, striking up a conversation with the harried stranger who had brought him in. But the love and compassion in her heart led her to do exactly that.

Equally important was the reaction her example evoked in her young son. When the lady and her son had disappeared from the waiting room, April’s own son came over to her and commented on how sad the other boy’s condition was, and he suggested that they stop and pray for him right there in the doctor’s office.

Love and compassion are contagious. When we do things like this, we set examples for others to follow, whether the others be our own kids or grandkids or just strangers we never meet. We never know what effect an act of kindness may have—not only on the direct recipient, but also on observers we’re not even aware of.

I hope I would have done what April did, but I’m not sure whether I would have or not. How about you? Have you ever been in a similar situation? What did you do?

Have a New Testament passage or concept you’d like to see discussed here? Maybe something you’ve never quite understood. I’d love to hear from you about that, too. I’ll try my best to explain it.

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: Worshipful Wednesdays Tagged: 23rd Psalm Compassion, Christian, David N. Walker author, Godly Wisdom, inspiration