Romans 8:28

Posted February 13th, 2012

King James Version (KJV)

A Home Invasion | Thank You Dekalb County Police…

Posted September 1st, 2011

Two weeks ago, I was on the way home from a busy day at work. Without divulging too much of my schedule, I got a call from my alarm company. They told me that my home had been broken into. That surreal few minutes after that announcement is something that I don’t want to experience again. Afterall, a little over 10 years ago, my house was broken into while I was home! I digress.

The alarm company told me that they had dispatched the Dekalb County police and that they had entered the home to make sure that the intruders were still not there.

As I raced home, I called my wife to make sure that she had a heads up and would not go in without care. When I got home, one of the male neighbors had helped her walk through the house. We called Dekalb County Police to see what exactly they had found when they entered the home, and promptly, they sent a squad car out.

Having watched enough CSI in my day, I asked them if they were going to do any forensic stuff… ya know, like fingerprinting and stuff. The officer stated that there had to be more extreme circumstances to get the “stretched thin” CSI unit to come to a “simple breakin”. hmmm. Ok.

My home had a few window repairs that needed to be done where the crooks had entered. Kind of bold that they came in in the middle of the day, especially since me or my wife usually work from home frequently and/or park our cars in the garage. We found that the intruders took laptops, jewelry, and some of my daughter’s sneakers. Just as the officer was leaving, Detectives from the DeKalb COunty Police Department showed up. As we all stood there chatting, we got on the subject of where the intruders could have gone. I stated that I was familiar with them walking the woods in the back of my house(young kids), and they happily stated that we should take a walk on those trails to see if they had stashed my goods.

As we came up through the wooded trails to another close by subdivision,I took a shovel and pulled back weeds and briars to see look for the laptops. Nothing. But then, I heard the officers yell, “STOP!”. They were yelling at some kids that were coming out of an abandoned home. The kids outran the officers, but the detectives then decided to search the home. They stated that abandoned homes are used for everything including hiding stolen goods to hanging out… Guns drawn, they went inside. I stood outside, in my episode of Lithonia CSI and to my surprise, they came out with my laptops, a pair of my daughter’s shoes, and some of her jewelry. WOW, what a day!

If that wasn’t enough, as we walked back to my house, the Detectives told me that they had picked up two suspects on another set of circumstances and asked me to describe knives and screwdrivers I owned. When I described a yellow box knife with a piece of black plastic attached to it, they amazingly said that they found it and my blue handled convertible screwdriver on the guys that they were holding for the other incident. These were the items they found in my boat in the back yard and used to cut window screens. We also identified pieces of jewelry that they had on them and the detectives were able to place them at our house as the guys who committed the crime.

I left out some micro details… but I wanted to tell this story because so many times, our Police officers are given a bad rap. I gave an analogy to my young sons and told them that yes, there are dirty “cops”, just as there are cheating and scandalous teachers … or bankers who steal… There are always bad apples in the bunch. But kudos, to Detectives Eason and Johnson and to Police officer Brumbaugh, who all went over and beyond my expectations to help us get our stolen items back.

That night, my wife and daughter were able to do work on their laptops. We have developed new ways to secure our “stuff”, and we have a feel good story and confidence in our Dekalb Police force. Our alarm company did their job too!

Some people are not as blessed as we were that day. We remain highly thankful to God for the positive outcome and pray that the police officers and their families will be blessed for the work they’ve done. I personally pray for the intruders also and have forgiven them in advance. Please pray for our young people. At the time they broke into the home, they should have been at school. I pray for their parents, and hope that they’ve tried to instill the best into them that could.

Lastly, I pray for the fathers… and hope that these young men have active fathers to slap them back into “right”…. another kind reminder from God that my service to my children is not only a privilege and honor… but a mandate.

Let’s continue to keep our streets safe and Kudos to Dekalb’s finest.

Photo Credit:  http://projects.ajc.com/gallery/view/metro/dekalb/speeding0626/

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His Eye is On the Sparrow

Posted August 15th, 2011

Never forget that God watches over you as he does the birds in the fields (and in the concrete jungles)…

What I Learned From Deion Sanders’ Hall of Fame Speech

Posted August 8th, 2011

Just watched the Deion Sanders’ NFL Hall of Fame Speech and while I did not dissect its content, wanted to share what I took away…

• His tribute to his mother was SO fitting, being that lots of the time, people make it to a famous position to thank their parents and they are no longer living or capable of hearing it.
• He acted as though he could NOT fail once he created the goal of saving his mother from her job.  Once we create and BELIEVE in a goal, and once we materialize that goal in our minds, it is easier to see that goal manifest.
• He became what he thought about.   Deion imaged himself as Primetime, and marketing image or not, was able to materialize a package that people liked.  This package, while often criticized, powered and fueled his original intents and goals.
• He was coachable.  Deion thanked several of his coaches, from early in his career all the way to some of the coaches during his tenure in the NFL.  We must learn how to learn and be coachable!
• He is successful and is a family man.  His “shot-out” to his kids was great.  You can be a great father and still have success.  Part of a man’s success, should be invest time and efforts into his children.
• He is human.  So often, it is presumed that a man should be higher than his ability to cry.  Deion gave a highly believable and highly motivating speech, and showed a human and humble side to the receipt of his award.

Pink Eye Burns Like Hades

Posted July 20th, 2011

Woke up with Pink Eye aka Conjunctivitis, and flu like body aches. Nothing seems worse than a summer cold….

Larry’s Water Slide

Posted June 19th, 2011

Larry’s water slide in Muskogee OK was epic.  BEFORE its time.

I was just mentioning the other day how the simplicity of a couple of waterslides, side by side, with about 5 or 6 humps was the epitiome of summer fun.  Think it cost about $5 for unlimited slides…. all you had to do was get your water mat and run back up about 200 stairs and you were golden.

Thanks to a good childhood friend, Chris Calloway, for sharing this pic.  Facebook and other social media can be great.  Had I never connected with him this week, this photo would not be in my knowledge.

Thanks so much Chris!

For Father’s Day 2011

Posted June 19th, 2011

I can honestly never remember disliking my father. I believe there have been a very FEW times that we may have disagreed. While I have a vivid memory of how fast he could pull his belt off, I think that the last spanking that I got was around age 13. Maybe there was an understood pact that I was to be a good student and proceed to college. I owe both my mom and dad for setting that expectation.

On this Father’s Day, I do a special salute though to James Johnson.

On and around holidays, I confess that in my adult life, I could not wait for the holidays to pass. A secret and sheltered part of me is still sad from my parents’ divorce. The outward appearance of a nuclear family in the streets and community, but yet a mixed emotional set of arguments behind closed doors.

I am not ruining my Father’s Day tribute by telling you how the bitter memories still plague me. I am however, setting up the fact that I have some great memories of family, my mother, and my father because I am forced to remember. Its a good force to have memories…. but because they split up, my family home that we grew up in was lost to foreclosure. I remember being in college and my mom losing the house after the divorce settlement. She was left with a split second decision of what to take with her vs. what she would leave.

I can remember boxes of pictures, family photos, and albums that I honestly think she had to walk away from.

Home is where you make it and how you make it…. but sometimes I feel there is a void in that little city of Muskogee, Oklahoma. My visits are short, because sometimes I feel the displacement of that physical loss of a home and all that was in it.

So today, I spend plenty of time on the deck, thinking and forcing myself to remember memories caught on photos and even video that I today can’t retrieve. Those important memories enable a smile, always, more so than a frown.

It is SUPER important for me to make good memories for my children…  That’s why I try.

With those memories, ….. come some great times with Dad.

How about my dad used to give me haircuts in our laundry room…. instead of a barber apron around me to catch the hair, this cool guy would staple two newspaper sheets around my neck…..
Dad taught me how to fight in Kindergarten, when he saw another kid take my hat and run away from me making fun of me. He had two king sized pillows and taught me the jab and to wrestle. I had to learn control, as I used my skills to black an eye or two growing up.
Some of my best outdoor experiences were spent hunting and fishing with my Dad. I remember him giving me my first shotgun…. a .410. On my second time in the snowy woods of Taft Oklahoma, I can remember coming up on a creek and seeing a rabbit. Dad whispered …. “go ahead”…. I shot a perfect shot and we bagged him with a few others. Priceless!
My first car, we got from a farmer. The 1967 Chevy Impala was literally in a barn. What a great memory driving down those dirt roads back to my house. He upgraded my tires and rims instantly as a gentlemen’s agreement we had since he did not get me the two year old Ford Taurus that his company leased for him.
Did I say he taught me fun things in the outdoors? Yep, sure did…. One of the best times I had was under the direction of Cub Scout leader James Johnson camping in the woods. With his help, I won several city Pinewood Derbies as he taught me how to drill strategic holes in the wood to re-distribute the weight.
And because he was an Optimist civic member, I can remember participating in a Fishing Derby and winning a fishing rod that I still have to this day!
To keep me technologically savvy, I can remember playing Atari 2600 down at a friend’s house. I was hooked. What was better, I can remember coming home one day and my Mom and Dad had gotten my sister and me our own. Or how about the time that Dad took us way in the boonies to buy a Commodore 64 with about a hundred programs on 5 and 1/4 discs?
And how about all the sheep blood agar he bought to help me win the state science fairs with the Antibacterial Qualities of Salvia Officinalis ….. hmmm…. I was on my way EARLY.

Dad’s a good coach, and an even better bleacher coach. I can remember playing basketball in Jr. High, and him yelling at me for being goofy and jumping and hitting the net to give the other team two points. …. goal tending. And yes, dad didn’t miss too many of my games. There along with Mom….

He too was a sports guy, playing basketball in Taft High School growing up. I can remember his super small letterman’s jacket that he still had and his old school black converse. WOW!!!

I can remember having an above ground swimming pool growing up. And now say Heck No to my kids because of all the trees in my back yard. But, now in retrospect, I can remember how much time he spent cleaning that pool.

Dad used to like to people watch. We sometimes, after church, would go to the mall where he would snicker with us when guys had on white socks with black church shoes. Gotta love it!

One time, when I swore that a guy pulled a gun on me, I can remember my dad grabbing every gun in our house and us going to every club and night life venue in the city to find him for a few words. Word did get around and the guy called and apologized to me. My dad is a man’s man.

I have seen my Dad cry only a few times… but a few stand out…

Saying good bye to my Big Mamma (mom’s mother) at her funeral.
Saying good bye to his brother Leonard… and specifically standing there in the Emergency Room of the Hospital where Uncle L. laid after a traumatic car accident. Seeing him messed up like that left me speechless. I did not know how to console my hero…. what do you say to Superman in his down days?
And a maybe a time in the recent years, saying good bye after a great visit.

My Freshman year for college, Dad took me and dropped me off at my dorm. I can remember him taking me to a computer store and buying me a computer for my dorm. I called home and thanked mom too!…. but my Dad took me to my first barber in Atlanta, GA that week, where he cut me a true box fade (1992). We saw prostitutes outside, where he and my uncle chuckled and told me to never invest in their services.

As an 18 year old, I had never drank a beer. I can remember NOT drinking the whole Freshman year at Morehouse, with a dream of sitting down and having a beer with my father… some fraternal tradition I thought was customary. I can remember the parties, and me never taking a drink. My Dad stated that he would not drink again as a part of his getting closer and deeper in the ministry. That custom, or lack of, was traded off well, when my family flew to California to see him ordained as a minister and elder of his church.

Growing up, he instilled in me the need to know how to do customary Man code things. I can remember him telling in high school that I stank. He sent me with $40 to Dillards and told me to buy a good cologne, powder, and deodorant. (he did not offer to share that Aramis he liked) Then he sent me to KMart to buy some extra soap.

I LOVE his lasagna. He probably has not cooked it in years… but he cooks a mean one. And although we were not Chinese, he cooked a pot of rice EVERY morning for us for a hot breakfast before school. Butter it up and add a little sugar and we were on our way to school.

Dad and Mamma brought us up in Church. He told us continually that if it were not for us kids, that his golf game would have been much better if he would play all day Sunday instead of taking us. But, hopefully I can continue growing in spirit due to this big sacrifice!

He taught me everything from how to tie a power fishing knot to a Windsor knot for my tie and suits. I learned to drive a 3 speed on the column with a clutch in his old pickup truck.

Today, I built the deck onto my house, laid wood flooring, do all my plumbing and some electrical, lay concrete, can change oil & spark plugs, can maintain a perfectly landscaped lawn and garden because EVERY SATURDAY in my teen age years, he woke me up at 6:30 and forced me to go work outside with him to learn. He told me that I could pay someone to do these things for me one day, but that I would know if they were doing it right!

After my parents’ divorce, my dad found a new love and his current wife Meredith. I gained a new set of sisters and brothers as an adult. Early on, it amazed me that they called him Dad just like me. I had a problem sharing.

But over the years, I have come to realize that a dad and father this great is too good to not share. They simply don’t build fathers like they built Dad. And if I can be a quarter of the man and father that my dad has been to me, I will be doing my kids a big favor.

This Father’s Day, I salute my Dad.

I thank God for him and the way he stuck in there for and with us. And for anyone whose father was absent for whatever reason, I sympathize on one hand that you were not able to have a man like Dad in your life…. and with the other hand, I reach out and offer to share my Father with you….

Lake Monsters

Posted June 19th, 2011

Had SUPER fun at Shepard Lake at Charlie Elliott!

BBQ & Grill Blog

Posted June 13th, 2011

I am having a little fun starting another blog.

Maybe I don’t need another  blog that may only get a couple posts per month… but hey….

GrillFavor.com . . . Where Favor Ain’t Fair .

This means that not everyone can grill .  Maybe in some eyes (or mouths), I can’t either.  But it’s where I will actively pursue that Favor

Glass Ceiling? Go Lateral

Posted June 10th, 2011

The one thing that I have learned in life is that progress through ranks, whether in professional, personal, or civic life is relative to where you are now and WHO you are now.

Hearing a CEX colleague of mine say that he wanted to help grow his company to a $800M one within 3 years is “absolutely” relative compared to the the school custodian who wants to manage district-wide custodial support for his school system.

Where we are in life has one thing in common, no matter where or who we are… There is a natural desire to chase life, improve life, and be “better”.

What we do with that desire, is where the level of success lies.

Without the Faith and equally, the ACTION to perform, these desires remain dormant until tapped.

Don’t think this is NATURAL to want to pursue life?  Think of these examples.

• A seed when planted can break the soil above it.  When trying to place itself in the best life, that plant will NATURALLY bend towards light in order to grow and live.  (phototropism)
• The famous circle of life, depends on natural innate desires and timing, which is the basis of reproduction.  What does an animal HAVE to tell its body to do in order to reproduce?  Nada
• Birds travel from northern locales to chase food further south in  strategic times of the year.  Do they really get together and say “let’s fly south” or do their bodies on mechanical, physiological timings prepare them for what’s ahead?

Today, and everyday, I need to vow to chart my paths and TAKE ACTION.  Whether personally or even professionally, if I find an obstacle in life that prevents me from rising to the milestone I need to work to, then I am going to work laterally!!!

• Working laterally can mean that you learn the workings of other departments in your corporate environment in order to best assist you in your job role.

• It can mean perfecting what you do on a daily basis, and when that’s done, looking for other ways on your level to add benefit.

• It can mean leveraging your success to pull someone up and give a HAND up

When we concentrate 100% on breaking a thick glass ceiling, sometimes we overlook the possibilities and tactics that edify our abilities to simply rise above the glass ceiling

Just like all things in nature, we’ve been given the tools and processes to WIN at life…. and better yet, God has given us the ability to THINK and make decisions.

Think and Decide today… and Go Lateral to build a better foundation for your ascent.

Photo Source:  http://www.nicholsoncartoons.com.au/cartoon_2724.html