I am changing careers. I have decided to start issuing official sounding studies about obvious things. I have a keen sense of the obvious. Why not profit from that? My career epiphany came as I read a study that found that college students are self-centered. Seriously? I am planning to release my first groundbreaking study soon. My thesis is that people stuck in rush hour traffic are less friendly. I am pretty sure I am right. While the conclusion of the study about today’s college kids isn’t shocking the conclusions about the reasons are indeed interesting. According to the study’s lead author, psychology professor Jean Twenge, the reason narcissism is now epidemic can be traced to an unhealthy desire to boost self-esteem. Narcissism is defined at dictionary.com as excessive love or admiration of oneself. The second listed definition smacks of irony.A psychological condition characterized by self-preoccupation, lack of empathy, and unconscious deficits in self-esteem. So our out of balance attempts to artificially boost self-esteem actually
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I am so happy that I decided to start this blog eighteen months ago. I would encourage every Christian to journal several days a week or you can blog (ego journal) about what God is teaching you. It is interesting and a blessing to look back at what God has been doing in our lives. Who knew when I began the daily ramblings that I would be writing about Joni’s cancer journey? On too many occasions recently I have been visiting with someone who has cancer or who has a friend or family member with the disease. I sometimes refer them to the website to read some of our experiences during the journey. I decided to make it easy for anyone who wants to share what God has taught us with others that are currently going through this trial. Here are some of the “cancer chronicles” that Joni and I have written over the past year. A word of encouragement to those beginning
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The lovely Mrs. Burchett and I recently had the joy of watching Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder in concert. I have decided that if am ever unresponsive you can check my heart status by putting a Ricky Skaggs CD on the stereo. If my toe doesn’t start tapping I am likely flat-lined. You just can’t help responding if you have a pulse. I left the concert and waded through Skagg’s discography. One song brought back memories of something my Mom always said to me. The song that jogged that recollection was called Don’t Get Above Your Raisin’. Now lookee here gal don’t ya’ high hat me,I ain’t forgot what you used ta beWhen you didn’t have nuthin,That was plain ta’ see.Don’t get above your raisin’Stay down ta’ earth with me. Mom was raised as a farm girl in Kentucky and she was fiercely proud of that. So anytime she perceived that I was getting a bit uppity and full of myself she would
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Yesterday I had the joy of driving from scenic Garland, Texas to every bit as scenic Waco, Texas. Despite the mindboggling beauty of the I-35 transit I was able to get in some iPod time on the way. One song that struck me on the journey was a recent Grammy Award winner. The artist is John Mayer and he won a statue for Best Male Vocal Pop Performance with a song called “Waiting on the World to Change”.  The song is written as an explanation of sorts for the apathy displayed by many of Mayer’s generation toward political and social activism. The song is powerful and, to me, a bit depressing. Me and all my friends We’re all misunderstood They say we stand for nothing and There’s no way we ever could Now we see everything that’s going wrong With the world and those who lead it We just feel like we don’t have the means To rise above and beat
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Some days are too busy to write. So if I may paraphrase the classis bit from Johnny Carson… “I have in my hand some earlier posts, a child of four can plainly see these posts are hermetically sealed. They’ve been kept since noon today in a mayonnaise jar on Funk & Wagnalls’ porch. No one-but one -knows the contents.”  With no further ado we open the seal to one of these earlier posts. Hope you enjoy. Dave I used to be terrified by Dracula when I was a kid. Bela Lugosi played the Transylvania terror and I did not sleep well for many nights after seeing that movie. The standard defense methods against a vampire were generally not available to an eight year old kid. I did not have any silver bullets, did not possess a crucifix, was too chicken to think about the wooden stake, and could not figure out an excuse to put garlic on the shopping list. So I hunkered down
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There was a little saying that I have heard all of my life. If you can’t say something nice about them…then don’t say anything. Had I practiced that very wise advice I would have had many more “quiet times” in my life. I have not always practiced that simple principle even though I have read and nodded solemnly in agreement as I read James and Paul warn of the dangers of gossip and an uncontrolled tongue.  Whether you call it venting or sharing it is always perilously close to gossiping. That is one of those “fine line” challenges. Like Dave Barry’s quote that “there’s a fine line between ‘hobby’ and ‘mental illness’.” I would submit that there is a fine line between venting/sharing and gossip. Gossip is one of the favorite tools that Satan has in his toolbox. Brooklyn Tabernacle takes gossip very seriously. New members hear this charge as they become members of the church.  And now, I charge you, as pastor
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I have tried to avoid the whole Anna Nicole Smith tragedy that is dominating so much of TV “news”. But an ancillary story caught my eye. The article in the Dallas Morning News was titled “Smith joins ranks of Playmates dead before 50“.  Apparently a disproportionate number of women who have posed in Playboy magazine have died tragically before the age of 50. Automobile accidents, drug overdoses, homicides, a plane crash — all have claimed the lives of Playmates. What caught my eye was a comment from a photographer for the magazine. “It’s sad how many girls we’ve lost,” said Peter Gowland, who photographed a number of centerfolds for Playboy in the 1950s and 60s. “It’s a curse to be beautiful,” Gowland said. No, Mr.Gowland, it is a gift to be beautiful. The curse is young women being exploited for their beauty by self-centered men. The curse is believing that your significance and value is found in being a object of lust for selfish men.
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