I had no idea on the morning of February 26th that NBC’s Today Show had an exclusive story that they believed might rock my Christian faith. I had no idea because I join millions and millions of fellow Americans every morning by not watching the Today Show. The “exclusive” story, interestingly enough, was first reported in 1980. I guess the time-frame on exclusive is pretty wide. You would have thought that this was a startling new discovery based on the proclamations of Matt Lauer and Meredith Vieira. Here are some samples. A somber Lauer introduced the twenty-seven year old breaking story… “A shocking new claim that an ancient burial place may have housed the bones of Christ and a son. This morning a Today exclusive that could rock Christianity to its core.” He looked so sad. I guess he was concerned that he was going to mess up Easter for all of us believers. It reminded me of an episode of the cartoon
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Online banking has changed one tradition in the Burchett household. The monthly avoiding of Dad on bill paying day. The boys learned either by oral tradition or by hard lesson that when Dad was hunkered over the checkbook with a scowl on his face it was best to steer a wide path. Now with just a few computer clicks when bills come in I can spread the angst over the entire month. And somehow it seemed far more painful to write a check than to merely fill in numbers and hit send. I remember one constant source of irritation was the paying of the cell phone bills. Sons who rarely spoke could somehow fill up 2000 minutes and compose hundreds of text messages. Here is a scintillating example of the Algonquin Round Table level of interchange in these text messages.  IBHRUJPXLNTPOS…. GTRTTFN For the rest of us, this is an interpretation of the above cryptic code. I’m back.How are you?Just playing.Excellent.Parent over shoulder….got to
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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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