It's been a couple of days on the road with my thoughts. I often drive with no radio or CD, just the steady hum of the road and traffic. I don't generally think about anything in particular, nor do I seem to stay on any thought for very long. All-in-all, I like the mindless interlude that a long drive provides. I'm not one to look at the surroundings too much. I'm happy to just drive along with the back window down (even in freezing temps) and pay momentary attention to what ever fleeting thought graces me with its presence before giving way to...
Tuesday, 29 January 2013
Friday, 25 January 2013
I've been told that it's out of character for me to be a UFC fan. I'm not sure why that is. Maybe it's because I'm old and fat and could never actually participate in a mixed martial arts competition of any kind. Maybe it's because it's such a violent sport and a preacher shouldn't have anything to do with watching or promoting that kind of brutality. Maybe it's just the most base level of human competition and we should have managed to evolve past the point of determining the best hand-to-hand combatant.What ever the case may be, I happen to enjoy...
Wednesday, 23 January 2013
I know that it seems to be the habit of many church organizations to wait until the last minute to think about booking preachers/entertainers for their annual events, but you'll have a better chance of getting the persons you want if you start early. Plus you'll have the added benefit of the person you call being better able to meet your specific needs by adapting to your theme and you'll be able to better promote your event.I've booked several events for the coming year, but most in the winter/spring.I know that I will get calls for an Upwards...
Tuesday, 22 January 2013
I recently read an article about radical Islamists and started wondering what radical Christianity might look like. I'm not talking about the crazy, Westboro, Crusades or Inquisition kind of radical. I'm talking about the follow the teaching of Jesus kind of radical; the Mother Teresa, give your all for love kind of radical.How much would the daily life of today's church going Christian have to change to be a radical follower of Jesus? What are the changes that I need to make to become a radical follower of Jesus? Does it mean that I tell...
Monday, 21 January 2013
It's been a couple of days since I've had time to sit and read the blogs that I usually follow. Naturally, that also means that I haven't had (or at least taken) the time to post on my own.It's been a big weekend for things in the news: Inauguration weekend, MLK Day, Sanctity of Life Sunday, Gun control protests on a day when 5 are injured from gun accidents at gun shows, the NHL opens its long delayed season, Baseball great Stan "The Man" Musial dies--so many things to write about. If you've done much reading of news articles or blogs...
Friday, 18 January 2013
In an internet meme that was going around my blogging circle four years ago calling for Ten Honest Things About John, I wrote that I like hats--not caps, hats.For post number 800, I thought I would write about my hat--my favorite hat. The idea for a post about my hat came to me last Saturday at our Writers' meeting.I stopped for a coffee at Starbucks on the way and the girl at the drive-up window made a comment about how she liked my hat. When I...
Many years ago (about 25), I had a standing monthly order of cigars from the Thompson Cigar Co. While I have always enjoyed a good cigar, over the past many years I have very rarely had one. Sometime before Christmas I saw an internet ad for a sampler pack of 12 cigars, a small cherry wood humidor, lighter and cigar cutter for $19.95. It was a pretty good deal--about $90 worth of stuff for 20 bucks...and it was from Thompson, a company with which...
Thursday, 17 January 2013
I'm not old...right? Just older...right?Whatever!Rats! When did that happen?Before the end of summer, I'm going to be the "Old man" of the facility. The new supervisor that has recently arrived at SGF was born the year I was a senior in high school. The one that arrived last year, after that!I used to respond to people that addressed me as "Mr. Hill" with "I'm John. Mr. Hill is my dad."Now I'm starting to realize that I AM Mr. Hill!With the erratic hiring practices of the FAA, the controller workforce is nearly divided into two groups--one that...
Wednesday, 16 January 2013
How do you react when faced with adversity?I read this and copied it from a Facebook post.It's pretty good. Which are you? The carrot, the egg, or the coffee?A young woman went to her grandmother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved a new one arose.Her grandmother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water. In the first, she placed carrots, in the second she...
Monday, 14 January 2013
If I was to meet the man I was 20 years ago, I wonder if I would like him. I hope that I have changed (for the better) over the past couple of decades. Heck, I'd like to think that I've learned a few things in just the past couple of years.I know that I have learned to be more forgiving and less judgmental. I believe that I am much slower to anger than I once was. I think that I am more willing to try to understand somebody else's view point and less likely to insist on everything having to go my way.I firmly believe that the fifty something John...
Sunday, 13 January 2013
I saw this on Google+ and had to find the YouTube link for it.The artist has several other videos that are equally as impressive.I have a hard time just drawing letters to write a legible note!Enjoy.John <><(If you click the title at the top of the video rather than the play arrow, it will take you to YouTube and you can see the whole scree...
Saturday, 12 January 2013
As I mentioned in yesterday's post, today was our monthly writers' club meeting and it was our "Lightning Writing" challenge.After listening to many of members and a few of our guests read what they had written in the short time that was given to us, I am forced to ask myself, "What am I doing here?"As impressive as the fiction stories were, even more impressive were the stories that came from personal experiences. I hope to be able to publish a few of them here in the future. We also have several members with newly published or about to...
Friday, 11 January 2013
I'm reminding you that it's the day before Saturday so that you can be planning for our Be Nice to a Stranger Day. I do hope that you will participate and maybe even share your experience. I've made a couple of plans that involve people that aren't exactly strangers (and that's okay--you can, too), but I also plan on targeting a random stranger or two for an encouraging word or act of kindness. Let's have a great Saturday and make a few people smile!If you haven't already shared this post with your friends, please do! The more people being nice,...
Thursday, 10 January 2013
In our household budgets, we can often find ways to save a few dollars here and a few more there. By saving a few dollars in a few places, we can often finds ways to save a significant amount of the total budget.For example:At Starbucks you can go green and buy a reusable plastic cup for a dollar. Not only do you help save a tree, but they will give you a $0.10 credit each time you use it. After 10 cups, you're money ahead. Or you can buy your beans...
Tuesday, 8 January 2013
Our Bible study last Sunday came from John's gospel. In the fourth chapter there is a story about an encounter that Jesus had with a woman at a well in Samaria. Traditionally, Jews would not have traveled through Samaria because the Samaritans were an unclean part of Israel's past.Samaria was a part of The Northern Kingdom and during one of the conquests of the Old Testament, they were taken as captives and ended up intermarrying with their captors and became a mixed culture of Jews and gentiles. When Jesus and his disciples were making...
Monday, 7 January 2013
Just a thought...How about if we make Saturday, January 12th, Be Nice to a Stranger Day?It doesn't have to be a big deal. You don't have to spend any money. You don't even need to take a lot of time. It could be something as simple as returning a grocery cart to the store or placing it in the designated area for somebody that has kids in the car, or is older or just because you want to be nice.Maybe you know of somebody that is lonely and could use a visit or a phone call. Maybe you could send a greeting card in the mail ... or greet your...
Sunday, 6 January 2013
I am not a regular blogger. When I started Out of My Hat, I thought that it would be nice to post something a couple of times a week or so. Looking back, there have been only three months that I have posted everyday--the past two months (Nov. and Dec. '12) and August of '08.A noticeable benefit of daily posting is daily readership. (Imagine that!) For the first time in all of these years, I've manged to reach 4,000 hits in a one month period. I realize that's nothing compared to several of the blogs I read, but none-the-less, a mile stone...
There is something about Sunday.I look forward to Sunday mornings. This day, the first Sunday of 2013, was no exception.Sundays are more than just a day off of work. Sundays are days set aside to express our love for God and to worship Him. Most Sundays I am at Hopedale. I am privileged to be to able share the Bible with our high school boys during our Bible study time. I am honored to be able to worship our God with a few hundred other believers. And I am humbled that God chooses to speak to me through the preaching of His Word.Sometime this week...
Saturday, 5 January 2013
It was January 5, 1920 when the New York Yankees purchased Babe Ruth from the Boston Red Sox for $125,000. This was after The Babe broke the major league home run record in 1919 with 29. As a Yankee, he broke the record again in 1920 (54) and 1921 (59).After the deal, the Yankees went on to win 26 World Series titles and the Sox went 86 years before beating the St. Louis Cardinals for the Series Championship in 2004, thereby breaking the long lived curse.Pitchers and catchers report to camp in 38 days.Cardinal Season Opener is April 1st in Arizona--no...
Friday, 4 January 2013
This Advent message was delivered several weeks ago. Because I didn't listen to it immediately, it managed to find its way to the bottom of my "things to do" list and was eventually forgotten. Because I am familiar with the young preacher, I should have been more attentive to getting around to listening to his message.Bad Dad!After being reminded of it (by my daughter in law), I did finally listen to it.And she was right--it is a great message.I hope that you have the twenty minutes (or so) to go to the link and listen to it.John <>&...
Thursday, 3 January 2013
As much as I hate to start the year with another political commentary on the ineffectiveness of our elected reprehensatives, I have to say that I am thoroughly disgusted with the non-work that has been done in Congress in regards to taxes and spending.I am interested in compiling a list of government expenditures that can be cut to reduce spending. I know that everybody has their own ideas--some well thought out and reasonable, some not so very much. If you have an idea, please suggest it here. Even one idea that saves a measly 1 million dollars...
Wednesday, 2 January 2013
Joe the Dreamer: The Castle and the Catapult by Ada Brownell is a soon to be released book that is written by one of the leaders in our Christian Writer's club.Even though it is a teen novel, I'm looking forward to its release.Today's post just takes you over to Ms. Brownell's blog for an early look at Joe the Dreamer.More on the book after its release!John <>&...
Tuesday, 1 January 2013
It was after having posted for the first week in November and attending our monthly meeting of the Ozark Chapter of American Christian Writers' (OCACW) meeting that I felt challenged to write more often. I started by setting a goal to write something every day.I did a little free writing and stored it in my Google Documents (now Google Drive). I also started something that may work itself into that elusive book. At first, I thought that setting daily writing time aside would mean that I would be blogging less. As it turned out, I decided that this...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
