Dr. Lowrie to the Rescue....

A good man (and fellow blogger) just jumped into the "hotseat" of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. David Lowrie, pastor of First Baptist Church of Canyon, Texas, was elected President of the BGCT yesterday. I guess we'll have to share him with the rest of the state now.

West Texas pastor elected Baptist group president

Click on the link for the AP story.

Richard Fisher's Remarks to the Texas Cattle Feeders

In the previous post I mentioned attending the Texas Cattle Feeders Convention at the Gaylord Texan on Lake Grapevine. In the comments, someone asked about my reaction to the speech by Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher. My response was that I was impressed. You should be the judge however, and to that end, I have linked his speech which can be accessed at the following link:

http://dallasfed.org/news/speeches/fisher/2008/fs081104.cfm

Although it is obvious that he took great care in his remarks to send no signals to the market, I felt they were revealing anyway. I hope you take the time to read his speech and please feel free to comment. I would like to know your thoughts.

Football, Travel and Fall Colors

I just watched Texas Tech pull out a win against Texas. It was quite a game. It was exciting to the last second on the clock. It's too bad the Aggies aren't having such a good season but they did beat Colorado today.

Tomorrow I'm headed for the DFW area for the Texas Cattle Feeders Convention. It will be held at the Opryland Hotel on Lake Grapevine. From there I will head home on Tuesday to spend the night in my own bed before heading to Colorado Springs on Wednesday for the Beef Summit. It will be lots of travel from now through mid-December. But, I guess it's been lots of travel for the last few weeks.

The weather here has been nearly perfect for the last few days and is expected to be the same for the next week or so. The high temps have been in the low 80's and the lows have been in 40's and 50's. It has been great for creating good color in the trees. The red oaks below are in our front yard.

Fiscal Issues Week Focus of Senator Cornyn

With the current economic turmoil faced by our nation being prominent in the news, U.S. Senator John Cornyn has focused his website on fiscal issues for our nation. I am privileged to have a guest post on the Senator's site which can be viewed here. I appreciate the Senator's efforts to bring these vital issues to the public's attention during this election season. He has been a strong advocate for fiscal conservatism and I believe will continue to bring that message to the Senate as we send him back for a second term. Thank you Senator for your efforts!

Fred Thompson's Thoughts on the Election

Fred Thompson shares some thoughts on the election in the link below:

http://www.fredpac.com/index.aspx

Random Thoughts From Jacksonville

It has been awhile since I have posted anything. My travel schedule has been crazy and will continue to be that way until almost Christmas.

I am writing this from Jacksonville, Florida, while waiting until time to board my flight west.

It has been a good week working in the Southeast. The people are friendly and the weather was great. Attitudes are good.

Every newspaper that I pick up has gloom-and-doom headlines about the economy and yet as I look around, I don't see it. Business is happening and people are spending money. There is certainly an underlying current of anxiety because people don't know what may really be happening in the economy. That anxiety is fed by the newspaper headlines. Yet, there lifestyles really haven't changed.

In agriculture, things really look pretty good. There is certainly some market turmoil -- but that's the way it always is. The markets go up, the markets go down. You do the best that you can.

The only negative that I've heard is a rumor that one very large outfit that is an industry leader is financed by one of the BIG 5 banks. The word is that their credit line has been squeezed.

So, why is our government bailing the big banks out? I know that it's because it would devastate our economy if they fail because it would create a cascading effect that would start with the big boys and work its way down until everyone was affected.

My thought though, is that they need to seriously consider breaking the big banks up into multiple smaller institutions. Kind of a Ma Bell breakup. Let's spread our risk instead of allowing it to concentrate into a few hands.

What bothers me is that the very banks that the Fed is propping up are the ones buying other financial institutions. If I had a bent toward conspiracy theories, I think we could certainly build a case that this whole financial meltdown smacks of a conspiracy to gain financial control of the world. But, being the rational individual that I am, maybe it's just a function of human stupidity instead.

Maybe I should run for President. Is there anybody out there that would vote for me?

Discernment

discernment - 1 : the quality of being able to grasp and comprehend what is obscure
(Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionary)

"They are a nation without sense, there is no discernment in them." __Deuteronomy 32:28

How do you know when someone is lying? How can you cut through the fog and see what lies beneath the words? When listening to a skilled liar, the only way to know is through the gift of discernment. It is a gift. Not everyone has it. It is something for which one should pray. It is desperately needed by each and every voter in the upcoming election.


"Arrogant lips are unsuited to a fool— how much worse lying lips to a ruler!" __Proverbs 17:7

Get Out the Military Vote

U.S. Senator John Cornyn has developed a new website to help our military to be able to vote in the upcoming Presidential election. It is a portal to important information and critical dates to ensure that their vote will count. Please get the word out to any military personnel that may have questions about their voting rights. It can be accessed at www.texasmilitaryvote.com.

Bigger Boxes

We often hear it told
That we need to get out of our box.
It usually means the speaker
Perceives us to be unable
To grasp their ideas.

I really don't think
It is possible to escape our box.
It is built by our past,
Our experience,
Our knowlege.

The real question is,
How big is your box?
Is it a closet,
A small house,
Or a gymnasium?

Is there room in your box
For others?
Or is your box
Just barely a fit
For you?

Is there abundance in your box?
Or is it a desert place
Containing nothing
But you
Alone?

Is your box full of love?
Is it a place
Where others are welcome
To spend some time
Exploring?

Or is your box
Filled with anger
And hatred
And bitterness
And fear?

Quit trying to get out of your box.
Make your box bigger.
Fill it and fill it some more.
Our boxes are expandable.
If you begin with love.

However,
If there is no love
It will shrink
Until there is nothing left
But you.

A Lonely High Place

It has seemed like a long week. I headed for Kansas on Monday and worked there for a few days before working my way back south. I had numerous good sales calls which should have me fired up but for some reason it just hasn't been that way. I think I need to go find a high place and sit awhile.

Sometimes I have the need to climb a hill and just sit and stare off into the distance. That probably seems strange to most people but there are plenty of others like me. You find them in National Parks or on river banks or on horseback. They generally feel comfortable alone. They need space. They need time to think.

It seems sometimes
The clutter in my head
Needs airing out.

Those are the times
I find a lonely place
And sit a think.

Perhaps to say I think
Is a mischaracterization
Of what I do.

A better description
Might be to say
I spend some time just being.

For those of you not familiar
With what just being entails,
It is the opposite of doing.

The best thing about just being
Is that the clutter in my mind
Gets organized

And my thoughts become clearer
Until the peace that enters in
Allows me to hear God.

Palo Duro Canyon in the New York Times

My area is getting a little publicity in the national press. Check out this article from the NY Times about some of the local scenery. People truly don't realize what lies out here in "flyover" country until they spend some time here.

I noticed in the review that Leal's is a suggested place for dining. I thoroughly second that opinion. Victor and Debbie Leal, who own the restaurant, are great people. Victor grew up in the big city of Muleshoe, Texas, where his parents opened the first Leal's Restaurant in the 1950's. If you are out this way you need to make sure you experience their version of Tex-Mex cuisine. You'll be happy that you did. They are conveniently located right off of Interstate 40.

Trade Shows and Interstellar Travel

The Fall and Winter months are "Trade Show Season" for our industry. The Fall is also our "rush" time. I don't understand why the heaviest travel schedule coincides with the time during which I most need to be in the office.

I have spent most of the day lining up my travel itineraries -- all the way into January. The worst part is that there are a couple of time slots in which I need to be multiple places at the same time. There is actually one day in which I am supposed to be 3 places, in 3 different states, at the same time.

I asked my son (the future engineer) the other day to come up with some kind of transporter device like they have on Star Trek. It would really help me out. He immediately replied that it was slightly more difficult than interstellar travel at greater than light speed. When I asked why he replied that there was too great a danger of materializing in occupied space. I suggested a proximity sensor of some sort. He's still thinking on it.

Cold Calls

Last week's travel threw me behind. It is amazing how much can accumulate in a few days time. However, the trip was productive. It resulted in one new customer and a number of others who I believe soon will be customers. It is rare in my business to get an immediate order for our services on a first visit. The key, I believe, is that we just seemed to click -- personality, timing and service fitting a need. It happens.

In my years of training salesmen (I may have posted on this before but can't remember), I have tried to teach them to look at each customer contact as one step closer to the sale. That is a difficult proposition for a young salesman trying to get started. "No's" can be hard on the confidence. However, if you count "no's" as being part of the process of getting to "yes," each "no" is considered a positive step forward.

Thinking back on the week, there really weren't any "no's." There was only one stop out of about 30 that was "cool" to the idea of our services. The rest were all positive -- and some were very positive. I expect significant results to develop.

Neal, I appreciate the help.

Travel, Trails and Historical Perspective

This was a day of travel. We're talking 630 miles of travel from south of Amarillo, Texas, to Lincoln, Nebraska. After the break of a long weekend in the mountains, work called me back to reality.

Driving is my preferred mode of travel for my work. There are times when I fly, but most travel through the Plains is about as fast by automobile as it is by air because of multiple stops and then renting a car, etc. Besides, driving time is often productive time. I get a lot of thinking done across the miles.

As I travel I also think about the old trails that crossed the Plains. For the first leg of my trip, the highway followed the old Dodge City to Amarillo trail. Next, I picked up the old Western Trail south of Dodge City and crossed the creek where the cattle herds were held while awaiting their turn into the stockyards for shipment east. At Dodge City I began following the old Santa Fe Trail until turning up US 156 at Great Bend and heading to Ellsworth, Kansas, which was one of the famous "wild west" frontier towns. From there I headed east to Salina and then north toward Nebraska. I crossed a couple of branches of the old trails to the Colorado gold fields of the 1850's and then after entering into Nebraska, I crossed the Pony Express route and the old Overland Route from Independence, Missouri, that angled northwest to the Platte River.

When we think about the wild west we usually don't think about the fact that it started in Kansas. The Kansas cow towns were wild a woolly places until the railroads brought civilization. The Texas Panhandle wasn't settled until after 1876 when the last of the Comanche were driven to the reservations of Indian Territory (Oklahoma).

One of the things that intrigues me about the old trails is how they followed the features of the land. Water was critical, fords across the occasional rivers were important, wood or other fuel for fires was needed, natural features that allowed easy travel for wagons was desired. Campsites were determined by speed of travel as well as by location of water and fuel. Many of the towns of today which dot the Plains, originated with the campsites. That is one reason the space between towns is often somewhat uniform. The distance was determined by the daily travel of an ox drawn wagon. It wasn't really until the advent of the Interstate Highway system that we began to get away from the old trails that crossed the country. Even those roughly follow the old trails. A perfect example is Interstate 80 across Nebraska. It follows the same route as the great westward migration to Oregon and California.

The next time you're traveling across the country, think about why those roads are located where they are and why the towns grew up in their particular locations. It might put a whole new slant on your perspective of history.

Rainbows

Silent footsteps on damp pine needles
Fall....silently
Against the constant murmur, gurgle, singing
Water burbling
Growing louder yet never changing
Deceptively deep
River rushing over pebbles
Rocks
Boulders
Snags with eddying pools of calm no longer clear
Holes
Where lightly placed temptation
Teases
Seeking silver flashes and splashes
Tugging
Struggling
Dashing
Diving
Striving
Carefully netted morsel
Gently released
To grow for next time.

A Brief Break for Renewal

I am out of here for a few days in the mountains -- cold, clear water with a cutthroat or rainbow is calling....

"For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills;" __ Deuteronomy 8:7

Home Away From Home

Just for grins I am posting the poem below that I wrote back in March, 1990, when I thought I was something of a cowboy poet....

Home Away From Home

A one-ton club-cab pickup

Parked out front of Joe's cafe,

Guarded by a surley pup

That keeps the world at bay.

A thirty-thirty on a rack

That hangs behind the seat

Almost covered by spare tack

Just thrown in, none too neat.

A brass spitoon sits on the dash

That years back held a shine,

But, now is filled with mouldering mash

And covered up with grime.

Sale receipts and tally sheets

Are piled up here and there;

Flyers from the auction meets

Just thrown in without care.

A stray left glove lays on the floor

Among the ground-in dirt

With empty snuff can lids galore

And a once-clean extra shirt.

The left rear fender's dented in;

The imprint of a cow

Who battled rope but didn't win

And into it did plow.

Speckled mud from grill to ball,

This master of the road

Never even threats to stall

While pulling heavy load.

Lived-in, sure, and much abused

Made for one to roam;

O'er many a hard mile it has cruised,

This cowboy's second home.

When Did You Start Living?

Our pastor asked the question this morning, "How long have you been alive?"

He was actually quoting from the writing of Tony Campolo.

The first and obvious answer from most people is their chronological age. Even that might be debatable based on the phrasing of the question. It could be argued that life begins at conception. Therefore, we each must add the length of gestation to our normal measure of chronological age to arrive at the answer.

The second answer, it being a church service, might have to do with our Christian life. After all, as born-again believers in Jesus Christ, it could be said that we have only been alive since the point of our acceptance of Jesus as Lord and Savior.

In fact, he was referring to neither of these. His point was, are we just going through the motions, or are we experiencing life to its fullest? Are we really engaged in living our life to the maximum for which God designed us, or are we just getting by?

I think most of us are just getting by -- with the possible exception of the occasional rare moments when we suddenly look around us and say, "Wow, my life is great!"

Living life to the fullest requires getting out of our comfort zone. It requires risk. It sometimes occasions ridicule. It asks much of us but returns much more. It might mean leaving a lifelong career doing what you thought you should and diving into what you really want to do. It might mean selling the trappings that tie you down and moving to Africa as a missionary. Whatever it is, pursuing what God has called you to do is real life. It is living at a level that few ever experience.

So, when will you start living?

Fertile Fields

Whew, home! I just got home from a big swing up through the Plains. I had a couple of things to attend to in Western Kansas and a meeting in Nebraska. Lots of miles -- but they seem to have been productive. I won't really know for some time though. Part of it was planting seeds. The ground seemed to be pretty fertile though.

Speaking of fertile ground, the crops in Nebraska looked fantastic. The corn looked great and the soybeans were picture perfect. The pastures were green and the cows were slick and fat and all seemed to have a calf by their side. It certainly was a pleasant sight for the eyes. There was even water in the creeks! Sorry -- I'm not used to seeing that in the Texas Panhandle.

We did get some good rains here this past week and weekend. You could almost hear a slurping sound coming from the ground as it greedily sucked in the much-needed moisture. It came at a good time for a neighbor of mine who had sowed some late hay grazer. It was beginning to shrivel but it jumped a couple of feet within 5 days of the first rain. It's amazing how the crops respond when they get what they need.

It has been a cool summer here -- unlike our Spring. We seemed to have gotten all of our really hot, hot weather back in June. It has been pleasant since other than a dry 2-3 weeks in July and the first week of August. If this is Global Warming, I think I'm for it!

"I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees of the field their fruit." __Leviticus 26:4

Crucible of Silence

Silence is the crucible
In which our heart is revealed.
It can be peaceful
Or filled with terror.

When our heart is at peace
We find rest in silence.
Its friendly, enveloping reflection
Mirrors our self-awareness.

For those who do not accept
That which is self,
Silence is filled
With the terror of that same reflection.

It pounds with
Insecurities,
Failures,
Loneliness.

Peace is found in knowing
That you are never alone
If your heart is filled
With the One who saves.

Jesus.