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Before last Halloween life was truly good. Funny thing. The only thing that has changed has been the presence of two little children who are the loves of my life. My grandchildren came into being on Halloween. Since that day I have been on cloud nine as a grandfather living from day to day waiting for the opportunity to spend some time with my grandchildren.

For several months now my daughter-in-law has been attending a class on Wednesday evening at the local college in Georgetown. She has been dropping the kids off here at about 4:30 P.M. and then getting them somewhere around…  ( Click for more )

In early 2004 my wife and I were searching for a place to buy in Georgetown, Kentucky. We decided for Georgetown against Stamping Ground (the area close to the church at which I preach) for a number of reasons. One was the absence of houses which we thought would fit our needs in the Stamping Ground area. Another was the price of existing houses in Stamping Ground compared to their condition. The third was location.

Georgetown is close enough to the church that I can be into the area within minutes. The subdivision we settled in is in a growing area of Georgetown that we were…  ( Click for more )

Aaron Harang, pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds, had to know that his start was going to be a rocky one as he faced the St. Louis Cardinals. Standing on the pitching mound for the Reds, he was clearly shown wearing a baseball jersey that said he played for a team in "CNCINNATI." Somehow the company that made the jerseys for the Reds misspelled the city on the front of Harang's away jersey leaving out the first "I".

The Reds lost that game by the score of 5-1. No doubt the blown city name on the front of the jersey will take the blame. Hey, the players will be stand-up guys…  ( Click for more )

I learned to play golf on a course that was fairly wide open and totally grassy. That same course is still being played although it was rerouted and changed somewhat. It is still totally grassy and pretty much devoid of bunkers. There are a few but not as many as other courses. It makes the course play relatively easily and gives the golfer a very aesthetically pleasing surrounding.

Then there's Bent Tree Golf Club, near Sunbury, Ohio. The first time I played there was the only time I played there. I felt like I was in a demilitarized zone. There were so may bunkers…  ( Click for more )

One week ago today 74 year old John Meeks had surgery to repair a broken hip. Last Saturday he walked from his bed to the door. That may be only about twelve feet or so but it was a monumental accomplishment for John. His new hip has a new ball joint and several accessories that regular hips don't have. Those additions usually signify pain in the joint when it is first being used.

John's steps were not big steps. In his former life he would have covered those twelve feet in just a few strides. Friday it took ten steps with a walker, each one bathed in pain and stress.…  ( Click for more )

Many things can strike comedians as being funny. The way someone eats a bagel, the look on a schoolboy's face during recess or the hemline of a dress on a beautiful woman can catch their eye and they're off to the races to describe it in a way that tickles somebody else's funny bone. Some of their routines have become almost iconoclastic, assuming a place in the comedic lore of a generation.

Golf has taken its share of shots from the great comedians. From George Burns to Bob Hope to Johnny Carson, at one time or another they have all taken their best shots at…  ( Click for more )

This past Monday I renewed one of my yearly rites of spring. I watched the first home game of the Cincinnati Reds baseball season on Opening Day. Opening Day has long been one of my favorite times of the year. It's all the excitement for the coming season of baseball, the hopes and dreams, the fruition of the long winter months of negotiations with new players and the inclusion of what are hoped to be key figures in a run to the World Series.

Already this year, the newest Red has proven his value. Joe Randa, picked up from the Kansas City Royals of the American League,…  ( Click for more )

Tom Selleck has never really been a box office bonanza but he has been in some interesting films which strain the realm of possibility. In the movie, "Her Alibi," he plays a divorced writer who falls in love with an accused murderess from a family of Romanian clowns. He becomes her alibi against the murder accusation because he feels she is the answer to his need for the subject of a new crime novel.

As her alibi, he takes her to stay in his home in his guest suite. During the course of their intereaction she asks him about his former wife. He responds by telling the young…  ( Click for more )

Destinations. We all have, at some time, set out for a specific detination. If you belong to AAA you probably obtained a "Trip Tick" from them to help you get to your destination. Nowadays there are all sorts of computer programs and websites that can help us plot our way to even the most remote and insignificant of destinations. However, there are those who leave the destination determination to someone else.

In 2003 David Facey of "The Sun", a tabloid in London, England, had his paper book his travel plans for him to cover the Masters in Augusta, Georgia. He followed all…  ( Click for more )

The great singer, Beverly Sills, was once asked about what spurred her to be the accomplished vocalist she had become. In the course of her answer she said, "You may be disappointed if you fail, but you're doomed if you don't try." I wonder if she played golf. If ever there was a sport which combined disappointment tainted with impending doom, it is golf.

Perhaps the best scripture that can be associated with golf is Romans 7:15. "For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do." Golf is a game…  ( Click for more )

There are two words in the English language which, when combined, raise the specter of a life that isn't being enjoyed. The two words? I could let you grind on them for a while. I could let you sit and guess. What if I just came out and told you? Yeah, what if I just put you out of your misery and came right out and told you? What if I did that? Well, what if?

Those of you who have figured out the two words go to the head of the class. Those of you who didn't, what if I give you another chance? WHAT IF I make it is plain as I can? Would you get it then? Ah,…  ( Click for more )

Every morning I get up and shower in the upstairs bathroom right next to my office. Both of our bathrooms have rather large mirrors in them; something around 40 inches high by 60 inches long. They have no mounting frame surrounding them. They are mounted on a wall. How they are mounted is what is fascinating. During the day the evidence of how they are mounted is well hidden. But after a shower is a totally different story.

The first time I showered in our new house I noticed the two little patterns that appeared in the mirror. Two little squares were outlined; one about…  ( Click for more )

In May, 1998 I had the kind of day an amateur golfer dreams about. I had traveled from Winchester, Kentucky to Georgetown, Kentucky to play golf at the Longview Golf Course. I did not have anyone with me so I was at the mercy of the starters. Another man and I were put with a couple of guys named Joe who were agitating to say the least. They challenged our cart to a match from the big boys' tees. We were waiting in line to get started and my cart partner looked at me and said, "Let's shut these guys up." The match was on.

My partner, whom I believe I remember as…  ( Click for more )

The Tournament Players Championship is currently being contested at the Tournament Players Club at Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra, Florida. Weather has extended the play to the point that the last round might not be played until Tuesday. The announcers for the tournament have commented that the TPC at Sawgrass is tough enough without Mother Nature lending a hand. The course is one of the most brutal that the PGA plays.

When it opened back in the 80s it was even more severe. That was what the PGA wanted supposedly. But the players complained declaring it almost unplayable. So the…  ( Click for more )

Good Friday. That is the designation this day has received. Given the events of the day it's difficult to understand how the day itself could be called good. But let's look at it for just a moment here and reflect on why good may be the best adjective for this day.

The day started with Jesus being dragged from place to place to be questioned in an effort to wear Him down. He was taken from Annas to Caiaphas and then to Pilate whose chief concern seemed to be that Jesus called Himself a king.

"Pilate therefore said to Him, 'Are you a king then?' Jesus…  ( Click for more )

Certain terms have a literal meaning. However, many also carry a connotative meaning as well. There is the dictionary meaning and the one that translates for the masses. Sometimes using a term in its dictionary meaning can hit the ears of someone who has only captured the masses' understanding. I found this out in New York while bowling in a men's league.

Our men's team was made up of Joe Burda, Joe Pribula, Rock Levesque and myself and whichever of Rock's sons would come and bowl with us. We were the champions of the league for three years running so teams…  ( Click for more )

"A doctor can bury his mistakes, but an architect can only advise his clients to plant vines." Those words by Frank Lloyd Wright reveal the highly challenging competition in architecture to create a design that is so stunning so as to leave one breathless. From time to time such efforts do reap a bounty of homes that are a trifle unattractive to say the least. Sometimes, when architects push the envelope, the envelope gets torn and wadded.

I have seen homes that just were not my taste that received rave reviews from architectural digests. And I have seen homes that even the…  ( Click for more )

I started attending Christian Service Camp when I was ten years old. At that time that was the youngest that anyone was admitting a camper for a weeklong program. I remember a kid, who shall remain nameless, that had some sort of nasal problem for which he was being medicated. He brought the medication to camp and the camp nurse made sure he got it every day.

Only problem was his problem became our problem. With nine boys in the dorm plus a dorm dad only one person slept that first night; the kid with the nasal problem. The rest of us lay awake listening to him breath and…  ( Click for more )

Here in America we are in a time that is referred to as, "March Madness." It is the time of the year that the National Collegiate Athletic Association stages its annual men's college basketball tournament pitting the 65 best teams in the college ranks against each other for an earned national title as the National Champions of College Basketball.

The March part is that it is contested in the month of March and pretty much consumes sports fanatics for that time period. The Madness part of it is the effort put out by armchair basketball prognosticators who wish to try their…  ( Click for more )

During my sophomore year at Johnson Bible College near Knoxville, Tennessee, I had a roommate named Bill Green. Bill and I had a good relationship and tried our best to motivate each other to do the work we were supposed to do for our classes. I hate to admit it but I resisted a lot of Bill's good urgings and sloughed off a lot of my classwork due to some poor choices I was making with my life. I was just killing time.

During the second semester Bill found a neat little placard and put it on the front part in the middle of the bottom shelf at our desks. The placard read,…  ( Click for more )

Erin go bragh! And a good St. Patrick's Day to you. Today people all around the world will be celebrating a holiday which means absolutely nothing to them other than it's a holiday on which they wear green and pinch those who don't. Please don't be so quick to pinch this year. There are some things you might wish to know before you start leaving small bruises on each others skin.

First of all, Saint Patrick's Day is in honor of Saint Patrick, the patron saint of my homeland, Ireland. It is also a very religious time for those folks there. Even the…  ( Click for more )

While enrolled at Johnson Bible College near Knoxville, Tennessee, I developed a friendship with a young man from Young High School who liked to box and thought I might enjoy it also. He took me to meet his trainer, an ex-boxer who never made it out of the club circuit. The trainer checked my hand speed, overall strength and asked me if I would like to train. I tried it and liked it.

I trained hard. I ran incessantly and lifted what weights the gym had as well as those at Johnson. I watched as my body redefined itself. I trimmed down to a svelt 195 pounds. I had been sparring…  ( Click for more )

Recently my wife and I went to St. Joseph Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky to visit a friend of ours who had surgery to repair three massive blockages and a bad aortic valve. Only problem is we never got to the hospital itself. After finding a parking place a couple of tiers back from the front entrance we started making our way to the entrance walking over a mounded landscaped area which was covered with a thin layer of snow. My wife made it fine. I didn't.

Don't you just hate falls? You know what I'm talking about. The ones where you start down and have no…  ( Click for more )

Horace, the great Roman poet and satirist, once said, "A picture is a poem without words." I am sure that he was talking about the artist's canvas rather than the photographer's lens. Proof of that might well be found in a photo from the 1970s of Jack Nicklaus all decked out in his fitted plaid pants caught in full swing of the driver. Quite a fashion statement, but hardly poetry other than Jack's impeccable swing. But the fashion aspect of his clothing?!? Golf has had some rather famous fashion faux pas.

Not long ago Golf Magazine surveyed their subscribers…  ( Click for more )