Back to the Basics

The late football strategist Vince Lombardi was a fanatic about fundamentals. Those who played under his leadership often spoke of his intensity, his drive, his endless enthusiasm for the guts of the game. Time and again he would come back to the basic techniques of blocking and tackling. On one occasion his team, the Green […]

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Hope for Survival

Originally, American settlers built their homes in the center of their acreage. Later on, many of them moved to the inside corners to be nearer their neighbors. Understand, I wasn’t living back then, but from what I read, that’s actually what happened. It occurred when “Go west, young man!” was the challenge of America . […]

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My Advice This Christmas

If I may borrow from Charles Dickens’s famous opening line, Christmas can be “the best of times, and the worst of times.” We have them both, don’t we? Who hasn’t cringed in early-October as stores drag out the artificial Christmas trees and put them on display? Who doesn’t dread the extra traffic and the gaggle […]

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Giving the Unexpected

There are various ways to describe it: turning the other cheek . . . going the extra mile . . . doing good to those who hate us . . . loving our enemies . . . pouring coals of fire on another’s head. We may say it different ways, but the action amounts to […]

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Be Careful This Christmas

Dr. Seuss wasn’t thinking of me when he wrote How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Charles Dickens would not have asked me to play Scrooge in his story. In spite of what you may read later . . . remember that! I’m not anti-Christmas, nor do I brandish the overused bumper sticker, “Put Christ Back into […]

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God Had a Plan (and Still Does)

For the longest time, I didn’t understand the new-car industry. I had always thought when a person wanted an automobile, he or she dropped by the local dealership, kicked a few tyres, and placed the order with the salesperson. I figured that when headquarters got the specs, they’d scurry around the shop to find the […]

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