A Night Without TV!

I'm not adicted to TV. If it was turned off I'd never miss it.

What was I thinking???

The cable company is having difficulties tonight, and our signal has been off for . . . two hours. Oh, no! Where's my fix of Good Eats? What about SportsCenter? And, how can I expect to end my day without seeing a Cosby Show episode (for the 15th time!)?

Okay, okay, I'm a TV junkie! I admit it.

How different my life would have been without Captain Kangaroo, Gilligan, Fat Albert, Farrah Fawcett, Hawkeye, the General Lee, Dr. Huxtable, Kramer, Mulder, Tim the Tool Man, Data, Bill O'Reilly, . . . The Iron Chefs, and all the rest. Although, I'm sure that without I'd have been more cultured, sophisticated, less given to boredom, and with a much longer attention span. Instead of Hee Haw, perhaps I'd have grown up to the Boston Pops.

Yes, much of what comes out of our TVs is junk, more so every day. And yes, it occupies way too much of our days and nights. But, has a more effective communication tool ever been created? Can it not be said that television has made a large, detached world into a relative neighborhood?

My point? Like many things in life, TV offers good and bad; there is much potential to applaud, and there can be much to bemoan and dismiss. Parents, we hold the key . . . are we watching what our kids watch?

Oh . . . the TVs back on, and what do you know, just in time for tonight's HuxtaPalooza! TV Land is running a Cosby Show marathon!

Chocolate Cake

A slice of chocolate cake. What brings more joy than a slice of chocolate cake?

It really is the simple things in life that bring the most joy. A child's laugh. Freshly baked cookies. A hug. A newly bloomed rose. A smile. A snow-capped mountain peak. "Jesus Loves Me."

What brings more joy than a slice of chocolate cake? Okay, okay . . . you gotta have a dip of vanilla ice cream on top! Blue Bell homemade vanilla ice cream!!!

There's Always a New Day

What a difference a day makes.

Yesterday was one of those days. You know the type. It was one of those days when everything things seems to be falling a part. At every turn, another disappointment, another difficulty.

The weather set the tone. Fifty mile an hour winds. Dust, snow, hail . . . a little bit (actually quite a lot) of it all. At the worst of it, I was driving over Lizard Head Pass, one of the most beautiful places on earth, but the conditions of the day clouded out the beauty.

Life can be like that at times: the trouble of the day obscures the beauty, the promise, the good things.

But, you know what? A new day dawned, and gone were the difficulties and disappointments of yesterday. To be sure, today wasn't all roses, but the horizon was a lot farther out and the clouds lifted. Today was one of those days that made you feel like Noah standing on the mountainside, on dry ground, looking with awe upon the rainbow, set by God, reflected against the retreating clouds. The promise of a new day is such a blessing.