Life's Like That was born when I was having trouble getting clients at the Family Counseling Center. That is a fancy name that came from my family counseling career. I thought I needed to get some ads in the local newspaper. That led to my meeting Mr Rowe Ray, the managing editor of the San Marcos Daily Record. I simply wanted to explore possibilities but ended with an invitation to write a weekly column for the newspaper. I can honestly say I never broke my word on confidentiality; i.e, everything we talked about stayed in the Center, everything that is except the funny things. I was counseling with a game warden that told me about a lady who was losing a sheep a night to one old hungry coyote. Whenever the warden came out, she would start feeling sorry for the coyote and asked the warden not to shoot it. Finally she had five sheep left. She called the warden and once again told him she wasn't ready to have him hunt down the coyote. The warden looked at the little flock of sheep and said, "Mrs. Jones, whatever you say, but we've only got five more days anyway". As you read this book there will be tears and sunshine. The good news is you don't have to sit down and read it all at once. Life Really Is Like That.

Life's Like That

An Old Texan Looks at Life Volume IIBy Jerry McKee Bullock

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2012 Jerry McKee Bullock
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4772-9238-9

Contents

Dedication..............................................................vAcknowledgements........................................................viiPassing Through a Dry Land..............................................1Serving Others Important................................................3Veterans Day............................................................5Pornography.............................................................7Self-identity—Bob Josephs.........................................9Liberty and Freedom.....................................................11New Year—2012.....................................................13Perfect Round of Golf...................................................15Palm Sunday.............................................................17Surprises...............................................................19That Darned Computer....................................................21Mother's Day............................................................23After 9/11..............................................................26What It Takes to Make It Last...........................................28Truth vs. Lies..........................................................30The Washington Monument.................................................32Parenting...............................................................35Freedom of Religion.....................................................37It Is Okay to Say No....................................................39Pastors.................................................................42Get Involved............................................................44Valentine's Day.........................................................47Forgiveness ... Love and Forgive........................................49George Washington.......................................................51Our Only Hope for Lasting Peace.........................................54The Price of Freedom....................................................56Just a Minute...........................................................58Labor Day...............................................................60Laughter—April Fool...............................................62Marriage................................................................64The Spirit Lives On.....................................................67Remember the Alamo......................................................69Mothers Evolve..........................................................71September 11, 2002......................................................74Honor the American Flag—2002......................................76Old Time Radio..........................................................78A Time of Victory.......................................................80What Will Heaven Be Like?...............................................83Personality.............................................................85Nothing Is Easy Anymore.................................................87Remember the Alamo......................................................89Victory or Death–March 2009.......................................92Second Hand Lion........................................................94Why Does God Let the Evil Prosper?......................................96Setting Goals...........................................................98Stockholm...............................................................100The Story of Texas......................................................102What Day Is This?.......................................................104Texas Independence Day..................................................106Telephones..............................................................108The Tyranny of the Urgent ... Are you in overtime?......................110No Fun in Flying Anymore................................................112History Is Made Every Day...............................................115Easter..................................................................117Control Your Tongue.....................................................119Submit Yourselves One to Another........................................121What Happened to Your Hair?.............................................123Hello. Is Anybody There?................................................125Blue Dogs, Lap Dogs, and Lame Dogs......................................128Growing Old Together—or Not.......................................130If I Make It Until June ................................................132The Nicest Gifts Come Wrapped in Words..................................134Have a Great New Year...................................................136And It Came to Pass.....................................................138The First Thanksgiving..................................................140Bill Stern, the Colgate Shave Cream Man.................................142Give the Burnt Biscuits to Papa.........................................144Financial Planning......................................................146Consider the Snail......................................................149Retirement of a Warrior.................................................151Whatever Became of Sin?.................................................153The World in the Way....................................................156Vegetarian Lesson.......................................................159Decisions—Think Twice.............................................161How To Be Happy.........................................................163Humor Heals.............................................................165Common Courtesies Ignored...............................................168Pinocchio...............................................................170Praying the Hours.......................................................173Hunter's Time...........................................................175Intentions..............................................................177Truth...................................................................179The Night Before Christmas..............................................181Pilgrims................................................................183Bailouts................................................................185Howdy with a Smile......................................................187What Have You Done with Your Hour?......................................189Mothers Are Special People..............................................191Dogs and Cats...........................................................193He Said He Would........................................................195To Vote/Not to Vote.....................................................197Trust...................................................................199Waiting Time............................................................201On Being a Father.......................................................203Was Alexis de Tocqueville Correct?......................................205Texas Independence Day–2011.......................................207America's Problems......................................................210Sweet Talk vs. Growling.................................................212Take Time to Visit......................................................214Be a Fan................................................................216All Things Are Possible.................................................218Running for His Life....................................................220Who's Getting Old?......................................................222New Year—2008.....................................................224Father's Day/July 4 Combination.........................................226Make a Difference.......................................................228Abe Lincoln and MLK.....................................................230July 4, 2008............................................................232Work Ethic Is Alive and Well............................................234It's a Bug's Life.......................................................236Good Friday.............................................................238Wives Are a Special Lot.................................................240Growing Older...........................................................242Fountain of Youth.......................................................244Let God Take Control....................................................246Fire Insurance..........................................................248The Gentle Click of Dominoes............................................250Special Days............................................................253Hard Work...............................................................255Being a Dad Is Serious Business.........................................257A Good Life.............................................................259The Civil War in Prayer.................................................261Choices: Free Will or Not...............................................264God is Awesome..........................................................266Membership Has Its Obligations..........................................268Find It In the Want Ads.................................................270What Time Is It?........................................................272Friends.................................................................274Halloween...............................................................276Celebrating Thanksgiving................................................278A Christian Nation: Freedom of Religion.................................280General John Flynn......................................................283Held Together by "Things"...............................................285After Thanksgiving......................................................287Time for a Reality Check................................................289Darwin Awards...........................................................291The Oschter Haws........................................................293Loch Ness Monster.......................................................295Horse Sense.............................................................298Ashamed of What We Say..................................................300Just Be Thankful........................................................3023rd Advent Sunday.......................................................30450th Wedding Anniversary................................................306A Plan to Trap Jesus....................................................308Bluegrass...............................................................310Bob's Story.............................................................312Bravery.................................................................314Christmas Phone Cards...................................................316Meredith's Baptism......................................................318But As For Me and My Household..........................................320Car Back................................................................322Where The Pilgrims Stood July 4, 2000...................................324Christmas 2004..........................................................326Jay Leno Didn't Say it, But He Should Have May 2008.....................328July 4, 1999............................................................332Chronicles of Narnia....................................................334July 4, 1993............................................................336December 1994...........................................................338Cats & St. Patrick's Day................................................340Cemeteries..............................................................342Finishing the Job.......................................................344Mother's Day 2003.......................................................346Katrina.................................................................348Sitting on a Cactus Patty...............................................350Put Your Eyes on the Coach..............................................352My Mistakes.............................................................354No Gaily Colored Easter Eggs............................................356New Year's Revolution 2001..............................................358Talk It Through.........................................................360Texas Independence Day/National Pig Day.................................362Texians and Tejanos.....................................................364Thanksgiving 2010.......................................................366The War in Iraq.........................................................368You Get What You Give...................................................370Keep Out: The Conspiracy................................................372I Gave My Life for Thee.................................................374New Year Resolutions 2003...............................................376Why Mention War at Christmas Time?......................................378Giving Thanks...........................................................380Years of Religious Freedom 1999.........................................382Life's Like That in Texas...............................................384Keep That Camel In Your Lane............................................386Becoming a Parent.......................................................388Our Loving Father.......................................................390Silence Is Not Always Golden............................................392Just Do It..............................................................394Hate vs. Love...........................................................396Give Thanks in All Things...............................................398He Who Has An Ear ......................................................400No One Said Anything About Logic........................................402Who Was Stephen F. Austin?..............................................404Epilogue................................................................407

Chapter One

Passing Through a Dry Land

This week we stand between Father's Day and the Fourth of July My father raised me to believe in the 4th of July as a symbol of man's never-ending quest for freedom. It is the essence of the Bill of Rights, which, it seems to me, may well be the focus of our thoughts on this weekend before Independence Day.

The Bill of Rights begins with the guarantee of freedom to say and to do almost anything to publicize your ideas. It guarantees a free and uncensored media. And there is the promise that the legislature would make no law that interferes with the free practice of one's religious beliefs and finally the right to petition and expect to be heard.

I doubt that it ever crossed the minds of the founding fathers that the independent Supreme Court they had created to interpret the law would one day become a legislative body in its own right which would rule that burning our flag was a guaranteed freedom of speech but that saying a prayer to open a meeting of the city council was not.

One of our city fathers has petitioned to end the beginning of each council meeting with prayer. The Americans for Civil Liberties Union is on the job and telling us what we can and cannot do. I understand the rule in this regard. I would argue just that, it is a rule, not the law. There is no statute that makes a prayer a criminal act. The court has said you may have prayer but it should (or must) not be "non-sectarian." By interpretation, sectarian means "Christian or Judeo." It would not deny a Muslim (or a Hindu, Buddhist, or Wiccan) the right to pray—although each of these is as sectarian as is a Baptist, Lutheran or Methodist.

I am not a religious fundamentalist; I am an American. I love this country with a passion because it has for 233 years been the light of freedom in an oppressed world. We have not been perfect but, by and large, we have tried to be fair and to do what is right by all people. More and more I see those freedoms for which I served and fought eroding. I see the Bill of Rights becoming a "Bill of Maybes."

Like Solomon in the scriptures we are passing through a dry land. Solomon heard from God and heeded his warning. It is our time to listen to the words of the Chronicles: "Then the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: `I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land'" (2 Chronicles 7:12-14, NKJV).

We are coming into the land of pestilence and locusts. It is time to pray.

Serving Others Important

America was built on the precept of people helping other people. In pioneer days they built barns, planted crops, and herded and drove cattle to market—together.

They knew and depended on their neighbors. They asked very little, but everyone was willing to help so that no one suffered. J. Frank Dobie, the great Texas historian and storyteller, tells of the early days in Texas when it was unheard of for a man to go hungry. It was not considered stealing to take the meat of the range, regardless of brand, if there was need.

Today's fast-paced industrial society does not allow us much time for the amenities of the last century. We often do not even know our neighbor's name, must less his cares and needs.

Consequently, where does one turn when he is in trouble? Too often, there seems to be coldness, a non-caring attitude, wherever one turns. The store clerk has gone from a stance of "The customer is always right" to "Don't bother me with your problems."

Even the church which has the responsibility for ministering to (serving) the needs of people seems to have lost much of its earlier power. Remember that the church is we, you and me.

We have ceased to be servants, in order to try to become kings. You might say, "No one likes to be a servant." Probably so, but in reality it is only by becoming a servant that one can achieve true greatness.

When one gives of himself, the reward is often beyond his imagination. The great Ford Motor Company empire was built on Henry Ford's desire to serve people with cheap, dependable transportation. J.C. Penney built a mercantile empire on the desire to provide low-priced, good-quality merchandise. Thomas Alva Edison spent one of the most productive lives in American history because of his driving desire to serve people.

When American manufacturers (and their workers) lost that vision, they began to lose the very qualities that had made America great. Consider the automobile industry. The Japanese have captured the new car market to the extent they have because of their desire to serve.

Pat Robertson, president of the Christian Broadcasting Network, tells how American automobile manufacturers made the conscious decision to place their cars in the dealers' showrooms and then take care of quality after the sale. They felt that was more economical than spending the time and effort to control quality at the factory. Many of us have experienced the effects of that decision.

This is not a buy-Japanese commercial. It is a lesson in humility to the mightiest nation on earth. It is a signal to all of us to reassess some basic values.

The result of our failure to be good neighbors, to see ourselves as servant-kings, is evident in every facet of American life. It is manifested in the unhappy housewife, the adolescent with behavior problems, and the dissatisfied husband.

In the Apostle Paul's letter to the Philippians he said that we are to consider everyone ahead of ourselves. "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves" (Philippians 2:23, NIV). When that happens, everyone becomes an immediate winner.

Veterans Day

What do you think of when you think of Veterans Day? To the historian it is commemorating the day that brought an end to the First World War. Germany and her allies signed the Armistice in a railroad car in Versailles, France, and the "war to end all wars" came to an end. But, alas, it did not end all wars. In a very real sense it did not even end the war it purported to end.

There has hardly been a time since the first English ships landed on the coast of the New World that the inhabitants of the New World have not been in a state of war. Let me give you some examples. As early as 1675 American colonists participated in the war that history calls King Philip's War. In 1689 it was King William's War. In 1702 it was Queen Anne's War, also known as the War of Spanish Succession. In 1744 it was King George's War. In 1756 the colonists fought the French and Indian War. Then in 1775 the American Revolution began.

I would say that getting rid of the kings might have been a really good idea, but it did not stop the wars. I could go on with new wars in 1798, 1801, 1812, 1813, 1814, 1836, 1846, 1861, and 1898. In the almost 400 years since that first war the longest period of peace was the 31 years between World War I and World War II. It has always been the soldier who paid the heaviest price for our freedom.

To the Veteran ... ah, yes, after all, it is Veterans Day. What does it mean to the men and women who fought the wars for freedom? There aren't many who were around in 1918 and those that are usually don't do much parading. Those who paid the price in WW II are dying at the rate of several thousand per day. Korea is called the forgotten war and Vietnam, the war everyone wants to forget. The little wars, Haiti, Somalia, Panama and the like, hardly get a stir. Desert Storm was different in our recent conflicts; we won that one hands down. So how does the veteran feel about Veterans Day?

The American veteran has not always been honored. The doughboys of World War I faced armed troops on the streets of Washington, DC, when they asked for their bonus. The Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen returning from Vietnam met hecklers and even violence on the streets of their hometown when they came home from war.

Rudyard Kipling knew the face of war and he knew the soldier. One verse from his poem Tommy tells it well:

"You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all: We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational. Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face. The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace. For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!" But it's "Saviour of `is country" when the guns begin to shoot; An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please; An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool—you bet that Tommy sees!"

My last Air Force boss, Brig Gen Brooksher, had an interesting way of differentiating between the civilian career and that of a soldier. He would say simply they don't ask civilians to die for a "piece of the rock." That's what Veterans Day is all about. It simply gives us the opportunity to say thank you to those that have served and were willing to give their last full measure of devotion to maintain our freedoms.

Veterans Day gives us the opportunity to say "thank you" to the folks who risked their lives, lost years of time with their family, and willingly went into harm's way for us. It is an opportunity to teach our children that freedom is not free. Make Veterans proud by saying thank you for their years of service.

Pornography

The world has changed a lot since Uncle Nathan, my circuit-riding uncle, was on the scene. He preached in West Texas in the latter part of the 19th and early 20th centuries. About the top of the line in technology in his lifetime were the electric light, telegraph, automobile, and a barnstormer in a Jenny.

There was the time he, Aunt Maggie, and Cousin Charles went to Dallas. They went into the lobby of the Adolphus Hotel all awestruck with amazement. The first thing Uncle Nathan saw was an elderly lady walk into a little room and the doors closed behind her. The gauge above the door moved slowly clockwise, stopped at the number 7, and then came down again and the door opened to allow a beautiful young lady to emerge. Nearly speechless, Uncle Nathan told Charles to go get his ma; he had found a youth machine.

Things are very different as we near the end of the 20th century. The world has gotten increasingly smaller. We have become immersed in information. Bill Gates told Congress that it is impossible to have a monopoly because the hottest item going today will have spent itself and disappeared in a few months.

(Continues...)

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