A little over 40 years ago, I was in my senior year of engineering school and starting to interview for a job. Campus recruiters came to my university and scheduled 1-hour interviews with job-seeking students. I would get up early and walk to the career center to sign-up for interviews as the system …
Religious Community
How did you become a Christian? I posed this question to my adult Sunday class and asked if any class members, when non-Christian, independently decided to visit a church and later joined as a believer? No hands were raised. People spoke about being raised a Christian, being asked by a friend or …
One-Way
Most mornings at 6 a.m., I exit my house to run. I run two miles through my neighborhood streets to reach the Colorado River that winds through central Austin and then I run along the Ann and Roy Butler Trail, a wide dirt trail for pedestrians and bikers that goes for many miles on the north and …
Spring Cleaning
I decided to clean and sort through my closets, shelves, and drawers. We are in stay-home mode due to the pandemic and it is spring, so I might as well spruce up the inside of the house. I wiped down surfaces and re-organized my possessions. Some items were donated to a local nonprofit. As I perform …
Liberal Arts
I am researching the subject of vocations for my next book. Part of choosing one’s vocation is deciding upon your education. This is more than choosing a field of study. One must also select the type of education: vocational training, apprenticing, local community college, large state university, …
Ordinary People
My first hero was Jerry Kramer, the professional football Hall of Fame guard who played for the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl I and II. In 1968, he published Instant Replay: The Green Bay Diary of Jerry Kramer. I received a copy from my grandfather for my 10th birthday. I remember watching the Ice …
Easter 2020
This past week was Holy Week. Normally, my wife and I would attend Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter church services. Holy Week starts with children waving palm branches to re-enact Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem before Passover. On Thursday night, the mood shifts to the …
Intero
About three years ago, we went to a non-profit fund raiser and bought a dinner for 8 in our home prepared by a private chef who had generously donated this auction item. We invited three other couples and reserved a night when the chef could cook in our home. We supplied the wine and the chef …
Belief and Behavior
For the past year, I have slowly read books by St. Augustine (354-430). I am now reading a couple of pages per day from his acclaimed Confessions, written in Latin between 397 and 400. His humble beginnings were overcome through his parent’s sacrifices to give him a classic education. He trained to …
SoulPurpose
I am in the final phase of life: retirement. I somehow made it through the initial stages of adolescence and early adulthood, an intense period of learning about yourself and the world around you. It is a period when a person develops individual and communal skills that hopefully lead to …