Opinions

"So, how'd yer dad git that big dent on the door?" I asked Dave. Truth is, it was quite an accomplishment for one single dent to stand out from all the other wear and tear, deterioration and assorted damage that covered his 1983 Ford Ranger diesel pickup truck like elephant tracks on a styrofoam cooler.

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More than 50,000 Texans filled two-thirds of the mammoth Cotton Bowl on Apr. 11, 1950 not to watch football but the season opener of Dallas’ minor league baseball team.

Had the so-called “national pastime” suddenly replaced pigskin combat as Dallasites’ favorite athletic contest? No, the new owner of the Dallas Eagles had turned a humdrum occasion into a red-letter day on the local sports calendar.

Wealthy Dick Burnett made his fortune in the East Texas oil boom during the Depression. A rabid baseball fan in a football-crazy state, Burnett bought the Rebels, Big D’s Texas League ballclub previously called the Steers, Submarines and Hams during its half-century history.

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Mary waited for Jesus outside the cave

The promised resurrection meant He was saved.

While others waited a savior to come

Mary awaited her son.

The baby she had called Jesus stood in a crowd

Others gathered around Him. She was so proud.

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A weary diplomat boarded the Independence at New Orleans on Apr. 7, 1837 for the last leg of the long trip back to Texas. Pressing business in the United States caused William H. Wharton to miss the Battle of San Jacinto, but he would at least be home in time to celebrate the first anniversary of Lone Star independence. Stephen F. Austin, Branch T. Archer and Wharton passed through the Crescent City in January 1836 on their way to Washington, D.C. to solicit support for the revolution. Although his companions returned to Texas soon after the rebels’ victory, Wharton stayed behind to lobby for a speedy annexation.

Procrastination by the Potomac politicians forced the frustrated envoy to lower his expectations and to wait for the foreign government simply to acknowledge the presence of the new nation. When Andrew Jackson, in the last act of his presidency, signed the paper recognizing the Republic of Texas, Wharton was the happiest man east of the Sabine.

A scream from the kitchen. The thud of a faint.

She sighs and arises and walks with restraint.

Her neighbor lays peaceful, eyes fixed in a stare

She’s passed out in front of the new Frigidaire.

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Dick Kendall was my roommate at Baylor. After graduation and a stint in the Air Force he did chamber of commerce work in Big Spring, Colorado City and San Angelo. Then he got into banking, specializing in training bank employees all over the country. As a sideline he did comedy and became a professional, doing standup on cruise ships and at the Riviera in Las Vegas.

We went to se him in Las Vegas when he performed at the Riviera for the first time. He was excited because there was a billboard advertising his show. But his name was misspelled. It read Dick Crandall. When we got to Dick’s hotel and met him in the lobby I was holding a sign reading Dick Crandall.

Every “Born Again” child of God has a threefold proof of the new birth –proof that he is a child of God. This threefold proof is first, inward proof; second outgoing proof; and third outward proof.

Inward proof: “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God”[1John 5:1]

“He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God: [Rom. 8:16].

I went to church all my life, I had the head knowledge of Jesus, of God and the stories of the Bible. I believed all of it. Yet I had never invited Jesus into my heart. I had no inward witness. The word says “My sheep hear my voice.” Never once did I hear that still small voice inside me.

Butch has a theory about hardcore born-to-rope ropers; as soon as they build a loop and take one swing, it kicks their brain out of gear.

To demonstrate how this theory works he told me about a friend of his. We’ll call him ‘Chope’, for short.

Butch was runnin’ a ranch in the wilds of New Mexico east of Las Vegas. He’d bought a set of braymer bulls to put on his braymer cross cows and one of the bulls had turned out to be a bad actor. He’d shornuf do some damage if you cornered him.

It came time to pull the bulls. They gathered ‘em in a corral along with whatever cows came along. As they were workin’ the cows out the gate one of the bulls kept tryin’ to escape. It was that shornuf bad bull.

Chope was horseback watchin’ the gate. The third time the bull tried to slip out, Chope, who was tied hard and fast, slapped a loop on him.

The bull turned and thundered back across the corral.

Salvation is a wonderful thing. In fact the most wonderful thing that can happen to any person. There are those who do not believe in” Miracles”. Yet the act of being born again is the greatest miracle that could ever happen to a person.

Just think about it, God the creator of the universe coming down and living on the inside of His created being. My mind will not wrap around that concept. I thank God that He dealt with my heart. Now that I have had that experience of being born again and Jesus lives in me 24/7, I may not understand all of it in my mind, but I sure believe it in my heart.

Another thing I have come to understand, the awesome privilege of being a Christian, does not stop with that experience. In fact there is never an end to the blessings that come along with that first step.

MUSH, YOU HUSKIES!

A man in Muleshoe ran the Iditarod dog sled race in Alaska. He did it a couple of times. Dog sled racing is a popular activity in Alaska. “They have a lot of sprint racing,” says Mac McLeod. “It’s a family activity with the women and kids joining in. It’s mostly on weekends and they have 3, 5 and 10-mile races. They’ve got any type of mushing you want, either sprint or distance. Sprint mushers usually start with 16 or 18 dogs. You can still win a race starting with 16 dogs and dropping to 12 the second day and down to 8 on the third day.

A small team doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have the speed. When you’re on distance racing the smaller teams out on the ice along the coast have an advantage over the larger teams because they don’t get blown around by the wind out on the ice.”