I hope you will scroll all the way up and explore the little blog that I am now (as of December 10, 2011) in the habit of updating at least once a week. If you like it, please spread the word, and certainly feel free to post your own comments, too (whether you agree with my ideas or not).  And, for a daily dose of spirituality, please visit the blog I write every single day on my church’s website.

God willing, many of the posts and categories you see on this site will eventually spawn into other websites and even books, and on this page is where I will keep a running list of those various behind-the-scenes projects. Here’s the current list.

A Crazy Hero (working title)

• My father has an unusual case of Aspberger’s syndrome, a debilitating form of Autism. Most diagnosis of Asperger’s (or Autism for that matter) come during childhood. But Dad’s came at the age of 72, after decades of bizarre behavior and failed treatments. This book will be about how I’ve come to understand that my father, crazy as he is, has much to teach us all.

The Sanity Class (working title)

• I coordinate Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University class at my church, and I will admit that I am stealing the overall idea for this book from Dave. This book will be the foundation for a several week course much like his. Except the main topic won’t be money. It will be communication. I haven’t come up with any clever Daveequese  lesson titles yet, but here’s my list of tentative lesson topics: Being the change you want to see, No multi-tasking!, Avoiding fallacies, Using language accurately, Avoiding cliches, Listening, Eliminating negativity, Responding to mass media, Using mass media, Planning, Accepting accountability, Teaching, Learning.

The American Way of Health (working title)

• Well, I’m stealing ideas again with this book. This time the late journalist Jessica Mittford is the victim. I’ve been inspired by her famous book, The American Way of Death in which she uncovered many of the abuses that American funeral directors were (and many still are) in the habit of bestowing upon grieving families whose negotiating skills were rendered inept by the loss of a loved one. In my book, however, I will be discussing the numerous ways I’ve seen doctors take similar advantage of  their patients (by, for example, innocently forgetting to mention what their charges will be when they recommend a treatment — almost as if price doesn’t matter). My mother is working with me on this book, and, while it’s not our goal, we’re sure to irritate a few physicians who we both depend upon for good advice.
  

The Dreamer, A Novel (Working Title)

• This is the story of a young man who is temporarily inspired by a great entrepreneurial idea proposed to him by an elderly man to whom the rest of his family and friends have never paid much attention. Notice, I said, “temporarily inspired.” I hope the tale of how society talks him out of even attempting this idea will be a thought provoking lesson.

High School Bands in Texas
(don’t even have a working title yet)

I may be the biggest band geek of them all: I last tooted on my trombone in 1985, yet  I still  head out regularly to the annual marching contests around Corpus Christi. I always arrive before the first band starts — often at 7:30 a.m. — and sit quietly by myself until the awards ceremony some 14 hours later. In 2011,  I even dragged my wife with me to San Antonio for two days at the Texas State Marching Band Contest.  Every last one of those bands left us both breathless, and we’re definitely going back next year! Marching bands are amazing from many different perspectives, and I know there’s at least one book in there somewhere. Once I figure out exactly where I’m headed with this idea, I’ll be sure to start blogging about it regularly.

Corpus Christi

My hometown is as interesting a place as there is on Earth, but I don’t think even the people who live here fully realize it’s beauty. (That may be because what a lot of Christians say is true: Corpus Christi is Latin for “Body of Christ,” so Satan has taken a special interest in this town, working overtime to assure it mires eternally in mediocrity or worse.) Each week, I see hordes of great stories that our local media have never seen fit to comment upon. I’m sure there’s a book or two in there somewhere.