Up Close and Personal Look at Steve Cobbs

This is a sketch I did of Steve Cobbs (the guy holding the coffee mug in the banner shot)about twelve years ago. I believe we were on the road to New Mexico for junior high camp and Steve was speaking somewhere along the way in the Land of Enchantment.

What I've always appreciated about this drawing is the way it captures the subject's eternal struggle to advance. The water representing life, the shark representing the danger lurking just beneath. We see hope out of sight but on the way to rescue Steve before the wave crashes down on him.

Deep, intrinsic, sustaining spiritually...a fine work...while trying to stay awake during his sermon.

Texas-Israeli War: 1999

I just started reading "Team of Rivals" which is so long I might not get through with it until the Fourth of July. So in the meantime, I've got to keep the site active.

("Buzz, I saw your girlfriend; Woof!")

After an interesting cover, there is little to say about this book. Characters, story line are as thin as the book itself (less than 200 pages). One of the few books I kept in my back pocket when carrying it around. I didn't know how to defend myself if someone asked why I was reading it.

Still there is something about this book that cheers me. Odd, that book about a post World War III world could be cheerful. Well its not the story, not the characters, not the action, not the cover...But this is the kind of book that cheers anybody who has ever earned any sort of existence writing.

This book got published! Every time I think about it, I feel a burdened lifted from my shoulders. This book got published! I don't have to concern myself with doubt over my skills...because THIS BOOK GOT PUBLISHED!

Writers, sportswriters, anybody who puts ink to paper are needy people. It takes one wise guy to say: "Don't quit your day job", or "You don't have a clue", or "You stink on ice" and you begin to bruise.

But something like the Texas-Israeli War 1999...This book got published!...can make you feel like your a little less of a hack...maybe not standing at the very end of the line.

The Shack

Hey, I should have a book on the New York Times bestseller list, but I don't. So good for the author on the success of this book.

I wanted to really like it and I came away with just an okay feeling.

Early on you discover this book is going to be more story than style, and the story is good...but then it breaks down into the theological aspect and starts to come across way too forced.

Even the story becomes very predictable. I'm not Nostradamus but very few twists surprised me, including the "Room 222" style break down of the celestial beings.

When we first meet God, he's revealed as an old black woman. I half expected her/him to say "My name is Abigail Freemantle, I'm 106-years old, and I still bake my own bread."

(Wasn't the Oracle in one of the Matrix movie disasters also represented by an older black woman?)

The author's efforts to incorporate ethnicity into the trinity are moronic...one minute you're pounding home a story...the next minute you're preaching at the reader between the lines.

Standard social justice themes like the rich feeding off the poor are played out...and I was kind of wondering what happened to the story. While I have my own issues with denominational structure the passages about there being no rules wasn't offset at all by any mention of an absolute. (Folks, there are absolutes in life)

The informality of the interaction between the lead character and the God-Head wears thin. I like an approachable Jesus, but I can't envision him saying; "True that."

But, hey, I'm not a smart guy. The smart guys love this book, I didn't,...thankfully, in this case, the light shines dimly on young grasshopper.

The Next 100 Years: A FORECAST for the 21st. CENTURY

Good, in that it is interesting, but even interest fades when the writing is sometimes passive, soft, and redundant.

The subject matter projecting, based on current situations and history (not with a crystal ball), what will take place over the next century is fascinating. George Friedman has a talent and expertise for this as he sees a second cold war with Russia but its ultimate collapse along with China. The increase in United States power and prosperity, but new superpowers in Japan, Turkey, and Poland.

Amazing stuff, but excruciatingly slow. This book was only 253 pages, but it felt like I was slugging through every paragraph. Unlike McCullough's "John Adams", which was 650 pages, but felt like a sprint to the eyes.

"John Adams" I was sorry to see end, "The Next 100 Years" felt like it was taking that long to read.

If you have a passion for the geo-political, let it rip. If your interest is only passing, and I'm someplace in the middle, then you might want to save your money on this book.

On a minor note Friedman apologizes for not dealing with the threat of "Global Warming" and its cause and effects. You get the impression by his statement, in quotes, of science "saying the debate is over" he is put off by it.

No problem with me on the fraud of man made global warming, but Friedman makes not a mention of religion in regards to its effects pro and con on the world at large.

Still very impressive.

We Were Soldiers Once...and Young

Yes the movie was pretty good, but this book was fantastic.

Having had the honor of meeting and knowing some people who served in Vietnam at different times, this is the one book that comes across as the most honest. These veterans, though reluctant to share with those just looking for a story and not understanding what it means to serve, fall, and die in battle, are the first to say that not every soldier in Vietnam was on drugs and not every soldier was disillusioned by the war.

What tore them up and disillusioned them was their treatment coming home when they were called "baby killers" and spit on.

Respectful of the enemy and, better yet, respectful of the American soldier this book provides a stark contrast to other works like Gustav Hasford's "The Short Timers" (which became the film "Full Metal Jacket") and movies like "Platoon" and "Apocalypse Now"

I'm not a ashamed to say it, and I'm ashamed to believe it, and I am not ashamed to teach it to my kids but for some reason in this culture we are ashamed to say we are the good guys. Our soldiers, though not perfect, are the good guys.

Media and academia is always looking for a moral equivalence in our soldiers and living with some pseudo idea that the Queens rules apply to war. As Tecumseh Sherman said: "War is all hell, you cannot refine it".

What Col. Hal Moore and Joe Galloway present in these few days in the Ia Drang Valley is the quality and bravery of soldiers when surrounded by hell.

The book also covers in depth the battle that took place after the movie ends, when a column of soldiers marching out is ambushed. The heroism on display can make you weep, and again increases your respect for the young people who serve in today's army.

Heartbreaking, yet enriching, is the end of the book that brings you up to speed on what became of the soldiers who fought in the battle and the children and wives of the fallen who went on with life after the Ia Drang Valley.

God Bless our soldiers.

John Adams

Long book, that took too long to read because there is never enough time in life to absorb it fast enough.

But a great book. I have to admit my feelings on the Revolutionary War period have always been pro George Washington, Benjamin Franklin I was indifferent, and not a big fan of Thomas Jefferson.

Adams, as seems the case in his life, was always an after thought. David McCullough not only does a wonderful job of delivering Adams life, but he does it warts and all. You see Adams personal failures, but you also see his under-the-radar greatness...

With McCullough you can count on one thing, he has always been a first rate historian unlike say; Howard Zinn or your standard classroom textbook.

My esteem for Adams has grown, Washington is shown to be truly great, Franklin I'm still indifferent about, but Jefferson...gross. Less of a Jefferson fan than ever before and not feeling so bad about missing the Jefferson Memorial when I was in D.C. back in 2005.

The mini-series on HBO last year was terrific and sparked an interest. But even seven well done installments is only an appettizer compared to the book. What a great read...unlike other things I have read...what a proper expenditure of time.

To get a sense of this country and how fragile it was at the beginning...this is by far the best accounting.

The Long Walk---2001

This is from the night Jim (Hickey Baby) Hickman got ordained...Other than nearly getting me killed by a man-eating beast up at Oakhurst, I have nothing but respect and love for this guy.

Honestly Hickman's magic tool box was capable of producing or fixing anything when at camp or on the road somewhere...Ask, say, urge, and Hickman will get it done. Just don't use the word "swushi"...

In this pic are (from the left/back row)...Mark Valadez, James Kinzler, "The Bus Driver", Traci Fenimore, Curt "X-Files" Gibson and Tim Olson next to him.
(front row) The Purpose Driven Alajaji, and Hickman.