January 2011
26 posts
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People I know: James Wilson Barker
Kelli’s maternal grandfather was a sweet-spirited man who was instrumental to the development of Weatherford, Texas. My time with him was brief, but I remember lots of cheering for the Longhorns and Cowboys, and regular card games whenever we visited.
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People I know: Donny Rule
Donny was my first friend in first grade. He had been held back and was doing “First Grade 2.0.” Donny’s teenage sister died in a car accident a few years later. He taught me all the cuss words and what they meant.
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People I know: Joe Tonso
Between computers and higher-level math, I was in his class a lot in high school. He forgave my tardiness, but pushed me academically. Although I now outsource for my math and technology solutions, I still apply Joe’s valuable life lessons. I admit to being surprised that Joe doesn’t appear to be on Facebook.
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People I know: Daryl Eldridge
A godly man and great mentor, he was the dean of the school of religious education when I was at Southwestern Seminary. He co-founded and is the president of Rockbridge Seminary. His seminal book is a reference I use often.
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People I know: Cherie Grubb Bateman
My childhood next-door neighbor, Cherie now lives nearby in DFW. I was grounded for tossing our golden retrievers’ poop into their yard, discovered when they took their dachshund to the vet concerned about the size and quantity of his droppings. Cherie will tell you that she got in to real estate because of the example of my mom. That means a lot to me.
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“The straight and narrow path is the only road that has no traffic problem.”
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“One is wise who refrains from using a gallon of words to express a spoonful of...”
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“Gossip is the art of saying nothing that leaves nothing unsaid.”
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People I know: George Horgas
Mom’s dad died in 1977 when I was five. He was a pleasant man who always brought laughter with every visit. He made this cool “Twisto-flex” sound from a Timex commercial that made it sound like he was under water.
I’m thankful I have as many memories as I do of Grandpa George, given his death early in my life. I learned to swim in his pool in Arvada. He and my grandma lived...
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Remember when....8th grade (1985)
In an attempt to digitize as much of my history as possible, what follows is a collection of 8th grade end-of-the-year memories that ran in the student paper. It’s preserved for posterity here.
Remember When…
Alan Weitz shoved an entire Oreo Ice Cream in his mouth. I do remember this…and this nasty dairy mess that resulted. It was surpassed a couple years later when Chris Winey...
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“Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.”
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8 tips for effective leadership
Progress rises and falls on the effectiveness of your leadership. The Holy Spirit empowers leaders to be effective. Several years ago, leadership guru Harry Piland offered eight tips to help you be more effective leaders:
Work with people, not things. This is the basic premise, the heart of it all. Successful leaders maintain good people relations. Getting along with people, in a sense, is not...
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“Your feelings don’t mean anything to anyone except yourself. It’s...”
– From a movie preview
“Vision is the painting of a picture that stirs passion in people.”
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People I Know: Susie Ammer Helmerich
Susie is of the coolest girls I’ve ever known, I met Susie early at D.U. She was a reason I joined Sigma Chi. She can talk/play hoops with the best, and today is an LPGA golf pro and mom of two.
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People I Know: Mary Beth Dilldine
We dated for four years, and I was not a good boyfriend to her. We went through the growing pains and identity crises common to young adulthood, and learned that we were much better apart than we were together.
People I Know: Chesty Richardson
Chesty was our next-door neighbor on Tucker Street in Craig. He had the coolest name, or the most unfortunate. He owned and operated the local Tast-E-Freez, which was awesome. Today, I think the store is an annex of the county court house. He gave us free ice cream cones on a regular basis.
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People I know: Paula Duzik
Kelli’s best childhood friend, Paula is a fun person to be around. You laugh more and take life much less seriously in her company. She’s the mom of Cotter’s future wife and is a high school college and career counselor. She’s incredibly patient, never demands to be first, and she’s always been extremely complimentary of my footwear.
“Who is too old to learn is too old to teach.”
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People I Know: Joe Janosec
As my high school principal, I was once sent to Joe for discipline for pulling a prank. Joe told me to wait fifteen minutes and return looking contrite. Joe was a great leader in a different era of public education. He later served as a County Commissioner, which I thought was pretty cool.
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“If you want to keep your friends, do not give them away.”
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Encouraging others
(notes from Sam Cotter’s archives, from a Glorieta presentation, June 16, 1999)
Adage: People don’t care how much you know, they only want to know how much you care.
Communication:
Understanding expectations - Everyone wants to know and understand their job, their assignment, and their relationship with others.
Enlist & Recruitment - People are fearful of undertaking new...
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People I Know: Francine Gallegos
With Francine, I felt cool that as a sophomore I was dating a senior. Things all fell apart when she asked me to ditch class to go hang out at the lake. I wasn’t ready for that level of commitment.
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Personal values - 2011
The gospel is for all people. All races. All cultures. All generations. The church should reflect that reality.
Bible study should transform your life. If it doesn’t, you’re not really studying it.
Evangelism is a process that leads to true conversion. Salvation is an event in that process, but not the final event. Evangelism and discipleship are subsets on each other’s...
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“Any good training includes planned implementation strategies.”
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New year, new thoughts
The Aughts have given way to the Teens in the 2nd Millennium (according to the Gregorian calendar, anyway). The first decade of the newest century is done. 2010 has closed and 2011 has begun.
Time marches forward.
Anecdotal evidence (my Facebook, Twitter feeds) suggests 2010 was a difficult year for many. It seems like a lot of people are happy to close the book on last year and put on some...