All of us would agree. Life would be much easier if it were linear, an even and orderly blend of experiences gradually unfolding and giving us a feeling of confidence and control.

Instead, the unpredictable and unreasonable interrupt what we expect, sometimes destroying what we so carefully mapped out for the future we wanted.

That was the beginning of what I said to a fellow worker during a conversation I neither asked for nor expected. I soon tumbled to the fact he’d come to verify what I’d already sensed — an uneasiness, something deeply personal, a troubled state of mind.… Read the rest “A Flashback For Moving Forward”

That’s right, I began writing this column one year ago. The number of readers is growing slowly but steadily, and I sincerely thank you for being one of them.

My commitment under The Country Boy Logic umbrella is to provide insights you can think through and use to help make your life more rewarding. Although of Christian faith, I swing wide of discussing religion and politics. I prefer to treat aspects of life and living that I’ve observed or experienced.

I take responsibility for how I write as well as what I write about. To me, it’s better to suggest … Read the rest “Time Out For The First Anniversary”

The presenter had a broad smile as he began telling his story. In his late forties, he was already successful, had created a solid record of accomplishment for which anyone would’ve been proud. Despite all that, however, he had yet to satisfy a long-standing personal desire to own a book publishing company.

Then he saw the ad. Such a company was for sale. In a spurt of enthusiasm, he bought it for a million dollars plus change. He related how good, how genuinely happy he felt when he, the new owner and president, walked into his new office for the … Read the rest “Why Versus What”

It had been a long day of interviewing and photographing. Supper had been a sandwich in a café. Too restless to be surrounded by the four walls of my motel room, I drove out of town into the rolling patchwork of fields and woodlands of southwestern Arkansas.

Some would unkindly say it’s the kind of land that’s only there to hold the rest of the world together. My response to that would be that if it weren’t for such places, the world would fall apart.

I turned onto a gravel road. By then, I was conscious of the pause that … Read the rest “Never Before and Never Again”

The week had been an intensive learning experience. We, the students, fourteen of us from different parts of the U.S., had been guided, challenged, and tutored by Steve Crouch, a true master of the camera.

Our goal had been to photograph the wonders of Big Bend National Park in Texas. From a highly varied landscape of cactus and sand to the Rio Grande River squeezing its way through towering rocks, we had looked closely many times only to decide we needed to scramble for an even better look. Then, and only after precisely adjusting the camera, were we ready to … Read the rest “The Wonderful Side of a Genuine Teacher”

During my daybreak walk, I heard a noise above me. Toward the top of a nearby utility pole was a big transformer plus the usual assortment of wires extending in all four directions.

Perched wing to wing on the wires near the pole was a bunch of blackbirds. I stopped to take a closer look. They must not have considered me a threat because none flew away. I did a rough count; about  seventy-five of them had gathered there to chatter among themselves.

“Hey, Blackie, how ya’ doin’ this morning?”

“Oh, hi Feathers. I don’t know. Too early to tell. … Read the rest “Sampling a Smaller World”

No, your mind isn’t playing a trick on you. Everything you are a part of or feel responsible for really is shifting with ever-increasing speed.

What once were clear and cleanly cut rights and wrongs, wants and needs, have faded into endless variations of gray. Whatever you once leaned against for balance or support, now wobbles with uncertainty. Doubt has fractured foundations on which you once placed hope and trust.

What concerns you most, however, is how all of this is changing you, not the superficial you that everyone sees and with which you feel obligated to be comfortable, but … Read the rest “The Bottom Line You’ve Never Thought About”

Logic has already programmed your inner self such that nobody purposely plans or chooses to fall off a ladder. Even a person thinking about doing themselves in isn’t that stupid. For them, it must be a clean job, like jumping off a cliff with nothing below but air.

Best you know from the get-go that gravity is the main force working against you. It works on everything, the reason Mother Earth is covered with so much stuff.

Gravity has two important points on anything airborne, where the object’s trip begins and where it ends. The heavier the object, the faster … Read the rest “How to Fall Off a Ladder”

Here are some everyday threesomes: Win, lose, or draw; faith, hope, and charity; snap, crackle, and pop; love, honor, and cherish. There are many more.

None, however, can top Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, the threesome serving as a bright and lofty beacon for everyone.

Those unalienable rights first drafted in the Declaration of Independence serve as the anchor for all the words expressed in the United States Constitution. They speak of the deep thought and sound logic of those few great people who wrote that document with humble sincerity and fervent hope. In remarkable fashion, … Read the rest “A Threesome We Must Always Honor”

Throughout life, there are happenings, amusing to hilarious, sobering to serious. Although soon forgotten, they tend to return later in life, remembered and treated not in the context of long gone moments, but as parts of your enriched mortal existence.

Early in our long stint of boating we bought a sixteen-year old 36-foot trawler. It had a full bath aft and a half bath forward. One of the many needed repairs was the replacement of some plumbing in the aft bathroom. I didn’t have the expertise, so I hired a repair man who did.

While lying on his right side … Read the rest “Two Happenings, Two Adventures”