Thursday, May 22, 2014

Go and sell all you have

Chicago missionary George Knoop killed in Haiti - chicagotribune.com

We read the verse, 'go and sell all you have and give to the poor.'  But who does it?  Turns out George Knoop, 77, former Chicagoan.  He started by giving out water bottles to joggers on behalf of Moody Church in a nearby park, then moved on to Haiti, to do more good works.  That's where he lost his life in a home invasion.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Navy Seal commander advises UT grads: "make your bed," and other life insights

McRaven Commencement Speech At UT - Business Insider  How hard is it to become a Navy Seal?  Read full text.

Closing comments:

But, YOU are the class of 2014—the class that can affect the lives of 800 million people in the next century.

  • Start each day with a task completed.
  • Find someone to help you through life.
  • Respect everyone.
  • Know that life is not fair and that you
    will fail often, but if take you take some risks, step up when the times
    are toughest, face down the bullies, lift up the downtrodden and never,
    ever give up—if you do these things, then next generation and the
    generations that follow will live in a world far better than the one we
    have today and—what started here will indeed have changed the world—for
    the better.

Saturday, May 03, 2014

Nothing good after midnight

Victim in fatal Lake Shore Drive crash was law student - chicagotribune.com

I have said from time to time, using hyperbole, "nothing good happens 'out there' after midnight."  This is one of the most tragic stories I have encountered in some time, and right here, downtown Chicago, Lake Shore Drive.  The victim was doing nothing wrong, but the assailant (inebriated?  drugged?) was, driving the wrong way on LSD, and she lost her life.  Which was just about to begin.

Stunning loss.  No words.

You don't even have to be in a car.  You can be merely standing outside an entertainment venue, not even in a moving vehicle, as was the case in March in Austin at SXSW.  You can have the most defensive posture, the best mentality, and still be a victim --- because of the hour, and the state of the perpetrator.

Senseless, terrible, horrific.  Best, always, for one's health, and even life, to make an early evening of it:  ....."nothing good happens 'out there' after midnight....."