Deep and Wide: Book Reviews

Orlando, Florida Like me, you’ve probably shed too many tears watching the evening news. Only a month ago Orlando, Florida was drenched in blood. Yet, it was pushed far back in the news with gunshots, screams, and explosions shattering the mundane act of checking-in for a flight at Istanbul Ataturk Airport, Turkey. Turkish Flag That has just as soon been forgotten as a large truck plows through a holiday crowd in Nice, France inflicting more senseless slaughter. These random acts of violence create loss for all of us, regardless if we personally know the name of someone murdered or maimed. We suffer the loss of peace and a sense of security. We wonder if we can dance the night away in a nightclub, go to the airport, or watch fireworks with our children without ending up in a body bag. Some call that the purpose of radical Islam. I call it pure evil. So what do we do with this universal pain?  My knee-jerk reaction is...

Keep Your Head Down “Darn, I looked up,” I said with a heavy sigh. “Keep your head down. I’ll watch the ball for you,” my husband said for the millionth time. It's a frequent conversation we have on the golf course. And, if you golf, you've heard those words a million times too. 
If you look up too early and turn your head toward the target, your clubface opens through impact. The result: you’re still standing too close to the ball after you hit it.  It’s one of the two hardest things new golfers fight to overcome. It Doesn't Need Our Help The other is 'helping the ball along'. The physics of golf require you hit down  on the ball to make it go up.   Yep.  It's counterintuitive to most of us, so we try to help  the ball along and swing upwards.  That's called topping the ball and the outcome is disappointing. We have to learn to trust the club to do what it’s suppose to do by keeping our...

"In the chain of human events, the birthday of the nation is indissolubly linked with the birthday of the Savior. The Declaration of Independence laid the cornerstone of human government upon the first precepts of Christianity." John Quincy Adams I love to explore the backstory of major events in history. This is what I discovered about our Independence Day that we celebrate on July 4th. Be sure to read more quotes from the signers at the end.  What DIDN’T Happen on the First Fourth of July? * The Continental Congress did not declare independence. (They did that on July 2 nd .) *Thomas Jefferson did not pen the first draft of the Declaration of Independence on this day. (June 1776) *The Declaration of Independence was not delivered to Great Britain. (November 1776) *The American Revolution did not start. (Under full swing since April 1775.) *The Declaration of Independence was not even signed on this day. (August 2, 1776) So What DID ...