Best of TCT- Just listen for hooters to know it's really Spring...

From April 2009

Snow on the blooming redbud tree is not that uncommon in the Southeast.





The air was filled with the sounds of yard work this weekend in my neighborhood. I even noticed one of the neighbors planting annuals around her mailbox...a task she most assuredly will repeat next month. Like many others this weekend, she fell victim to the Calender Spring/Actual Spring trick bag. What? That's right...the Calender Spring/Actual Spring trick bag. Trust me, it got me one year too.

The calender tells people the vernal equinox (aka Spring) happens most years on March 20, as it did this year. Days and nights are of relatively equal length as the sun travels around our planet's equator. Despite the mystical sooth sayings of a certain pudgy rodent in upstate Pennsylvania six weeks earlier, the exit of cold weather is much more orderly, predictable. Everyone in the South knows cold weather hasn't officially ceased until each of the 'mini-winters' have run course because there is a big difference between the season called Winter ending and cold weather ending.

There are three distinct phases, generally speaking, that precedes the departure of cold weather in the Southeast. Granted, this isn't new stuff...Farmers' Almanac has been printing it since 1818 with far more accuracy than that witchcrafty groundhog in PA...and farmers use the phases to determine when certain crops should be planted. The indicator for the arrival of each phase is the blooming of certain plants.

We are currently experiencing Redbud winter here. Although it was a nice toasty 74 degrees on Saturday, the blooming of the Eastern Redbud tree has brought with it a cold snap that calls for a chance of snow just a mere 4 days removed from warmer temperatures. After another brief warming spell, dogwood trees will bloom and with that another cold snap usually around 3 or 4 days long. Last to arrive will be blackberry winter...somewhere around the first of May. The distinct brier can be seen blooming all along Southeastern roadways with promises of fruit for cobblers and pies by July 4th...making the last of the cold spells a little more bearable.

Now when I was but a young lad in the times before central air conditioning (at least at our house), I knew when I heard the hoot of the Hoot Owl outside my window after sunset it would soon be time to raise the windows at night and take off the white Fruit of the Loom t-shirt during the day.

Of course, I now know that scientifically speaking there are no Hoot Owls, just the native Barred and Common Barn Owls, and the louder hoots are timed to their mating cycles. Still, even though Spring officially started March 20, for me cold weather isn't truly gone until the owls have made their presence known...a happier time for us all.

So for this boy from the Southeast, forget the lessons in horticulture related weather...warm temperatures and hooters go hand in hand for me.

Take it for what it's worth.

True love will always find a way...

Today, Candice and I celebrate our 8th Wedding Anniversary, and I'm genuinely most thankful...

In all honestly, I think it would be safe to say most people didn't give us much of a chance to make it past 2 years, but I do understand where they might have been coming from with such a pessimistic forecast. Candice was just short of 20 years old, and I almost doubled that. Aside from that facts of time, no other reason for our marriage not working would have fallen with her. If only I could have said the same...

I will also confess that despite the relative few trips she had completed around the sun, Candice was far more mature in most areas of life than I was at near twice her age. I don't say that very easily either. There's a great deal of shame and humiliation that comes with that confession, but as I stated earlier, there's also a great deal of appreciation that offsets the former.

Looking back over the past 8 years, I know I've grown up quite a bit. While I might have been well into needed changes when I married the love of my life in 2004, God was still working on me in a number of spiritual areas. I was hungry and anxious to serve Him but boy was I unrefined and green. He knew exactly what I needed to help keep me on His intended path...just like He knew what Adam needed in the garden so long ago.

I know this might be coming across as syrupy or even melodramatic, but I believe in my heart that Candice saved my very life and in a number of ways. My path was on a fast-track to self-destruction. Also, I'm not sure I had the intestinal fortitude to endure the scare of cancer and a few other extreme trials encountered as she came into the picture. Cowardice is never an easy thing to admit and can often be found disguised as a seeming noble gesture or graceful exit. It's still cowardice even under those window dressings.

There is an enormous amount of gratitude in that last paragraph accompanied by a certain degree of remorse. She didn't ask for (or cause) any of the trials we endured early in our relationship and could have easily walked away.  There were nights I prayed she would to make it easier for me. I told you I've grown up a lot.

My wife committed to her words 'for better or worse' in front of God Almighty. She locked her answer in, and He knew she was strong enough through her faith in Him to weather the early storms. I praise and thank God for Candice daily. She is the soul of our family. The anchor in matters of both virtue and serenity. The model mother to all three of my daughters...even the one she didn't birth.

My love for her is second only to my love for God, and she helped teach me that's the way He designed it to be. My trust in her is complete and unlike any other person I've known or ever will know. At times in my life, I've jokingly spewed the line love you so much it hurts...she makes that statement real for me. Not hurt as a matter of pain. I just never want to be separated from her and hold to the belief that God made marriage a divine institution because He gives us the opportunity to make our betrothal an eternal union.

Even that doesn't seem long enough.

Happy Anniversary my love...forever and for always I will be in love with you.

  



What movie was that?! You've got to be kidding me...

In one exactly week, I celebrate the anniversary of a life changing event...


While there have been a number of those in my lifetime, the date March 26, 2004 is among the very most important for yours truly because that is the day I married the person who changed my life completely. To honor the occasion, my post this week and next Monday will be focused on Mrs. Tony C...no wait...make that Candice. She is truly her own person outside of the matrimonial title and deserves the recognition of her name being used in my post. She was Candice long before she was Mrs. Tony C...and became My Candice on our wedding day.


I'd like to say that date was my very first rodeo, but as this picture so clearly points out, I was a package deal. Somewhere in the whole process of reentering bachelorhood, I had convinced myself that marriage just wasn't my thing. The relationship with my daughter had become the important focus in my life after given her the short end of my time for far too many years. I moved so she could start Kindergarten at one of the best school in our area without hesitation.

Unlike quite a few before her, I trusted Candice completely with my daughter from the start. Her qualities were exactly the qualities I knew my daughter needed demonstarted to her young self. Candice wasn't threatened or intimidated by the preexisting bond that she walked into that first Summer. Seamlessly, she made a family of two become a family of three and quickly became the anchor I desparately needed in my life. A real blessing from God that I just didn't deserve.

There are a number of years between our ages, so don't let my boyish good looks fool you (eye roll). As she approaches the milestone of no longer being twenty-something, I am coming to my own milestone in a few years of half a century. The age difference has always bothered me far more than her. Most people who know us personally don't even realize (or forget) that I actually went to school with her parents. Now let me state for the record, my 8th grade class was located at the high school during this time, and they both were seniors. I'm not sure that holds much consolation in the overall picture, but it does makes me feel a lot better stating that fact!

While the age difference hasn't been an obstacle for us, the fact remains we are very, very different people. If the proverbial picture is truly worth a thousand words, the difference could best be summed up in this manner:

Candice C

Tony C

Probably the story that best illustrates the difference between my happy-go-lucky, push the envelope, carpe diem attitude in life to her rules are rules, home by 10, goody-goody persona for living happened very early in our relationship.

We decided to go the beach with her parents who liked to camp on their vacations. They had a very nice fifth-wheel camper that was almost like pulling a mobile home to the beach, so we stayed with them in a campground where they had been frequent patrons.

An evening, moonlit stroll with my wife on the beach and a failed attempt to reenact the famous scene in From Here to Eternity left me both frustated...well...you know...and covered in sand. Hey. I don't mind getting a little sandy in the whole risk/reward context of things, but...

No way! Somebody might see us Tony!

So, the equation wasn't balanced despite the fact no one was around to see...well...you know.  We arrived back at the campground around 10:10 or so that evening. Apparently, the cold shower coming off the beach had relieved one of my frustrations, but I still had stinking sand all over me!

Tony C: Let's take a dip in the pool and get rid of the sand before we head back to the camper.

Candice C: Sure sweetie.

As we approached the campground pool, nobody was to be found and a sign was hanging on the 3-foot high gate- Pool Hours 9 am to 10 pm Daily.

Candice C: Oh sorry honey. The pool is already closed.

Tony C: What?! It's just a little past 10! It's summer! We're on vacation! I've got sand in my...

Candice C: Tony! It's closed. We can hose off at the camper.

Tony C: Whatever...(looking around and jumping the low gate)

Candice C: (trying to yell at me but in a whispered voice) Tony! Tony! You can't do that! The pool is closed!

Tony C: Come on Candice. Live a little. Worst they'll do is tell us to get out, and by then, I'll have the sand out of my...

Candice C: (still whispering in a panic) Tony! Get back over here right now. They'll kick us out of the campground! 

Tony C: Pleeeeeeeasse! They're not going to kick us out for swimming a few minutes past close. (taking one last look around) But now this (dropping my swim shorts) might very well get us kicked out!

Candice C: (near tears but still screaming in a faint whisper) PUT...YOUR... SHORTS...BACK...ON...RIGHT...NOW!! I'm mean it Tony! We're going to get in big trouble!

Tony C: (laughing while doing a backstroke across the pool) I'm pretty sure accessory to skinny dipping isn't a crime even in South Carolina.

With the sand gone, a good laugh for me and a near stroke victim in her early 20's...we headed back to the camper in silence. Well...except for my frequent chuckles. I shared the story with her parents when we got back (minus my attempted beach folly of course) and even they had a good laugh.

Unfortuately, I got one of the very few sunburns in my entire life the very next day and looked like a cooked lobster the remainder of the trip, so the last laugh was on actually on me.

I just hate it when God is on her side...which is most of the time...

Wait a second! That's not how this is supposed to go down...

March 15 and Julius Caesar are forever interlocked in history...


Long before the famous play that we all are made suffer through in high school English, the real story of the ides of March unfolded in the Roman Senate in 44 BC with the culmination of 60 different men taking a stab at the would-be dictator Julius. Ironically, only 23 wounds were recorded by  Suetonius, the physican who examined Caesar's body post-hummous, with a single chest wound being the likely fatal blow.

Apparently Roman aristocrats weren't accustomed to doing their own dirty work...

The term ides simply refered to the middle of the month for March, May, July and October on the Roman calendar. These dates were often celebrated with a festival honoring the god Mars. But then again, the Romans were forever celebrating something with a festival and parades. After 44 BC, the date took on a completely different context for the Romans, and then again for the world when Shakespeare's play debuted around AD 1599.

The Ides of March have come.

Today, most of the Western world reflects on the events of that tragic day well over 2000 years ago. The date has taken on an ominous feel that is easily understandable. The real question to ponder though is: Who were the real bad guys as the demise of Caesar played out?

Not so simple to answer. While Caesar obviously got the worst end of the deal on the ides of March, the resulting consequences of his murder would ultimately result in the formation of the Roman Empire under his heir, Octavian, who would become Caesar Augustus and the first Roman Emperor. Consequently, that title raised Octavian to the position of deity in the eye's of the Romans. An honor also bestowed to Julius some years after his death...however that works exactly.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Did the conspirators acted on a desire to preserve the Roman republic or in defense of their own positions of power? Regardless, the Roman people were completely appalled that a small group of upper-class aristocrats had the audacity to take the future of Rome's fate into their own hands and rebelled against the Roman Senate.

Excuse me!?

That's right sports fans. Instead of embracing the attempt to save a governing process with representation of the people (said very loosely), the mob rose up and supported a would-be dictator that was the first in a line of several brutal rulers over the Roman Empire. That makes no sense to our society which heralds the greatness of democracy. Why would anyone in their right mind chose a dictatorship over democracy? Wouldn't anyone prefer at least some say in how their government functions?

Maybe the Arab Spring of 2011 will become the new ides of March...but only time will tell exactly how that plays out...for better or worse.






"Only the educated are free." Epictetus

Hi. My name's Tony C, and I'm a huge geek...


Acknowledgement is the first step, so I've been told. Truth is though, I've not always been a geek as I'll define in this post. Quite the contrary. My commitment to new found knowledge has been a development during Act III of the Tony C saga which occurred well after my formal years of the typical institutional education.

That's not to say I didn't learn things in school. Not by a long shot. What I'm referring to is that burning desire to discover and explore new ideas or revisit old ones that are still the gold standard in any given field.

I didn't have that desire during my high school/college days. Too many other things captured my focus during that time...well...actually one group in particular...just so many of them.

Wasted time? Not necessarily. Being in school is somewhat akin to being at a monster truck rally with information being represented as the mud flying around. Just your very presence means some is going to stick to you. Being the resident class clown meant I always had front row seats in high school, so I caught a lot of mud completely based on location alone. Funny thing is...if you act like you're paying attention...you are in fact paying attention. Go figure.

Eventually, I grew up and realized that the amount of knowledge a person has is directly proportionate to one's status of well being in life. That doesn't mean all the smart people make all the money. Not at all. I know for a fact...well...let me stop right there and leave that statement unspoken.

So, Mrs. Tony C and I have placed a premium on education in our home. She's actually an Education major and teacher by profession just temporarily on hiatus for the higher calling of motherhood. Don't get me wrong. She's teaching now on a daily basis to two students near a dear to yours truly. The teenager gets a lesson every now and then too.

We've established a hierarchy of priority in our home that guides every principle or decision. God comes first. Family is next. Education rounds out the list at third. One, two and three. We've yet to come across a situation that can't be prioritized within that list.

I'm always emphasising to the teenager that neither her faith nor knowledge she obtains can ever be taken from her by another person. Both become a part of her very character, and only death (and therefore God) can separate you from that identity. Please understand when I speak of knowledge I'm not exclusively speaking of academia. I know many very intelligent people who never made it beyond high school in a formal educational setting. Information flows freely all around us for the taking, and quite frankly, the more you know...the more valuable you are to society. Plus, an electrician is much more valuable when you have a wiring problem than a professor of sociology. Assumptions being made with that statement naturally.

I started down this muse last night after watching 60 Minutes and a piece on the Khan Academy. A link to the segment is posted below. What an exciting concept! Quality educational instruction available to anyone for the taking and absolutely free. All you need is the desire.

I'm using the site to go back and learn the calculus that apparently didn't stick while I was in college thanks to those stinking cute co-eds. Hey...I starting this post by freely admitting I'm a geek these days...

Never underestimate the power of a good snack food...

Wow...I've not posted in over a week!

Truth be told, I don't really have anything in mind to write about today either. Funny how that works. Some weeks blog ideas roll in like waves on a windy day. Some weeks nothing. Nada. Zilch. It's not that I've not been busy either and let my mind idle. Lots of stuff in the news that catches my interest. Of course, there's Rush Limbaugh's mouth and the reaction he provoked churning out tons of blog fodder. Eh.

The kids are wide open as usual. Always great material. A Crazy Tomato post most always nets twice as many hits as...say...something about politics. Funny how that works too. I've been asked if the Crazy Tomato is as entertaining as the things I write, but those questions always come from people who don't know our family personally. Yes. She's that entertaining.

Mrs. Tony C called me the other day to tell me a great story. The CT wanted her little sister, Bulldog, to play with her in the back bedroom in her playhouse. Bulldog wasn't having any of it because a bowl of Cheez Its was on their play table in the living room. Kid loves to eat!

Being ever industrialist, the Crazy Tomato gets the box of Cheez Its and starts making a line of them all the way to the back bedroom. Brilliant! Her only kink was she placed the snacks too close together giving her mom time to discover the scheme. Doh!

I love that kid...

I must admit my mood of late has been a tad melancholy. Not the gloomy version. More serious. A sure sign I've been watching, reading and listening to far too much news on current world events. I love staying informed, but that crap takes the fun out of cake!

I was sitting at the kitchen table last week working on something with the news on in the living room. I wasn't listen closely, but for some reason, looked up at the screen which I could see from where I was positioned. The screen was filled with a scene of people literally burning as the result of a recent suicide bomb attack in Iraq. Very graphic. Parked right in front staring up intently was the toddler. Oh no! I freaked and ran into the living room in search of the remote. Grabbing her up, I carried her back into her sister's bedroom where she was playing.

Great.

Yes that is the world we live in today, but I'm not ready for that world to invade the sanctity of my peaceful home and corrupt the innocence of my two younger girls. The task of trying to decipher things for the teenager while encouraging the development of her critical thinking is plenty enough of a task for now.

For the two younger ones, an empty box of Cheez Its is all the drama they really need for many years to come... 

Why did the chicken cross the road? Because gas was $4 a gallon...

There are a number of reasons we need "a change" of occupancy at the White House (as well as in Congress)...but rising gas prices isn't one of them.

President Obama has no more to do with the recent rise in gas prices than he had to do with the storm that blew through where I live last night. Now that's an ironic statement of unintended support for a moot position that Obama used himself against W. Bush four years ago. Why do we continue to let politicians insult our intelligence?



Uh...you're probably not going to like my answer here...

We live in an unprecedented age of information. With the click of a few keys, I can summons information on anything from making explosives to an awesome chicken casserole. Biographical information is available on most anyone in the public eye, as well as, information on corporations, legislations and litigations.

But we're just lazy and don't take the time to become informed consumers/constituents. Period.

True or False...The price of gas goes up at the beginning of summer each year because Big Oil knows demand will go up with warm weather?

False.

Demand is much higher across the board in colder months. Sorry....your summer vacation just doesn't have that much of an impact on gas prices. Some. Not much.

During winter months, butane is used as an additive in the production of refined gasoline because it is cheap.  However, butane can't be used in the summer because it evaporates in warm temperatures, so refineries must replace it with more expensive ingredients.

Blame chemistry for higher summer prices...not DisneyWorld or Obama.

True or False...If we drilled for more oil, all our problems would be solved!

Don't think so Sarah. Crude oil is not the problem. We have an abundance of oil overflowing from the North American crude trading hub in Cushing, Oklahoma. The problem is refineries are at near capacity in this country. While refining capabilities have actually decline in recent years do to aging facilities, no new refineries have been built in decades. Not to mention, U.S. exports of gas to fuel-thirsty foreign countries tripled over the past year!

So just build more refineries to fix the problem.

Seriously...think that's going to make gas prices go down? The huge cost of building new refineries would be directly past along to the consumer straight per the capitalism playbook. Hey, I love capitalism, but facts are facts. Besides, who's volunteering to have one of those built in their backyard?

Before you take this post as defense of failed economic leadership from the White House, just hear me out. The danger in blaming the wrong things on the wrong people goes beyond the obvious moral implications. If the electorate links the presidential election this fall to gas prices, what happens if gas prices fall? That's right. Point of contention lost. If Obama can be blamed for higher gas prices then he surely will take credit for lower gas prices, and the emotions of the moment sweep him back into the White House.

The fact of the matter is he has nothing to do with either stinking one!

Become an informed voter. Seek information on issues and don't just swallow what the left and right media sources feed us each day. Trust me. They're not working for a higher, nobler cause. The bottom line is all that matters on both sides, and that profit is sadly boosted when the public debates become toxic and less civil...as well as less cerebral.

I'm not afraid to give credit where credit is due even if that recognition falls on an opposing ideological figure. President Obama has been very successful from a foreign policy perspective.. in my opinion. But, that opinion thinks we were completely within our rights to go into Pakistan, without their consent, to kill Bin Laden. I don't think he has weak knees when it comes to these matters.

I also don't think he is a Muslim or wasn't born in this country. Those are both absurd and purely emotional arguments. Not to mention, we Christians need to be very cautious about blindly judging where another person is with the Almighty. I have no reason to question his proclaimed Christian faith...or at least any more than I did Bush or Clinton...and I shouldn't try to judge according to the Good Book.

My problems with the current administration are much more politically fundamental. President Obama believes government can solve all the ills of society. I most strongly disagree. While that's enough to turn me against his politics, it doesn't have to be bitterly personal.

If I vote for Obama, I know I'm voting for a liberal-minded ideology, and I can't do that in good conscience. Unfortunately, the catch here becomes that while most Republicans stand proudly on that platform of conservative policy making, their actions (read legislation) reflect a different motive. Some claim one thing and do another, and that does makes me mad.

Don't listen to the spin. Read how your public figures vote on the issues that matter to you. Hold them accountable for your vote. Become informed.

Click...click...click...

RIP Uncle Worley...and thanks for all the smiles you leave behind.

I love to spin a good story...

For most of us that blog, storytelling is the underlying motivation that brings us back to a blank page to start anew time and time again.


But even the best story can't hold up without interesting, compelling characters. Successful writers are quick to point out the larger a base the central character appeals, the better chance the story will be widely accepted.

A day not too long ago, the Crazy Tomato and I were driving in relative silence as she looked out her window in deep thought.


Crazy Tomato: Dad, are there any real dragons?

Tony C: (playfully) Not anymore honey.

Crazy Tomato: They're all dead? Were there any around here?

Tony C: The last dragon around these parts was killed in McPheeter's Bend a long time ago by your Uncle Worley.

Crazy Tomato: Uncle Worley?

Tony C: Actually, he's your great uncle. You've never met him, but he's a retired dragon slayer.

Crazy Tomato: Does he have a real sword? Can I meet him?

Tony C: You sure can. When you do, ask him about killing that dragon.

Silence once again feel in the car as I quietly chuckled to myself.

Some of you might find lying to a 4-year-old a bit distasteful. Personally, I can't differentiate between the colorful anecdotes I embellish for her amusement and the nightly stories she reads before bedtime.

Fact is, the character of this particular story truly is a larger than life person...or I should say... was. Uncle Worley passed away lasted night at 10:30 after a battle with lung cancer that, unlike that dragon, he just couldn't beat.

Unfortunately, the Crazy Tomato never got to meet and ask him about that dragon.

My uncle by marriage to my father's middle sister, Worley was as unique as human beings can be and the center in many, many real stories that actually require no embellishment from a storyteller like me. He was as genuine as he was free-spirited...as generous as he was caring.

Worley lost his wife and my aunt in 1976 to the same dreaded killer that got him last night. He never remarried. The son and daughter their marriage produced (pictured) before cancer stole my aunt away at an early age are like my brother and sister instead of my cousins. My aunt was a good Christian and loving soul, and her fingerprint is still very much evident on those she left behind so long ago...including Uncle Worley.

Worley travelled the country working for a good part of his life after she passed. Every new town he entered as a stranger he left as a friend. His gregarious demeanor and uncomplicated approach made him not only easy to get to know...but also quick to accept.

He believed strongly in the mission of the Shriners and was stereotypical of the large hearts and good times the group is noted. I recall passing through a certain fundraising roadblock the Shiners were conducting while travelling through a town several hundred miles from my home. As I dropped a dollar in the bucket...

Tony C: Do you guys know Worley B by chance?

First Shriner: From up in East Tennessee? You better believe it. Great fellow!

Second Shriner: That where you're from?

Tony C: Sure is, and he's my uncle.

They both passed business cards to me to give to him when I returned with salutations. That was just Worley.

While on an exercise in Twenty-Nine Palms California during my service, I took leave and travelled to Victorville where he was working to visit. The trip coincided with a visit from his mother and daughter. Worley had been there about 8 months working on a new plant for his employing company. Shortly after arriving, he invited me and my cousin to accompany him to his local "watering hole."  She was very reluctant, but I persisted until she came along while her grandmother rested from the long trip.

As we walked into the bar/restaurant attached to the local Ramada Inn, words simply won't do justice to what I'm about to describe. A live band was playing for the forty or so people gathered and kicking off their weekend. As we walked through the double doors, a scene that Norm from Cheers would be jealous to witness transpired...as the singer for the band literally stopped in mid-song to announce "Worley!"

Glasses went up in salute. My cousin and I paid for absolutely nothing that evening as people went out of their way to buy us stuff. He was well loved when he finally departed California a year or so later, but he was well loved long before then too. That was Worley, and just a couple of the many stories he leaves behind.

I grieve with my family today at the loss of this larger than life character. But much like his wife who left us some 35 years ago, his fingerprint of influence will continue long after the pain of that hurt subsides.

...and he will keep killing dragons as long as I can manage to spin a story or two.

  

"I don't have to look up my family tree, because I know that I'm the sap. " Fred Allen

Things are changing too darn fast around my house...


I'm constantly joking about the three daughters getting jobs, getting their own place and visiting every week...or so. Truth is, I joke about it to hopefully ease the hurt of the eventuality of that reality.

My oldest is driving, working and getting information from perspective colleges in the mail all since the arrival of the new year. Seems like just yesterday the picture on our refrigerator was snapped of me taking her to kindergarten her first day of school...

I'm the only male grandchild in my paternal grandfather's line with children. Our family name will go with me to my grave...or urn... since they are all girls. Not long ago, the three of them were together in the living room, and I called a impromptu family meeting:

Tony C:  Listen girls. Two things. First, one of you will be keeping your last name when you get
              married. Period.
              Second, somebody will get the $5,000 elopement prize. When it's your turn to marry, you
              elope and get 5 large. Teenager, don't see that deal in your future since you'll be the first.
              Crazy  Tomato and Bulldog, work it out amongst yourselves and let me know at least 24
              hours in  advance.

Teenager: That stinks! I want the money, and I'm changing my name too! That's dumb dad!

Crazy Tomato: Why do we have to change our names? I just learned to spell my last name. Mom!

Bulldog: (blowing kisses) Bye! Bye, bye, bye...

Okay. Maybe it's a little early in the game for family meetings. But, I never underestimate the importance of communication in the dad/daughter dynamic regardless of age, since the window of reception is so small. You never know when those 27 minutes of complete acceptance might occur from birth to walking down the aisle with your daughter...or driving to City Hall if that's in their cards.

The thing that bothers me the most when the day does finally comes that all of the chicks are gone from the nest is... exactly what will I do for entertainment? Sure, it will be nice to go to the bathroom in peace, watch what I want (and when) on the big TV or jump in the car for an excursion at will.

Wait...was there a counterpoint?

Entertainment! That's right. I'm constantly entertained at the expense of my three girls. From dumb comments like it's 30 past referring to the time by the teenager to the Crazy Tomato lining up Cheezits through the hallway trying to lead the Bulldog to her playhouse in the backroom, I'm constantly in stitches at the house from all the shenanigans. What will replace that?

Mrs. Tony C might be in a lot of trouble when that day finally comes...and all my focus moves to her. Might behoove her to start suggesting hobbies to yours truly.

"...because I think religion of infinitely higher importance than politics..." Patrick Henry, 1796

Recently, I've been in discussions about the religious views of our nation's Founding Fathers. Titling those words is appropriate, I believe, because we've come to accept that specific label for the group of men pictured...among others.

The point of contention with most people seems center around whether or not our country was founded as a Christian nation...and I personally believe that argument to be dubious at best if not all together moot.

Nazi Germany of 1940 was a 'Christian' nation...

The outcry from most Christians is that Progressives are rewriting history to try to eliminate the role religion played during the infancy of America. There's little to no doubt  that may be true, but Christians are just as guilty of the very same deceptions.

And shouldn't we be the bigger person in the room?

History too well records the atheistic beliefs prevalent in the writings of Thomas Jefferson and the straight up blasphemy of both Benjamin Franklin and John Adams (a proclaimed Unitarian). Thomas Paine, a renowned Deist, wrote I would not dare to so dishonor my Creator God by attaching His name to that book (the Bible). So why do we deny these facts, or even worse, corrupt and distort them?

While the motive may be a noble defense of Christian legitimacy, the resulting effects of altering the truths of history are far more destructive to the cause of our faith. The Church has been in continuous existence since Pentecost following the Ascension of Christ (Acts 2:1-6), and far more damage has been done to His cause as a result of alterations to the true message as opposed to direct attacks on Christian principles (Inquisitions, Crusades and stake burnings come to mind). God's Word will stand until the very end, and all we need to do is promote and defend that Truth as presented in the Holy Bible. God doesn't need America to facilitate His will...actually...He doesn't need anything from us. Christianity existed long before this nation came along and will continue to exist should our country ever fail and fall.

Jesus didn't come to embrace the Roman Empire of the first century.  He lived under its rule and was executing in accordance with its laws. Jesus came to fulfill God's will...His plan for our redemption. Christ came and established a personal connection with but a very few people, yet from those connections...a movement of historically unmatched precedence was formed. That fact doesn't require embellishment or exaggeration on any one's part...especially Christians.

We've become both spoiled and ignorant in this country, and I state that with a grateful but heavy heart. We're overindulged with the luxuries resulting from numerous civil liberties. Religious persecution is a concept that exist only in other parts of the world, and its absence has resulting in a softening of our core beliefs. Very few people can tell you why they truly believe what they proclaim to believe because their ideas are largely unchallenged in a diverse culture of acceptance. Complacency has also replaced an undying quest for knowledge, and we've become a society content with lazily accepting what we hear or read without question. Critical thinking is slowly dying...even among those most educated in our midst.

Nothing good will ever come from distorting the truth. Nothing. Even when that truth isn't necessarily what we want to hear. The reality of fact that Jefferson, Franklin or Adams weren't men of Christian faith in no way hampers my pride as an American or lessens the contribution they made to form the greatest of nations. On the other hand as a Christian, it pains me dearly to think such great men died unwilling to accept an eternal gift given by a most gracious Creator. But then... that could just as well be easily said about anyone else who fails to believe. Why? Because Thomas Jefferson is no more important in God's eyes than the other lowly thief that hung beside His Son that dark day and refused to accept who Jesus was and died in his sins.

By altering the truth of history, we lessen the greatness and impact of men who were in fact good Christians and major contributors in the founding of our country...men like Samuel Adams, Alexander Hamilton and Patrick Henry.  Face facts...our Founding Fathers were just not all wearing the same hat of piousness and no amount of revision in our minds will push some of our historical heroes through the gates of Heaven. So, don't be guilty of putting the two thieves on the same cross...Jesus made a promise but to one of them...the one who saw and accepted the Truth.

Was our country founded as a Christian nation?

I'm not exactly sure how that really matter over 200 years later. The more important question to ask is exactly what are each of us doing today to shine as individual lights for our Savior? After all, that's what we've been commanded to do...