On a warm, sunny evening a couple of weeks ago, our household faced what was practically a national disaster — we were out of dog food.
If you knew our dog Kobe, you would know there was no waiting until tomorrow. The boy was hungry, right now. There would be no negotiation. So I threw on my tennis shoes and made like Batman after a phone call from Commissioner Gordon.
It was a beautiful night. As I turned left on to Bunnell Hill Road, a John Mellencamp song came on the radio. The farther I traveled, the farther the crisis back at the house began to fade away. I realized it was the kind of summer night we can only dream about in late January.
The grass was green and trees full of life. As I passed The Lovely Chapel near the Springboro Cemetery, I was struck by the halo effect as it sat against the setting sun. I pulled over and starting snapping photographs.
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DO YOU LIKE THIS image? As I clicked away, I thought of so many other good things I had seen and heard so far this summer. Here are a few:
1) “You mean like a doctor?”
I play golf on Wednesday evenings with Doc Chamberlain, who is the treating physician for just about everyone in Franklin. He and I were teammates in high school, so I call him Ricky. He is so humble and unassuming. Every week, just before our opening tee shots, I tell our opponents about a time I was in Ricky’s office to get clearance for some minor surgery I would soon have.
“I’m a wreck, and in no time he gives me every assurance I need. So I get ready to leave, because I know he’s always got patients back-to-back. But Ricky wants to tell me all about his new golf clubs, how he was fitted for them and how perfect they feel. What’s more, the golf shop gave him a few lessons, and Ricky tells me all about what he learned.”
I go into some of the details Ricky told me.
“He’s so enthusiastic as he tells me all this,” I go on to say. “Finally, Ricky says, ‘Wouldn’t it be great to help people like that?’”
“And I say, ‘You mean like a doctor?’”
I really enjoy being around people who aren’t full of themselves.
2) “True that.”
When I say our house is full of “kids,” I mean the twenty-somethings who are the same age as our daughter Chloe. My wife Kim loves feeding all of them. They sit around the table and tell stories and laugh, which keeps us young. Cole Blevins is Chloe’s boyfriend, and when he hears something that is particularly poignant for him, he says a phrase I’ve never heard before, “True that.”
The hard work in your twenties will pay off in your thirties, forties and fifties. A bully is not a strong person. Appreciate all that hair while you have it, ‘cause one day you’ll really miss it. “True that.”
I should sometime say I’m probably the smartest and most talented person on the planet and let’s see what he says.
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3) “I know, but it’s the right thing to do.”
When I took over for Judge Oliver last year, I thought I had a pretty good handle on the kinds of cases that come before our court. After all, I had been a magistrate for him for more than three years. But one thing in particular has surprised me in the last year-and-a-half — in presiding over all the dissolutions and uncontested divorces, I’ve discovered there is actually a lot more agreement in divorces cases than disagreement. Yeah, I couldn’t believe it either.
People can be very creative…and sometimes very considerate to one another, despite what seems to be the impression about divorce court.
I heard a case recently where the husband agreed to share the inheritance he would be receiving when ailing his father passed away. I asked him whether he was sure he wanted to do that, because the law would never require him to do such a thing.
“I know,” he responded. “But we were able to do a lot of things with the money she received when her mom died a few years ago. She was good to me, so I should be good to her. It’s the right thing to do.”
I say this frequently. Most people are good.
4) “God gave dust a heartbeat.”
I love listening to preachers who model love, reserve judgment, and bring life to a book that was written thousands of years ago. Through their words, I find purpose, patience, peace, and perspective. Just like when my coaches years ago gave locker room talks that inspired me in a game of baseball or basketball, good preachers now give proverbial locker room talks to help me in the game of life.
I could probably list a thousand great things I’ve heard from Charlie McMahan, Danny Griffith, Chuck Wolfinbarger or Wendel Deyo, guys I listen to on a regular basis in a variety of places. But one statement I heard a few weeks ago from Laura Buffington at SouthBrook Church stuck with me.
She spoke about the choices we all have in whether to believe or not believe. We are all on a journey. She recounted all the events that are recorded right from the beginning in the Book of Genesis, about how something came from nothing, and used a phrase that struck a chord.
“God gave dust a heartbeat.”
Yeah. For whatever reason, it was just what I needed to hear. That happens to me all the time.
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I WAS SO EXCITED to print out this photograph, I rushed home right after I finished shooting. It was like an exclamation point to a perfect evening. I wish I could feel that way all the time when coming home after a long day.
When I walked in the door, however, Kobe instantly reminded me of what I had forgotten.
“Oh no! I forgot your food. I’ll go back.”
Kobe then spoke the first words a dog has ever spoken.
“True that.”