Musings at Altitude

I got a call recently from someone I hadn’t seen in 6 years, and even when we met back then, we couldn’t have talked to each other more than about 2 hours.  In fact, I couldn’t even remember what we talked about back then.  I certainly couldn’t remember what his company did.  And I didn’t have [...]

We’ve all been beat down before. When an expected success turns into a horrible failure. When a great relationship ends up in shambles. When an incredible amount of hard work results in condescending and demeaning statements. When momentary financial success turns into the brink of financial ruin. When a great job turns into unemployment through [...]

I’m in a constant state of learning right now. Learning from those who see me as the teacher. Learning from those who see me as the student. Learning from those who see me as the mentor. Learning from those who see me as the mentee. Learning from those who see me as the father. Learning [...]

Sorrow. Joy. Worship. Prayer. Chaos. Certainty. Awe. Frustration. Love. Life. I felt all of these so far this summer. But at one particular time, in a moment of awe-struck worship, sitting on an isolated pew with a never ending view of God’s magnificent creation, I smiled. And at that particular moment, I found peace. And [...]

I’ve been walking a lot over the last few months…almost at a Forrest Gump compulsiveness…and tonight I had just under two hours to get a multi-mile walk in, spend time in the weight room, shower and pack, eat a salad at the hotel restaurant, and then rush to the airport to join a hoard of [...]

Here are 4 simple rules to find smiles each and every day: (1) Let it go…these words of advice came from the Chaplain at Elmendorf AFB last Sunday; it’s impossible to be what you need to be going forward if you’re held back by an obsession with something from the past; just let it go, [...]

It’s been several weeks since I felt like logging on and writing anything.  Three weeks to be exact. And I’ve been through lots of extremes. At one point, I was reminded of how precious life is in the loss of a good friend and mentor, and just a day later, I was reminded how magnificent [...]

How would you be doing if you were measuring yourself in 4 categories per day: (1) Personal (2) Professional (3) Physical (4) Physical Personal is the family or friends or charities or community. Professional is the work or the development in support of work. Physical is the fitness. Spiritual is awareness of a greater purpose [...]

My car has 233,000 miles on it now. It’s been about as good a car as anyone could ever imagine. Reliable. Dependable. Enduring. Sustaining. Affordable. Enjoyable. Even though nothing has gone wrong, I took it in for it’s major maintenance yesterday. About $2000 worth of routine, scheduled maintenance. That got me thinking. Why don’t we [...]

Who dem dat dare? Obviously a play on words.  Obviously borrowed from that long forsaken team in the deep south that pulled off the miracle this year that launched emails flying that “hell has finally frozen over” with the trip to, and then victory in, the Super Bowl. Obviously one or more words short of something dat [...]