Watchman Digest A weekly netcast examining current events from a Christian perspective

A couple of days ago my dear wife dropped our cell phone in a bowl full of water.  She immediately got it out and brought it to me, but the vibrator in the phone was buzzing non-stop, indicating a short in the phone.  I turned it off and removed the battery.  It was only in the water for a second, but water got inside anyway.

Well, I managed to take the phone partly apart, and use a hair dryer to dry out all of the electronics.  I damaged the case of the phone a bit, but it still works, and so we avoided having to go buy a new phone.  I was worried about having to get a new phone, because we have had this one only for a year or so.  I knew a new phone would cost me, in more ways than one. Read More…

Posted under Cell Phone, Digest Subjects, Stan's Rants

We are smack dab in the middle of the holiday season, and I certainly don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade, but…

Many people have expressed their frustration at the commercialization of the holidays.  And there is good reason for such frustration.

Radio stations have been playing Christmas music since well before Thanksgiving.  The traffic, especially in large cities like Dallas and Fort Worth is atrocious this time of the year, as everyone is out shopping.  People will go deep in debt to buy toys and gadgets that will end up gathering dust in a month’s time. Read More…

Posted under Christmas, Digest Subjects, Stan's Rants

(Editor’s note:  The following, as yet unpublished letter to the editor of the Fort Worth Star Telegram, was written by Kendra Cox, Stan Cox’s 22 year old daughter).

To whom it may concern,

I would like to write a “Jeer” about the River Oaks Police Department.  As a member of the community, an active volunteer at the local elementary schools, and a future police officer, I would like to say I am disgusted with the conduct of the River Oaks P.D. with regards to allowing their officers to use tobacco products while in uniform, specifically smoking. Read More…

Posted under Digest Subjects, Smoking, Stan's Rants

Way back in the stone age (actually 1978-1980), when I was a student at Odessa High School in Odessa, TX, the school had an open air court connecting two of the buildings, where students and faculty were allowed to smoke.

Yes, you heard that right, students were allowed to light up on campus.  We are living now in far different times.

Well, several times a day I had to walk across the connecting sidewalk.  I always took a deep breath before opening the door, and tried to hurry across so that I would not have to breathe in the second hand smoke. Read More…

Posted under Digest Subjects, Profanity, Smoking, Stan's Rants

One of my favorite passages in the New Testament is referred to popularly as “the Golden Rule.”  It was given by Jesus during his wonderful sermon on the Mount, recorded in Matthew 7.  “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

Notice that Jesus’ did not say to do unto others whatever it is they do unto you… Or, do unto others before they do it unto you… Or, do unto others so that they will not be able to do it to you.  All of these seem to be popular sentiments, but they are not what Jesus said. Read More…

Posted under Digest Subjects, Love, Stan's Rants

I want to talk a minute about what I call the Big Fish in the Small Pond syndrome.  I am sure that most of our listeners have heard of this.  Sometimes it can be a cute thing.  Do you notice that babies, no matter how small or young they may be, always want to mother a child smaller or younger than themselves?  I guess it is a natural thing for anyone to want to be the dominant one.  The one in charge.  The one in control.

Sometimes this can be less cute.  When my oldest son was a junior, their basketball team (a team that was not very good, by the way), entered a holiday tournament filled mainly with teams from small private schools.  Early in the tournament our team, which had only won a couple of games all year, played a team that consisted mainly of beginners.  Some of these kids could barely even dribble.  As the game progressed, and our kids got out to a large lead, some of them started to talk trash, and ridicule the other team.  They were acting like they were the best team to ever step on a basketball court, even though a week earlier they were the ones that were being demolished on the court. Read More…

Posted under Digest Subjects, Pride, Stan's Rants

You may call this a recurring theme, but I sure do get frustrated at parents.  The scripture teaches parents to bring their children up in the Lord’s admonition and teaching (Ephesians 6).  One thing that it takes to do this is involvement!

My son Joshua is in his first year of teaching at Castleberry High School.  Castleberry is in an independent school district, and there are a lot of advantages to having your children in a relatively small school district.  However, at Castleberry there has been a real change in demographics in the past decade or so, that has led to a real problem with the lack of parental involvement. Read More…

Posted under Children, Digest Subjects, Parenting, Stan's Rants

I was thinking earlier this week, around Tuesday, about Charisma.  I have to say that Charisma has me a bit irritated.   You know, “a personal attractiveness or interestingness that enables you to influence others.”  (That’s the definition of the word).

Now, there is nothing wrong with Charisma per se.  It’s not a personality fault, or something that you want to try to hide, if you have it.

The problem is, too many people place too much emphasis upon it, or the lack thereof.  Charisma has absolutely no bearing upon a person’s rightness or wrongness, nor upon a person’s qualifications and experience.   Unless, of course, a primary qualification for a person to be successful in his or her pursuit is the attribute of charisma itself! Read More…

Posted under Charisma, Digest Subjects, Election, Obama, Barack, Stan's Rants

As of the recording of this edition of Watchman Digest, the election is only 5 days away.  I’m sure that you, like me, are glad that this process is nearing its end.  I am also glad that I live in Texas, which is not a battleground state.  Obama long ago determined he had no chance of winning the Texas’ electoral votes, and has not actively campaigned in the state.  McCain has likewise focused elsewhere, and so we Texans have been spared the incessant campaign advertising that Pennsylvanians, Ohioans and Floridians have suffered in the last couple of months.

It seems like every election cycle I start off excited and interested, and end up burned out and irritated.  I imagine that others feel the very same way.  I think what irritates me most are the party loyalists.  Those eager individuals in each party that put spin on every event, and argue incessantly on news networks like CNN, MSNBC and FOXNews.  They have their talking points, and their candidate is the second coming, while the opponent is a minion of Satan. Read More…

Posted under Digest Subjects, Politics, Stan's Rants

Do you remember the adults in all of the Charlie Brown TV specials?  They were never seen, and when they spoke offscreen, all you heard was, “Wah, Wah, Wah, Wah, Wah, Wah, Wah.”

Charles Schultz’ point was clear.  In this little universe, it was all about the kids.  Adults existed simply to accommodate Charlie and his friends, and were only tangential to their lives.

And, this seems to be true in our universe as well.  Every day I get in my car to go pick up my children from school.  When driving my car at the school, I constantly have to hit the brakes, and be on the lookout, because the kids are oblivious to the traffic.  The parents in their cars exist to serve them, and they will be looking out for them, so why be concerned?  It seems crazy that a 7th grade boy, weighing in at 100 lbs. soaking wet, with his pants perched halfway down his backside, would stroll insolently across the street, not even acknowledging the 2,000 lb. hunk of metal that has to quickly stop to let him pass.  A honk on the horn gets only a disdainful glance.  Or perhaps, a quick middle finger to impress his friends. Read More…

Posted under Children, Digest Subjects, Parenting, Respect, Stan's Rants