CoffeeTime

If you are anything like me and a lot of other people in this country, you are sick. Sick and tired of so much around you. Things like, not being able to walk safely to your car in a public parking lot, traffic tie-ups that can keep you trapped on the interstate for hours, and…

People are just people, everywhere you go. Everyone has their favorite hobbies and if given the chance, they would spend hours doing just that. And most of us also have heavy responsibilities that we avoid like the plague for as long as possible. As long as possible without wrecking our finances, or letting the house…

Simply kick and scream and pout until God makes everything good for you again.   Maybe that way of dealing with your problems seems like a good idea to you. After all, you have been told repeatedly all your life that He is a good and loving God, who always wants the best for you.…

Newbie NFL football player Desmond Watson, just out of college and weighing in at a hefty 464 pounds, needed to lose weight in order to get off the bench. After a dramatic loss of thirty-five pounds of flab, he was asked how he had managed to reach that goal.   Mr. Watson’s response is loosely…

Grandma Gertie is more than ready for Thanksgiving Day to arrive. For the first time in seventeen years, she is going to have her entire family home for Thanksgiving dinner. Everyone has painstakingly arranged their holiday schedules to be able be together at Grandma’s house.   Excited-beyond-measure cannot even begin to describe her emotions. For…

A lot of people dread mornings. Life has taught them that tomorrows always bring with them hurt and worry. Maybe even grief and loss. Convinced that every new dawn brings pain, they live filled with anxiety and a sense of dread with each sunrise. It doesn’t matter whether they know exactly what is coming that…

Send responses to: andybowman839@gmail.com You received the phone call that buckles your knees. Or hear the police officer’s knock on the door. Or the doctor solemnly walks toward you in the hospital waiting room. And now you have just heard the worst news of your life. You’ve lost the most important person in your world. Or,…

Send responses to: andybowman839@gmail.com   Have you ever tried to help someone who doesn’t actually want help? Oh, they tell you they do. They call and beg for you to give them answers to their problems. But when you stop your busy life, put your thinking cap on, get creative and give them answers, suddenly you…

It really is innocent looking, because it looks just like wet pavement. But it can be dangerous as a rattlesnake. And just like that reptile, it strikes when you least expect it, with the intent to cause you a lot of pain and destruction. Truly unseeable, hiding in plain sight.  With absolutely no redeeming value,…

Depression.  A word that absolutely can send dread coursing through the veins. Whether you have witnessed its debilitating effect on a loved one or experienced it yourself, you know it physically changes things.   The depressed person can be blinded to seeing beauty around them. It actually can make a clear blue sky look dingy.…

The difference between a whistleblower or a tattler is their mission- no matter what they publicly declare.   Whistling is to trying prevent potential disaster from happening to innocent people. In other words, whistleblowing is attempting to do your part to make sure bad stuff doesn’t continue. It’s definitely a brave act on the part…

You know you stepped in it. Big time. Didn’t really mean to do it, but it happened. Now your spouse is hurt and angry. And they are not really waiting breathlessly to hear your apology – they’re way past that. Seeing you hanging by your bleeding ears from a dead tree in the middle of…

Nothing wrong with relaxing.  With the right timing and amount.   Being lazy? Nothing wrong with it – in moderation. After a fifteen-hour workday, certainly anyone would want a chance to just do nothing for a while. But when you decide that your thirty minutes of computer work warrants the next four hours spent in…

Most adults who have lived very long know that a strong storm – with its heavy clouds, pelting hail or blinding snow, driving winds, or flooding rain can bring on certain fear and anxiety. Not to mention downright physical and financial problems when actual disaster strikes.   Living in the Midwest most of my life,…

If we were all childhood siblings and behaving the way we fellow citizens are acting and reacting, Mom already would have taken away every last one of our toys and privileges, restricted our food to vegetables and water only for a couple of months, and wore out our sorry tails with the bread board. And…

Fighting fair. Not a spouse’s favorite saying when they are currently in the middle of “Who’s Gonna Win This Time” with their dreaded enemy of the moment.   Face it, any married human female whose spine isn’t yellow jello, wants to come out of the latest skirmish with a feeling of “Huh! Oh, yeah, I…

Babies. Tiny and adorable. Helplessly trusting you to feed, diaper and love them. They tend to bring out the best in us adults. Ladies find themselves wanting to hold an infant, just to feel it’s solid weight in their arms, and touch the incredible softness of the tender skin. A baby’s smallest whimper makes most…

If you have ever watched the old movie “Conagher,” a western based on a rough ‘n tough cowboy with a gigantic sense of right and wrong, then you might well remember the story line’s leading lady. An attractive young widow with two children, left in a lonely shack out in the boonies after the supposed…

One of the most unsympathetic people in the world is the one who has never had pain. They’ve never lost a loved one and suffered the all-enveloping grief and soul-crushing depression that can come with knowing that you never see their smile or feel hugged by them again. Never again hear that voice in conversation…

Alex suddenly realized he was starving, according to his standards. Of course, that standard set low, as his stomach pretty much governed his life. Forty-five minutes without something going into his mouth seemed like forever to that growing teenager.   Flinging aside his American History homework, he leaped off his bed and made a beeline for…

You have probably been told a few times in your life to not let anyone take away your own peace. That you responsible if you are filled to the brim with good will toward all mankind – or had your fill of all mankind. “Your happiness is in your hands, and it depends upon your own…

Jeannie slipped silently down the dark, cellar steps like a shadow on a mission. Certainly not a shadow, but definitely on a mission.   She knew exactly where her grandmother kept her pickle-making crock. Despite the blackness that surrounded her, she headed confidently across the musty narrow room. One thing was on her eleven-year-old mind.…

Shaun’s main goal in life is to never make a mistake. In fact, he will bend over backward in every area of his life to make certain that never happens. The FEAR OF PUNISHMENT from childhood is so ingrained into him that allowing even one mistake in his world cannot be tolerated. That fear has…

Are you one of those people who always staunchly defends the stand you have taken – no matter what? No backing up and reexamining your thoughts and motives? You never attempt to peek around the proverbial corner and try to see the other side of an argument? You know what you believe about a situation…

The very thing that you dread and fear can keep you keep thinking about it. A lot, in fact. And that constant thinking can give way to obsessive anxiety. And then the obsessive anxiety and fear begin to take control of your days…and causing sleepless nights. Gradually, the lack of sleep can spiral you into…