Shelbyville Times-Gazette: Columns: Doug Dezotell

Cold winter days were fun, but this year's great (02/05/12)
People like to talk about the weather. I was getting the oil changed in my car the other day and one of the men working at the shop commented on the mild winter weather we have been having. He said that we were likely to have a lot of bugs this year because it hasn't been real cold yet...

Let your sign be a good one (01/29/12)
I have seen some interesting signs hanging in different places over the years. One of my favorites is hanging near the cash register at the Bell Buckle Café (one of my favorite dining establishments). It says, "Don't try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and it annoys the pig."...

Best things in life might just be iThings (01/22/12)
My wife bought me an iPad for Christmas. She also bought me a companion book to help me out with my new Christmas present: "iPad for Dummies." I have taken to the iPad pretty easily, although I am one of the least tech savvy fellows out there. I haven't had to open the Dummies book yet either...

A hymn of 'faith' (01/15/12)
Last Sunday morning I was surprised by joy as the worship leader at church led the congregation in one of the most beautiful hymns I have heard in a long time. It is entitled, "Hymn of Promise," and the words and music were written by Natalie Sleeth...

A wonderful life: Family, holiday fun (01/08/12)
My family and I had a wonderful holiday season. My oldest son, Gabe, came home from California in time for Thanksgiving, and has been with us through the New Year. I have really enjoyed having the whole family together. During the holidays, we have certainly enjoyed some good entertainment...

Revisiting dreams of the past (01/01/12)
I was reminiscing and came across something that I wanted to share with you again. I hope you don't mind. For many people around the world the beginning of a new year becomes a time for grand celebrations, watching the old year fade away as the new is ushered in...

The greatest story ever told (12/25/11)
On this Christmas Morning, I want to share the true Christmas story with you from the Gospels of Luke, Matthew and John. This of course is the greatest story ever told. Luke 2:4-20: 4And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem (because he was of the house and lineage of David),* 5To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. ...

The man in the box (12/11/11)
My granddaughter, Kori, is 6 months old. She is smart and beautiful, just like her grandmother. And Kori loves to stare at the fire burning in our electric fireplace. Her older cousin, Charli, who will be 3 in January (also smart and beautiful like her grandmother), has always been fascinated by the fire in our fireplace too. In fact, Charli would sit down on the floor in front of that thing and just smile, and enjoy the heat from the blower that warms our living room...

One word with lots of power (12/11/11)
I received a letter the other day from a Christian missionary organization that really grabbed my attention. This group had started an outreach to women of another religion, and their main approach was to just say "hello!" That simple concept of offering a greeting as a means of ministry to someone else has intrigued me...

Help needed more than ever (12/04/11)
There is a story told of a time when St. Francis of Assisi was traveling across the country and he saw a leper standing by the side of the road. The man's face and body were covered with open sores. St. Francis was so moved with the man's pitiful condition that he jumped from his horse, ran to the man, and hugged him close to himself. St. Francis began to weep and pray for the leper. When he looked into the man's face, St. Francis was suddenly looking into the face of Jesus...

A time to count your blessings (11/27/11)
I have been blessed! And I am so grateful for all of the blessings that God has given me. There's an old hymn that I have been singing to myself lately that reminds me to think about the many ways that I have blessed. Johnson Oatman, Jr. wrote these words:...

Grandpa: The best hat of all (11/20/11)
I have always liked hats. One of my favorite photos of myself growing up was of me caught sitting on the potty reading a Porky the Pig comic book wearing one of my dad's bowler hats. I was just 2 or 3 years old at the time. My oldest sister, Rita, had just gotten herself a camera for Christmas and she was busy snapping candid photos of the family. Such as me in my dad's hat on the toilet...

Listen to the music (11/13/11)
My mother used to play the organ, and I was one of her biggest fans. She never had an organ of her own until she was in her 60s and her second husband bought her one. She sure was proud that she finally had her own musical instrument to sit at and play her favorite songs...

Elmo Claus takes on the holidays (11/06/11)
I thoroughly enjoyed Halloween this year! I wore my Elmo shirt and my Santa Claus hat, and joyfully opened the door to greet all the trick-or-treaters. It was great to see the looks on the children's faces when I opened the door. Some cried, "Look, it's Elmo!" Others said, "Hey, it's Santa Claus!"...

It's all about the points (10/30/11)
I went to a chili supper the other night, and while I was walking back to my spot at the table with a scrumptious pumpkin dessert in my hand, someone called out to me, "Hey, Bro. Doug., how many points is that dessert?" This person knew that I was a part of the Weight Watchers program and she thought that I shouldn't be eating a scrumptious pumpkin dessert. ...

Road love instead of road rage (10/23/11)
I was driving down I-24 the other day on my way home from Murfreesboro and I slowed down to let someone in a pick-up truck enter the lane in front of me. As they merged, they proceeded to show some obscene hand gestures to me. In fact, not only did the driver wave rudely at me but so did the passenger. I got flipped-off in duplicate! I got the double whammy!...

All tied up in fashion, but stylin' (10/16/11)
Why in the world do men wear ties? Where did this strange fashion accessory come from? Men gather a long piece of material and tie it in a knot around their neck and go about their business. I can understand a belt. It serves a good purpose. It holds my pants up. But a tie?...

Read on, Shelbyville! It's your newspaper (10/09/11)
October 2-8, 2011 was National Newspaper Week, a time in which to celebrate the great addition to our daily diet of reading material: the local newspaper. Ours is the Shelbyville Times-Gazette, a wonderful format for passing on the news and views of the folks of Bedford County...

'Home' is truly best, whether on earth or heavenly (10/02/11)
I finally learned how to play the game of Chickenfoot. It is a game played with dominoes. We played Chickenfoot while on a church retreat at Beersheba Springs Assembly up on the mountain top in Grundy County. The retreat was a wonderful time of Christian growth and fellowship for a group of folks from Mt. Lebanon United Methodist Church...

The true source of victory (09/25/11)
I had the privilege this past week of preaching at the opening service of the revival meeting at Pleasant Grove United Methodist Church. The Rev. Jim Sorrells is the pastor of this wonderful congregation. There were two songs that were sung that night that really were special to me and have spoken to me time and again over the years. The congregation sang the great gospel song, "Victory in Jesus," and Inge Wood sang the old folk song, "Poor Wayfaring Stranger."...

Heroes help reach out to Native Americans (09/18/11)
I just returned from a trip to Jackrabbit, Ariz., one of my favorite places to visit. It is the home of NAOMI House (Native American Outreach Ministries, Inc.). I spent a week there visiting, ministering, resting, and being blessed. And I enjoyed spending time with one of my heroes, Linda Thompson, the director of NAOMI...

Heroes help reach out to Native Americans (09/17/11)
I just returned from a trip to Jackrabbit, Ariz., one of my favorite places to visit. It is the home of NAOMI House (Native American Outreach Ministries, Inc.). I spent a week there visiting, ministering, resting, and being blessed. And I enjoyed spending time with one of my heroes, Linda Thompson, the director of NAOMI...

Heroes live in our midst (09/11/11)
On Sept. 11, 2001, many heroes gave their lives as they bravely went to the aid of those trapped in the Twin Towers. Firemen and Police Officers responded to the calls that went out for assistance. And many of them lost their lives. In response to those attacks on our soil, U.S. service men and women were sent to foreign lands to fight for the freedoms that we as Americans hold so dear. Many of those who went on our behalf did not return home alive...

A saint goes marching in (09/04/11)
My friend, Fred West, organized the best Mardi Gras parade I have ever been to. There was a marching band, brightly colored floats, a Mardi Gras King and Queen, balloons and beads, lots of multi-colored beads. It was a marvelous affair! Everyone was smiling and happy, and laughter and music filled the air...

Seek peace, and head for that mansion (08/28/11)
I drove to West Virginia this week and sat by the bedside of a dying friend. He has terminal cancer and his vital organs are shutting down. I sat with him in his hospital room and prayed while he slept, held his hand and prayed when he was awake, and just was there with my friend...

If you love someone, tell them (08/21/11)
The musical Fiddler on the Roof tells the story of a poor Orthodox Jewish family living in a small village in Tsarist Russia in 1905. Included in the production, there is a song that paints a sweet and comical picture of love between a husband and a wife. It is a conversation between the main character, Tevye, and his wife, Golde. The conversation goes like this:...

Good wins out in the end (08/14/11)
My earliest memories of movie going were made at the Empire Theater in Grand Forks, North Dakota. The first movies I remember seeing were all animated and they were all Disney movies. There was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Dumbo, Cinderella, and Sleeping Beauty...

Greetings can make a difference (08/07/11)
One of my earliest memories of Sunday School is of the warm welcome offered to me Sunday after Sunday by Bethie Pond. As a small boy I was fearful of leaving my mother's side and going into a Sunday School room without her. But then, Bethie became my greeter, my guide and my friend...

Taste and see: You'll discover it's always good (07/31/11)
I worked as an orderly at a nursing home when I was a teenager, and I met a woman there named Minnie. She had a great personality and she was a joy to care for. I would be called to come and help the nurse's aide move Minnie from her bed to her chair and back again. Minnie had only one leg so she couldn't help much in the transfer. But she made our job easier by being lighthearted and fun-loving...

A simple, profoundly full life (07/24/11)
I have a friend on the Navajo Reservation in Northern Arizona who will celebrate her 107th birthday this year. I met Irene Eskey, affectionately called Grandma, in the 1980s when I was invited to preach a revival at the church she helped to start on the reservation...

Watch out for those Chicken Feet! (07/17/11)
My friend, Martha Hitt, gets together on a regular basis with a group of friends to play a game called Chickenfoot. All I know about the game is that it's played with dominoes. I shudder when I think too long about chickens' feet! Years ago when I was the director of a ministry in Lansing, Mich., I went with another minister friend of mine in search of some chickens for the farm that we had just acquired for our ministry...

Friendship is a treasure beyond value (07/10/11)
One of my dearest and oldest friends came to visit us this week. He and his wife live in Memphis, and they drove over to spend the 4th of July holiday with us. We enjoyed our time together. We talked and caught up. We laughed and laughed again. We reminisced and we prayed together. It was a real nice time...

Celebrating true spirit of freedom (07/03/11)
When my family and I first moved to Middle Tennessee, we rented a small farm in Deason. I had started a Christian discipleship ministry in Murfreesboro helping men overcome their addictions, so it was an easy drive from Deason to Murfreesboro. Many days the men in the program would come out to the farm and work with the animals we had there. It was a great opportunity for the men to focus on positive things in life...

Fearfully and wonderfully made (06/26/11)
My second granddaughter was born on Thursday morning June 16. And she's a beautiful little girl. Her birth was timed perfectly for her grandfather too. I was out of town for meetings from Sunday afternoon through Wednesday evening of that week, and my plane was leaving for Arizona at 10:30 on Thursday morning. Kori was born at 4:30 on Thursday morning, so I got to see her and her mother before leaving town...

Hoping for happy Father's Day for everyone (06/19/11)
Happy Father's Day! I will be in Jackrabbit, Arizona, this weekend for the annual meeting of the Board of Directors of NAOMI (Native American Outreach Ministries, Inc.). I serve as the vice-president on that board. The ministry provides a safe Christian home for abused and neglected children from the Navajo Reservation in Northern Arizona...

Peace can be found in prayer (06/12/11)
"Don't Worry, Be Happy!" Bobby McFerrin released that song in the fall of 1988 and it went on to win several top Grammy Awards in 1989. If you were around in the late '80s and early '90s, you'll remember, "Don't Worry, Be Happy!" It was an acappella song that had a catchy tune and people walked around singing it to themselves throughout the day...

Spreading my love for the Lord (06/05/11)
Charles Wesley published an 18-stanza poem in 1740 that spoke of his strong desire to give praise to God for changing his life. He wrote the poem to commemorate the first anniversary of his renewal of faith in Christ. Many Christian churches have this poem in their hymnbooks today, and it has become a favorite hymn for Christians around the world...

Good words may hide slight insults, so listen very closely (05/29/11)
I commented to my mother-in-law recently that her daughter sure was pretty (my wife, of course), and she said, "Well, you're handsome in your own way, too." Handsome in your own way? Handsome in your own way? I had to laugh. I wasn't sure if that was a compliment or not. Maybe it was almost a compliment. But barely...

Dedicated to a life of service (05/22/11)
When I was real little, my family lived several blocks from the home of the Roman Catholic nuns who taught at the Catholic schools and worked at the Catholic hospital in town. Growing up in Grand Forks, N.D., you were either a Catholic or a Lutheran. I was both in a way. My father was a Catholic and my mother was a Lutheran...

Warm times in the cool city by the bay (05/15/11)
Mark Twain is purported to have said, "The coldest winter I've ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." My wife and I just returned from The City on the Bay, and we heard that quote numerous times while we were there. Friends and family who had visited San Francisco before told us to make sure we brought coats or jackets with us when we went, so we were prepared...

Hats off to Mothers! (05/08/11)
I have a book of poems, published in 1917, that my mother gave me years ago. It is poems written by her favorite poet, Edgar A. Guest. This book has been a treasure of mine, and I have quoted some of Guest's poems in a number of my sermons over the years...

Christian mother is a true blessing (05/01/11)
I was asked recently what the most formative experience of my Christian life was, and I found that to be an easy question for me to answer. It had to have been the godly influence of a Christian mother. Alpha Margaret Tangen Dezotell Scott raised all of her 5 children in church and she set a godly example for us. We were all baptized and confirmed at United Lutheran Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and we were raised as active members of that congregation...

Weight Watchers has given me a whole new outlook on life (04/24/11)
My first granddaughter was born a little over two years ago, and I knew the minute I saw her beautiful little face that I wanted to be around to watch her grow up. The cardiologist had just told me that I had a number of blocked arteries, and that it wouldn't be long and I would probably have to have open heart surgery. I knew that I really needed to lose weight, for my own health and for my family as well, so I started taking the necessary steps to do that...

Best Bible is the one you read (03/13/11)
I'm a reader. I thoroughly enjoy reading the newspaper, magazines, a good mystery or action thriller, and the news items that scroll across the bottom of the screen on Fox News and CNN. I assume you are a reader too. After all, you're reading my column right now...

Hair worth its weight in gold (03/06/11)
Justin Bieber got a haircut. If you happen to be one of those who are not familiar with this name, Justin is a 16-year-old Canadian pop sensation made famous on YouTube. He has made many tween girls swoon over his mop of brown hair and "cutie-pie" smile...

Easy-to-fix oats win every time (02/20/11)
Dr. Oz said that one thing he can't live without is steel cut oats. He has them every morning for breakfast. I had never heard of steel cut oats until I heard Dr. Oz talk about their virtues on his TV program. So I was curious. After all, it was some kind of oatmeal, and I do like oatmeal...

American Dream is truly a blessing for the fortunate (02/13/11)
Back in the 70s, when I was a Bible college student in Southern California, I made a trip to Tijuana, Mexico with a group of classmates. We went to visit an orphanage run by a Mexican minister and his wife. Many of the children that were living in this establishment had been abandoned on the streets of the city or were dropped off at the gates of the compound. Their parents felt like they could no longer care for their children so they just left them...

Live so that others see the 'good' within you (02/06/11)
I received a phone call this past week from a young man who got my name and number from someone he called a mutual friend. He asked if I remembered his mother, whom years ago I helped get into a drug rehabilitation program in Chicago. I didn't remember the name, but over the years I had helped so many young men and women get into Christian rehabilitation programs that it is hard to remember all of them...

Pray for Korley... and her family (01/30/11)
It's amazing to see the community come together for one of its own. It makes one proud to be a part of this place called Shelbyville When I drive across town and see the signs asking people to "Pray for Korley," I am blessed and encouraged. This is a truly loving community we live in...

Computer offers new challenges (01/09/11)
I thoroughly enjoy reading the Times-Gazette. For a number of years I had the privilege of working at the Times-Gazette as a staff writer and then as the newsroom clerk. So when I read the paper I know the writers and feel that I have that personal connection with each of them. And I look forward to reading the columns that Sadie and Mary and John write...

In the dance of life, just a word may change it all (11/21/10)
Why Don't We Just Dance? I grew up in a family that loved to dance, and in a community that loved to dance. My grandparents were immigrants and it was a common part of their cultures to dance. Winters are long and hard many times in North Dakota and one of the indoor pastimes during those cold months was dancing. We had dances during lunch hour at school, and we had weekly dances at the YMCA or the Armory or at the Maple Lake Pavilion...

Missions on his mind (02/20/09)
I've had missions on my mind a lot this week, and I've been praying for people from Africa to Arizona, and thinking about people who speak Swahili, Spanish, English and Navajo. I'm planning to lead a group of about 20 people from my church on a home missions trip to minister to children from the Navajo, Hopi and Apache tribes in Arizona. ...

So it's a new year: Let's revolt! (01/02/09)
What do you do at the beginning of a new year? If you're like most Americans, you think about making the old familiar "New Year's Resolution." One of the other writers at the Times-Gazette wrote her column about the New Year's Resolutions she makes for other people...

Honey, history, home, and horses (07/21/07)
There are certain people and events that pass through your life, leaving it a better place to revisit. I guess I am fortunate to say this has been a week of memories I will often wish to regather. On a particularly hot day, with the paper on the press, I gathered my camera, forgot my directions on a list, and headed out to see the world. ...

Destination: Jackrabbit (06/13/07)
I'm getting ready to go on a vacation for the first time in several years, and I'm really getting excited as the time draws near for my departure date. All of us here in the newsroom are taking time off within weeks of each other, so we are all sharing in each others excitement...

Was there life before TV? (08/21/06)
Some young people today may not realize that there actually was life before TV. I can barely recall those days of listening to the radio for entertainment, or reading a good book. Life sure changed when television invaded our lives. I remember back in the early 1950s living on the very edge of town in Grand Forks, N.D, when the Dezotell family became the first people on Sunset Drive to own a television...

The Chicks have a right to speak (08/02/06)
In the Sunday, July 30, Times-Gazette's column "Voice of the Public," the question was asked "Should the Dixie Chicks just shut up and sing?" The response of those questioned was overwhelmingly, "Yes!" One respondent said "I think they're terrible and ought to be ashamed of themselves."...

Doug Dezotell
Memories and Musings

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