I once worked with someone from Bermuda. He was very outgoing and kind toward his co-workers, even the people who weren’t easy to get along with.
One day I commented on this. “I’ve noticed how friendly you are to everyone. Even the people who aren’t very nice.”
His answer was insightful. With a big smile and a delightful […]

Smile.
Crack a joke.
Help the carry out person wrangle a couple stray carts. Write a real paper and pen note to a former teacher telling them what you learned from them. Call your parents and tell them you noticed how much smarter they got after you went to college.
Hold the door for someone.
Let the person behind you […]

9:45 AM on Friday, June 8th at Aqua-Tots Swim School in Mesa, Arizona. Ron was working on his laptop while Paul and I were sitting at the meet and greet desk behind the glass.
A guy in a faded, forest green golf shirt walked up to the window. He looked a little frazzled.
Paul slid the window open. “Hi. How can I […]

Ever think about how one thing leads to another? 
If it wasn’t for the person who threw the beer bottle on the street Monday night, I wouldn’t have gotten a flat tire.
And if it weren’t for the person who designed the impossible to remove wheel covers on my car I would have been able to change the tire […]

“Anyone sitting here?”, I asked the lady.
“No.” She pulled her arms in a bit and gathered her purse closer to her.
Thanks to the “print your boarding pass the day before” option at Southwest Airlines I was in the “A” group. Which means I was at the front of the cattle call free for all in finding […]

Several weeks ago I took my twin daughters and my niece out for lunch at a small town cafe. As a Dad you always hope your kids mind their manners. So it was nice to hear Annie and Emma say “please” and “thank you” without being prompted.
When our server left to go get our beverages Annie asked, “Daddy, […]

It was fall of 1993. We had lived here only a couple months and were still finding our way around the valley. One late afternoon we discovered a Chinese restaurant somewhere in Mesa and had dinner there.
When we were finished I went up to the counter to pay the check. After the cashier handed me […]

He was sorting through a wall rack of Phoenix Suns T-shirts, obviously not finding the size he was looking for. He had his back to me when I asked, “Can I help you?”
Still focused on the shirts he answered, “Do you have this in a Small?”

That voice. I’ve heard it before. But not in a […]

Here in the Phoenix valley, conveniences abound. Drive three minutes in any direction from my house and you’ll find a Target, Wal-Mart, Costco, Home Depot, Discount Tire, and numerous large grocery stores. Not to mention the endless strip malls full of specialty shops. Anyone need to refurbish a Ford Mustang? Buy a dune buggy? Just […]

I believe it was Mark Twain who said, “The more time I spend with the so-called “good people”, the more I understand why Jesus preferred to spend His time with sinners.”
The setting was a facility owned by a large church in the Phoenix valley. The scene was a music concert. A local band was celebrating […]

While walking across the open first level of the Luhr’s Parking garage in downtown Phoenix, I spotted him across the street. A bedraggled, scruffy, gray bearded guy in a dirty blue jacket pushing himself backward down the sidewalk in a wheelchair.
Panhandlers are fairly common around America West Arena, especially late at night after events. Usually […]

I’m at a Jamba Juice in Mesa, Arizona waiting for my Berry Lime Sublime smoothie when I notice a lady staring at my America West Arena name badge. “Is Swea City, Iowa your home town?” I tell her it sure is. And how impressed I am that she pronounced it correctly.
Swea City’s a small place. […]

For the past few years I’ve worked a part-time job at the Team Shop in America West Arena. It’s where the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and the Arena Football League’s Arizona Rattlers play. Like airports, it’s a venue that allows one to observe all sorts of human behavior and interaction. Anytime there are 10,000 plus people […]

Walking across the parking lot to my truck, I looked up at the blue sky and thought how glad I am to live where I’m not shoveling snow the day before New Year’s Eve.
Unlocking the door on my Mazda and getting in the way I’ve done thousands of times, I stopped half way. The feeling […]

It was relatively quiet for a late afternoon at the Omaha airport. I was waiting out a two hour layover, pondering the price of a Diet Coke and cookie I had just purchased. “$5.80? Pardon me, miss, but is there a major league baseball game going on behind this counter?” She gave me an “I […]

I have a bad feeling as soon as I walk through the door.
To my right, a guy in a chair is trying to keep hold of a squirming, screaming pre-schooler. To my left, a young mother bounces a yelling toddler on one knee while rocking a baby in a car seat with her foot. In […]

“Excuse me…could I get a drink of water?”
She must have asked the question at least three times but I didn’t hear her over the spray of the garden hose. It was a Saturday afternoon during my last year of seminary. I was washing my truck in the driveway and a couple of stubborn tar spots […]

There were only a handful of cars in the parking lot at 11:40 PM. It’s nice being only half a mile from a grocery store that stays open until midnight. To find one that stays open all night means driving an extra mile. Oh, the inconveniences of living in a big city.
I’ve always thought it […]

Several years ago I was in the Minneapolis airport waiting out a flight delay that was lasting well into the evening. You can only fill the time so many ways. After I’d eaten dinner and browsed the newsstand I found a seat and pulled out a book to read.
An elderly woman took a seat nearby. […]

It was late afternoon when I walked in. Two people in the entry area turned their heads and watched me find my way to the counter. A guy in a blue shirt who had celebrated the end of his eight hour grind by ditching his coat and loosening his tie and a lady sitting against […]