I received literally hundreds of responses to my entry in Words for the Day for Poppycock Two on Friday. All but one was supportive with folks telling me to keep on telling it like it is, (although two people did mention that they refuse to unsubscribe and will merely wait it out until I get in a better mood).
The one who complained wrote: “An extremely harsh one. Try to get back to your loving self. Too much of a bad mood. WFTD is supposed to give people an uplift for the day. This one didn’t. Sorry!”
Hmmm… This called for a meeting with the publisher. I went into his office and he looked me directly in the eyes and nodded. As I gazed at him I thought, “Man oh man Father Time has not been kind to this old boy. He’s really aged in the last 12 ½ years since we started publishing Words for the Day. His hair is almost white, heck even his eyebrows are as grey as my old horse Dusty. His face is wrinkled and he looks tired; he’s looking old.”
As though he could read my mind he impatiently told me that he’d read the latest complaint letter. I said, “Well I’ve been thinking that since we’ve never formally put our mission statement and the WFTD purpose in writing, that maybe it’s time to do so. This lady insists that our purpose is to make people feel good every day”.
“Not true”, he gruffly responded. “We have Joel Olsteen for that.”
“Good point, but Olsteen’s – I’m perpetually blessed – I feel good all the time – mega church ministry only comes on television once a week, what about the rest of the week? What about those who want to feel good and need an “uplift” all of the time?”
He gruffly reminded me, “We can tune in to any news media outlet 24/7 and see President Obama’s smiling face disingenuously telling us how swell things are in this country. Heck just this past Friday 100,000 people found jobs. True to form he bragged about his great leadership being the reason that those jobs came into existence, but he failed to ever mention that 300,000 got so discouraged in not being able to find employment that they just quit looking for a job. So we really netted minus 200,000 jobs. Now that is what gushing-good-news is all about.
“What about the net loss of jobs?”
“George Bush…”
“There are plenty of sources for spin and if that’s what people want, let ’em get it somewhere else; we aren’t about spin at WFTD”.
“Bravo”…
At this point in our meeting my little dog Cooper walked into the office and sat down and looked at me with his little head cocked sideways. He seemed to have an incredulous look on his face as if to ask why I was standing in the bathroom looking in the mirror and talking to myself.
I scowled at him, “Can’t you see we’re in a board meeting here?”
He wagged his tail.
Meeting adjourned.
So, finally after 12 ½ years I suppose I should define the WFTD mission statement and of course the WFTD purpose. My mission is identical to all of my other businesses.
- Provide outstanding customer service
- Provide as high of a quality product as humanly possible
- Offer fair prices
- Work together in a spirit of honesty integrity and pride
Okay, so how am I doin’?
On the subject of outstanding customer service I have tenaciously delivered my product five days per week, year in and year out, even when I’m on vacation, sick, discouraged, happy, grief stricken, uninspired, sad, celebrating my birthday, traveling, staying in motels and hotels all over the world where Internet service is the pits, on holiday, elated, and of course when I’m feeling like crap.
As for the high quality product, I base everything on my interpretation of the Bible. The Bible doesn’t get any higher quality, but my interpretation is… well… my interpretation.
Fair prices? Hmmm… It’s hard to beat “free”, especially in this economy. So you guys are covered there. Me I get blessed every day, so I’m happy.
As for working together in a spirit of honesty, integrity, and pride, I work together with the Holy Spirit as I’m led and inspired, but otherwise I’m alone in this endeavor. I’m, (shudder), probably not always right, but I am honest and tell it the way I see it, (whether some of you dislike the message, or me, or not). I do have integrity, and I take pride especially in the many thousands of you, my devoted readers, who have contacted me through the years and stated that you are now using the Bible on a daily basis to help understand your own good fortune and/or solve the difficult problems served up by a fallen world, and are walking closer to God as a result of reading WFTD daily.
So what is the WFTD purpose? The purpose is to express the everyday joys and happy times along with the trials, tribulations and sad times that I experience daily in my own everyday real life, and how I use Almighty God’s own words in the Holy Bible to try and understand how He wants me to handle every situation. I know that many of you experience these exact same feelings and problems and just maybe the solutions that I find in my struggles will help you.
WFTD is real; I’m real, and for sure God and the Bible are for real.
Good things happen to good people, but so do bad things. There is a silver lining in some clouds, but not every cloud, and we cannot go through life without ever having a dark thought or sinning and that is why we need God and the Bible. If you want a frail human solution and feel-good spin, go to the Joel Olsteens and President Obamas of the world.
As for me I’m just an ordinary person struggling to be like Jesus Christ, and I definitely have problems daily in trying to do so in this fallen world with all of its lusts and all of my weakness. Nonetheless, He has saved my wretched miserable hide and has begun a mighty work of transforming it into something worthwhile that He can use for His glorious kingdom. Although I’m far from perfect and have an awful long way to go, He has made good progress in curbing my stubborn, stiff necked, rebellious sinful nature and bending me to my knees.
If you want to share the struggles of someone who has been to the dark side of the moon but prefers the bright side, WFTD is available to those who care to listen. It’s my hope that those of you who are weak like me might find the peace, joy, and love that I now enjoy on most days, but admittedly not all days. I have found my hope and I know that it can only come from God and through His word the Holy Bible. We live in an often tough world and not a fairy land. My mantra is that it ain’t always easy but a country boy can survive and find courage through Jesus Christ.
Finally I’ve tried very hard never to identify those folks who respond to WFTD. Today I’m making an exception and I’m “outing” the author of that one lone complaint letter that I received on Friday. It was from my wife Teresa….et tu brute
Acts 4:13
When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.