Apostolic Gospel CD – Christmas Special

I’ve Got A Song was my first effort to record some of the songs I had written.  Not only was I raised by musically inclined parents but I was brought up in a pentecostal church that enjoyed a wide range of talented musicians and singers.  As a small child I dreamed of recording a CD and in 2006 that dream became a reality.

I’ve been doing some writing and I’m getting a little anxious to record another CD so spread the word that I’m offering two “I’ve Got A Song” CD’s for the price of one through the month of December.  Click here to visit My Music page and order today!

Thank you in advance for your support.

Thanksgiving Day Ponderings

I’m sitting in my vehicle in the parking lot of a grocery store on this frigid Thanksgiving morning in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Every other year we come here to be with my wife’s family. You see, this all started about ten and a half years ago when I first spotted this lovely lady I now call my wife. Standing on the platform at a youth conference called Heritage here in the Springs and there on the front row…my my my… I remember that feeling!

Skipping past all of the wonderful and exciting details of our courtship, marriage about four years later, then our first baby boy, brings me to this point today. I love my wife dearly and my son more than I ever thought possible. I have a good job, reliable transportation, a good home and low debt for which to be thankful. I have wonderful family, true friends, a great Pastor and church to call home.

However, I can see the hand of God working in each of these things for which I am very thankful. I dont have the time nor do you have the patience to read all of the ways God has orchestrated my life. Suffice it to say, He knows the steps I take because He is the one who orders those steps. I have not always followed Him as I should, but time and again He has given me Grace in my time of need. So, I’m thankful most today for God. Without Him in my life, I do not believe these other things could be as wonderful as they are.

All He really asks of any of us is to follow Him. Jesus is still saying “Follow me, and I will MAKE you”. What is it that God wants to make you? Are you willing to follow Him and find out?

Customer “NO”service

My All-Time Customer “NO”service Experience

I had an experience the other day that caused me to ponder the decline of customer service.  It was late evening and I left my wife and baby in the car to run into Warehouse Market, a small Grocery Store chain in this area, to buy a few necessities.  The line was short so my items were soon checked out by the rather impatient cashier.  As is my custom whenever dealing with impatient people, I commenced to ask her, in a most friendly tone I might add, how her evening was going.  Well, I was not prepared for what I heard.  She began mumbling about how she has tried her best to get her homework done between “customers” and how she has an exam coming up that she’s not ready for etc.  I wanted to laugh!  So I did…  I sincerely apologized for adding to her already frustrating night by picking her line.  I expected an apologetic exclamation as she realized what she had done.  Instead, she just kept mumbling about her situation.  Chuckling still, I grabbed my bags and just stood there as she whirled around to the empty checkout line behind her and began pouring over her homework.

I’ve been in the same industry for 6 years now and I’ve learned that while price and even quality of product is important, customer service is still the number one desired trait of any potential customer.  Genuine customer service is driven by a sincere concern for the “customer experience”.  When a customer starts feeling like they are being taken for granted, that customer will began to entertain other callers.

MSN Money has conducted a poll for the past four years to identify which companies have lost the customer focus.  This Customer Service Hall of Shame is “a ranking of the companies whose service is most often rated “poor” by consumers”.  In essence, the bigger a company gets and the less choices you have, the less they care about taking care of you as a customer.  Many of them get away with it because where else do you go?  However, what about the small mom and pop stores.  If they fail to provide good customer service they go out of business, and they should.

Let this be a reminder to each of us that there is no substitute for genuinely caring about other people enough to treat them as you would want to be treated.  Wow, seems like I’ve read that before somewhere…

What is your favorite Customer “NO”service experience?

The Last Page of the First Chapter

Ty Michael Short

Born October 5th, 2010 to Chad and Johna Short and passed from this life November 5th, 2010. He lived only one month but what a full life that it was. Every day was a struggle to live, but that little guy, backed by a “mad momma” and loving dad, faced each struggle head on. For roughly thirty days little Ty was unaware of the significance of his life but perhaps he is able to see more clearly now. To use Martin Luther King’s words, “Free at last, Free at last”! Free from pain and suffering. Free from the struggle to survive. More than that though, he’s free to worship his Creator in a way only dreamed about by Christians still on earth.

The faith that little Ty sparked in each of us will have lasting results. That is why yesterday’s memorial service was not the last chapter, only the last page of the first chapter as Pastor Gary L. Howard stated. I believe God is taking a tragic situation, and working it for good – not only for Chad and Johna, but for everyone that comes in contact with the story of the “Miracle Baby“. Many have spoken of the great impact little Ty had during his short time here on earth and there is no way we can account for everything that has transpired but I do want to share (with his permission) something my brother Eric read to us at the graveside.

Eric’s Farewell to Ty Michael Short
November 9, 2010 – (Ridge Lawn Cemetery Gravesite Collinsville, OK)

It wasn’t long after Chad & Johna announced that she was pregnant that plans & dreams were discussed, speculation as to if the baby would be a girl or boy and when it was confirmed to be a boy Chad & Johna wondered if he would be athletic, a fitness buff, strong, will he be a natural horseman like his daddy, musically talented like his uncle James or ruggedly handsome like his (uncle Eric) Pappy!

As the pregnancy progressed and Johna got to that stage to enjoy motherhood and the joy of all that goes with it their world was to quickly come to a screeching halt. Priorities were to be rearranged and their focus & attention was about to be redirected from the anticipation of a baby on the way to the daily struggle of preserving a life.

Ty has been named a miracle baby and I understand why but the miracle is in the fact that his little life’s struggle has positively impacted more lives than most people do in a long lifetime. People including myself have talked to God for the first time in years. Families have become closer, strangers to the family have become aware of God thru the faith, trust & courage of Ty’s parents, and most of all Chad & Johna; You two have been made aware of your unquestionable ability to believe in God for the unbelievable, to trust God during the unthinkable, and to be the witnesses you never believed in yourselves to be. You can now testify to God’s ability to keep and strengthen you thru life’s hardest trials. You can now with conviction preach, teach or testify that a simple man’s ability to overcome bitterness, anger, doubt & desperation with the help of God and know, first hand, that it works!

Don’t ever waste the opportunity that God & Ty have given you to be what you now know that you can be.

Most of you, that know Johna, know that she had a horse for most of her life named King that passed away this year as well. You also know that Johna’s animals all go to heaven! I believe, as Johna has said, that Ty is in heaven riding King and he’s not a small frail baby. He’s the strong young man we all would have liked to see him grow into. He missed out on this crazy world’s health problems, messed up politics, financial troubles, and the curse of the Short Family driving record! Many other things he won’t ever have to know.

But we do know that he’s fine now! Strong! Healthy! Happy and even though King is a good horse & doesn’t need rode hard I’m giving these spurs to him so when he wants to ride fast across the clouds he can pour the leather to him and spur him as fast as he wants to across the clouds.

Ty…we love you, we miss you and we thank you for what you’ve done to us and for us. I’ll never forget you buddy!