Family Archives - Junkyard Wisdom

Sarcasm

My blog went silent for a few weeks as the devotions were sent, so I’m overdue for a post. Thought you’d get a kick out of this story.

A friend sent this meme:

“I once got sent out of class at school for being too sarcastic. The teacher yelled at me, “What would your parents say if I called them?” I replied, “Hello?”

I laughed, and it reminded me of a childhood story.

I was about 10 years old and playing with my buddy Larry during recess. We were taking paper towels out of the dispenser, dampening them, folding them …

Trust, Church, and Golf Carts

I was ten years old when my Dad brought a golf cart home. It was a junkyard golf cart, with ugly old paint and nearly flat tires. Even then, a half century ago, it was ancient. It had two rear wheels, with one front wheel that was steered rudder style.

To my surprise Dad tossed me the key and said, “Have fun.”

Shocked, and delighted, I stood there dumbfounded for a minute. Then he gave me a brief tutorial – key goes here, forward here, reverse there, turn the rudder the opposite direction you want to turn, now go.

Laughing …

Mom

My mom passed away recently. She was 99. This past weekend the family gathered for the celebration of life service. Our time together was filled with laughter, tears, and celebration. Mostly we were happy that she is now with so many who passed before her. Of course, grief is leaky, as my friend Jeff says. I’m sure there will be more tears to come.

Mom was a remarkable person. Her faith was profound because it was centered on love and thankfulness. At the bottom of this post is a link to something I wrote about her years ago, and it …

Trust, Lies, and Ice Cream

When you grow up working in a family business, you quickly learn that trusting your family is central to success. More than once I heard my dad say, “Never trust anyone but your brother, and keep a sharp eye on him.”

Truth is he was speaking to my brother, so I was the one to be watched closely. Which makes sense because I was over a decade younger and far more prone to do something stupid.

But whether applied to him, me, my sisters, my uncles, or anyone in the family, the point was the same: don’t trust anyone but …

Jesus on Vacation

A lot is made about Jesus sneaking off to pray alone. Different people have different takes on this, including the obvious commitment to prayer Jesus displayed. But honestly, for all we know he played video games and came back refreshed. Okay, so that’s unlikely, but are you denying something is impossible around Jesus? Didn’t think so.

Later this summer my family is heading to Lake Tahoe for a break. I wonder what Jesus would do if he was there with us (and don’t get all spiritually uptight and lecture me about him being with us in spirit – I’m blocking …

Generous Parenting

A bit of advice for young parents.

There is no such thing as a brilliant parent. Duh. We all make mistakes, and I’m sure my kids can give you an embarrassingly long list of mine.

A few weeks ago I watched my adult daughter read the Christmas story to my 97-year old mother. As we were leaving, my adult son gave hug after hug to my mom. There was something to cherish in that visit.

That something was love. The love of a grandmother for her grandchildren. The love of the elderly. The love of a matriarch that has seen …

Crazy People

We all have our share of crazy people around us. I don’t mean clinically crazy. I mean the people who have crazy opinions that cause us to shake our heads in bewilderment. Or they make decisions based on easily disproved facts. Or they anticipate a series of events with no grounding in reality. Or they willingly embrace lies because it fits their narrative.

These people can drive us crazy, can’t they? Having conversations with them raises our blood pressure. We watch their mistakes – and then they double down on why it’s not a mistake – and we can easily …

Celebrating Shared Values

Seventy five years ago a young couple, soon to be a young family, launched a family business. Over the decades it took many forms, from sandwich shops to coin operated car washes to real estate development. Plus, of course, what we’d all call junkyards.

Today we call that small family business Goble Properties. And though that name only came into being about 40-years ago, it represents the ambitions of 75-years of hard work and investment. I run the company bearing that name today, but it has definitely been a family effort. Over the years my siblings, nieces, nephews, grandpa, aunts, …