Tag: Family

Boomers go bust

April 3, 2025

As the years and the decades increase in your life span, you will notice that references that younger people do not recognize are readily caught by you and your contemporaries. My contemporaries are the kids of the baby boom. There is a lot of misinformation about this generation.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau this group was born between 1946 and 1964. We are 79 to 61 years old. If you refer to those younger or older than this as boomers, you are making an error. 

Just to let you know, we are not older than dirt. Our parents were familiar with dirt when they were children. They told us thousands of stories about getting in trouble when they were kids for getting themselves or the house they lived in dirty. Some of us even remember our grandparents talking about dirt before our folks were born.

We do not remember World War I or II, the civil war, or the Roman Empire. We are not as old as God or Jesus. Both have existed for all eternity. We know that you are not as intelligent as we are. Don’t prove to us how stupid younger people are. We try to give you the benefit of the doubt.

Keep in mind that whatever you say to your children about us will come back to bite you in the backside. The generations after you will repeat these fallacies and may someday refer to you as boomers, old fogies, or the ancient of days. We remember using these same phrases on our parents and grandparents.

I look forward to hearing my grandchildren insult their parents the way they criticized us. I remember when I was fourteen and thought that I was smarter than my dad because the highest he went to school was the eighth grade. I hope all of them will get their B.A. as I and their mothers did.

Master’s or doctorates would be even better. I won’t tell them they are stupid if they do not know who or what the Mercury Seven were as long as they don’t roll their eyes when I question who all the current movie stars, TV and music performers are. Even I can identify Lady Gaga. Your children will agree with us that she was just some weirdo.

We hate it that there are a lot of commercials for medications for our ailments, adult diapers, and supplements that are recommended for older people. Keep in mind that in five years the next generation will need to sign up for Medicare and they already can join AARP.

The only way any of you can keep from getting as old as we are, is to die. When President John Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, we were told “only the good die young.” We know that was not true because we see bad people die in their twenties, thirties and forties. It is tragic, but it happens.

I wish you what parents have hoped for their children and grandchildren for centuries. To live long and prosper. We know where this quotation came from. Do you?

Copyright 2025 by Charles (Chuck) Kensinger

The summer of 1975

January 26, 2025

In 1975 I traveled farther than I had ever gone.  I rode a Continental Trail Ways Bus from Springfield, MO to Harrisburg, PA. I left Missouri on a bright morning and by the next afternoon had checked into a hotel with over a hundred college and high school students from all over the United States. We were there for orientation to the Student Summer Mission Program of the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Leaving home wasn’t that hard. I spent the last semester of school in a dormitory on campus in Bolivar. That is about thirty miles north of my home. Ron, my roommate, and I got along well, and we both went home every weekend.  He went to Waynesville and I to Springfield.  He had transferred to Southwest Baptist College that year as a junior from the University of Missouri, Rolla campus. I did the same thing from Southwest Missouri State University. He was a mechanical engineering student, and my major was creative writing. I was going to go to the University of Missouri at Columbia before God called me to the ministry.  Ron’s plans were changed by God, also, before we met.

During the first week of my first semester, I saw signs around campus promoting the Summer Missionary Program. I filled out the paperwork and applied. We would find out if we had been accepted after the new year.

That year, I met many new people, not all of them at college. I went to church one Wednesday evening for dinner and joined a youth excursion to a haunted house. At church, I met a cute little high school girl. As we waited in line at the haunted house, we began holding hands, and I made myself available to comfort her when she was frightened.

I failed to ask for her phone number that night. I later asked the girl she had attended with for her number, and we began dating. When I received my acceptance for the summer and learned I would be going to PA I wondered about leaving her for ten weeks.

When I left in June 1975, we were engaged. We wrote letters—yes, I know that is old-fashioned—and spoke on the phone. I missed her terribly. I returned in August; I had decided that by next summer, we would be married. I was graduating in the spring and did not know if I would be going to seminary or where God would take me.

I took a part-time job in February of 1976 and was offered a full-time management trainee position two weeks before graduation. Two weeks after our wedding I was told they needed me to move to Joplin, Missouri. Cindy was still in high school. I left for Joplin on a Sunday evening and stayed in a hotel. She joined me on Friday after she quit her summer job.

I was so glad to have her in my arms again. She graduated in December, and we returned to Springfield in August of 1977. Over the years I have been asked why we did not wait until she finished school to be married. My answer is simple. I did not want to be away from her like I had been the previous summer.

I did not know that God intended me to move so close to home. I thought I might be going hundreds of miles away again. I had considered Dallas, TX, Kansas City, or even California for Seminary. That was not God’s plan. I did not need a master’s or doctorate. I needed to learn to be a workplace minister.

The question is sometimes asked by teenagers, “How do you know when you are in love?” For me, I knew that summer. I never wanted to be away from her again. I’ve gone on short mission trips of about a week. I’ve traveled for training and my job. Ten days was the longest we have been apart in fifty years.

Shortly after I accepted the call to full-time Christian service, my pastor told me to carefully select the woman I would marry. When I transferred to SWBC (Southwest Bridal College), I dated several girls. I prayed for each one. Was she the one I should marry? I do not believe I ever asked God about Cindy. I knew I had to spend my life with her.

If you are looking at major changes in your life this year, graduating, moving, or changing jobs, be sure that you are seeking the Lord’s will. Nineteen Seventy-Four was a pivotal year for me. God told me He wanted my life, and I gave it to Hum. Is this the year you should do the same?

©Copyright 2025 by Charles Kensinger

It’s the Holiday Season

November 15, 2024

Yes, it is. Which holiday is next? This American Holiday season includes three. We have many holidays each year. Check the internet and see what today is on the official calendar. Many things will appear for each individual day. As I am writing this column, I checked https://www.nationaldaycalendar.com/november/november-14 and found these facts. View it yourself for others.

Today is National Seatbelt Day and Family PJ Day as well as Robert Fulton’s birthday. Happy birthday to the developer of the first commercial steam ship. Sherwood Schwartz was also born on this day. He is the creator of “Gilligan’s Island” and “The Brady Bunch.” Let’s not forget Henry Blake, the original commander of MASH 477 played by Mclean Stevenson.

This site is full of trivia about any day of the year. Put your birthday in and see which other important people besides yourself were born that day and what Congress is honoring on your day. As you scroll down you will see what events your day is famous for. Maybe your birthday will appear here in the future.

Scrolling back up, let’s look at the three holidays that make up this season. The first was All Hallows Eve that we call Halloween. It and the third day, Christmas, were part of the Christianization of Roman holidays after Emperor Constantine made Christianity the official Roman religion. The second of these days is the all-American Thanksgiving. This is the next on our calendar.

Marketers here want you to start shopping for these three days and refer to the “Holiday Season” to mostly impact your wallet. This is capitalism at its finest. Our economy is based on this concept. Sell your products and services however you can. If a particular day on the calendar can be used, so be it.

I will be talking more about Christmas and have expounded on Halloween before. I want to take an in-depth look at why we Americans should be thankful. For one thing, the election is over. This happens every two years in November and this year is no different from others. We can put politics out of our minds. If the media can be shut out.

What else are you thankful for this year? Health, happiness, family, and friends are things that come to my mind. I’ve celebrated forty-eight years of marriage with one woman. If you can’t say this, think of something that is important to you.

We have three daughters and twelve grandchildren. That will make for a noisy and happy Thanksgiving celebration. Our feelings of contentment don’t revolve around this group. We have an extended family, a host of friends, a nice home, a dog, and many conveniences of our modern lifestyle. Least of all is the computer and internet that bring my words to you.

Unlike us, many of you may not count health high on your list. I put it in the lead not because ours is perfect. It is manageable, most days. I rank it high because of how much worse it could be. We could have cancer, again. We could be dealing with heart issues, again. We have our problems that the medical community seems to be unable to diagnose. That may be your problem this season.

I want to stop worrying about my difficulties and be thankful for what I do have. I have a lot. I am reminded of that at this time of year as we prepare for the family to return home and must put as much as possible away before they arrive. Don’t open the closet Fibber McGee.

Also, do not forget to be thankful for our savior. If you are not a believer in Him, investigate my archives and stay tuned. We will have more before the next big holiday.

Life can be a constant bother or joy. It is all in the way you perceive it. Approach these holidays with an attitude of gratitude not of dread. Depression can get us at any time. Watch for it raising its ugly head and kick it in the teeth with a song of Thanksgiving and joy. I’m saving Christmas music until December.

©Copyright 2024 by Charles Kensinger

Who’s gonna fill my shoes?

August 7, 2022

Have you ever asked yourself this question? I asked myself after I heard the George Jones song “Who’s gonna fill their shoes?” It is about the country singers that my dad liked, and I grew up listening to. Some I only know by the records my father had in his collection. Most of those albums are long gone.

I am not a country music fan. If you know me personally you also know I am not any kind of singer. I like to create through my words in the form of prose and not poetry. My life has been spent in many ways and others have taken my spot in many of these.

Business managers are easily replaced as are purchasing agents and managers. A job can be filled by many when the previous holder moves on. As a teacher in the church, those positions have also been filled. While they may not use the same style of instruction, they have their own and get the job done.

The shoes that I want to talk about are those of husband, father, and grandfather. I have not been perfect. I have done my best and I will never be replaced when I am no longer here to fulfill those responsibilities. Others can try to accomplish the tasks that I have spent time on. It still will not be the same as I would do it.

Those tasks are to educate and inform the ones I care about on how to become a person of integrity, someone who loves them, and their biggest fan. Time is always too short. I would enjoy as much time as possible to continue with these wonderful people. How can I show love and concern to them when I am not with them?

Love is not an emotion as we normally think of it. Love is the actions that we take every day to show that we genuinely appreciate and accept each other. What can we do to continue these acts that are seen as love? Let’s look at how we communicate love.

Letters that encourage are one way. Write them now for the special occasions that will come after you are gone. A letter for each anniversary, birthday, wedding, graduation, and any other special occasion that you can think of. Start as soon as you can. Don’t mention a number except in certain cases.

Purchase and wrap gifts for these events and others like Christmas or a day that you currently celebrate with a gift. The hard part is how to get these into the hands of those you prepare them for. One of the simplest ways is to have your attorney or executor of your will present these for you. Discussing this extra and ongoing part of the job should be accomplished as soon as you can. Choose someone young enough to be around when you need them.

Selecting several individuals to take this task for you is another way to make the job easier. Be sure these are dependable folks. Do not forget to have letters and presents sent to them as well. Time is not the enemy here. It provides the opportunities to continue to be the person that others cherish.

©Copyright 2022 by Charles Kensinger