Tag: television

Wisdom from an unexpected place

November 18, 2025

It is often referred to as the Boob Tube.  This is for a good reason.  Many have lost themselves in the surreal pastime of watching TV and have not allowed their minds to expand by experiencing the world around them.  The crazes of cell phones, Pokémon Go, and numerous selfie accidents demonstrate how easily video devices can turn normally intelligent beings into stumbling and falling imbeciles.

Have you had incidents where you gained wisdom from this most unexpected source? When you are my age, and every time you go into the hospital, they give you yellow socks, and you start to feel your age. The wisdom I have gained over these decades enables me to tell the doctors no when they ask if I’ve fallen in the last three months.

We learn from our mistakes is an old saying. I am not sure that the generations following me have learned from the errors committed by my age group. Just as many teenagers started smoking as did when I was there. I watched an older brother throw up the first time he took a drag. I said that it was not for me.

I had friends in high school who stayed out drinking because their parents did not pay attention to what they were doing. Mine did, and I knew not to try it. The punishment would fit the crime.

I drove fast, but because I wasn’t smoking or drinking, I was able to stay undistracted. I did date, and that made it hard to keep my mind on the road. But because the parents of the girls I dated told me to be careful, I was.

When I graduated from high school, I thought I was smart. Then I got married and we had children, and I realized I did not know anything. There is a quotation by Mark Twain that says the same thing. I never realized how smart Uncle Sam was.

Wisdom comes from the Lord according to the Bible. I believe he uses everyday situations to teach us, if we pay attention. Some of us are too poor to pay attention. Think about it. You will get the joke, eventually.

Messing things up is part of the human experience. Just be sure that when you do, you live through it. I’ve been fortunate. I’ve survived my own and others’ mistakes as well. Some were easy to identify as near misses, while most are things that I will never know about.

Listen to your elders and watch for signs. I mean street signs, road signs like speed limits, and avoid running red lights. Like driving drunk, these things will catch up with you, and others’ problems may catch you as well.

©Copyright 2025 by Charles Kensinger

It’s in the book

October 22, 2024

There was an old radio skit by one of those comedians seldom mentioned anymore. His name is Johhny Standley. His fame came in 1952 with the release of his recording, “It’s in the book.” I remember hearing it on the radio as a child. You know the type of story. Wayne Glenn played it on “The Old Record Collector” on Saturday mornings on KTXR radio in the 80s and 90s.

Andy Griffith became famous when he told us, “What it was was football.” This was in 1953. He followed Johnny Standley’s format as a comedian and told a tale from the viewpoint of a country boy. Standley took the persona of an old-time preacher complete with closing song. Deacon Andy went on to become famous as Andy Taylor and then as Ben Matlock. Last week I saw a new Matlock show. Life is a progression and that is what this column is about.

In the 1950’s almost everyone responded to these epic comedy records because they came from what we knew. It was familiar to us. Today it appears strange. Everyone knows “Little Bo-Peep” and football. Why were these skits popular? They were funny. They were different from what they heard before.

Television was new and this type of humor converted from radio and recordings to TV with little difficulty. When I retired my ministry changed from the workplace to the internet and instead of talking to dozens of people in a day, I now write to a potential audience of thousands. At least a couple of hundred. I hope.

Your life and experience are changing. Can you go with the flow? All you must do is be flexible. Do not get pushed around by the crowd as young Andy did. Be a leader or a follower and do not let others force you into a path you do not want to take.

In 1970, I got my driver’s license. I dropped Mom at home and went to Dog ‘N Suds drive-in to see Frank Costello about a job. He said they had no openings. As I was leaving, he asked why I had come there. My response was that he had employed my brother three years before. When he heard I was Sam’s brother, I filled out an application and started two days later. I was a fry cook. I became the best fry cook I could.

Three years later I became the best screw installer I could be. I worked on final line five at Zenith Radio Corporation in Springfield, Missouri and helped build console televisions. I was in manufacturing. All I did was install five screws and hang a tuner. I hated it. At the end of eighty-nine days, I turned in my resignation and went back to college determined to never work in a factory again.

A year later my dream of becoming a reporter became a desire to become a minister and I transferred to Southwest Baptist College in Bolivar, Missouri from Southwest Missouri State University. My plan had been to go to the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia. That was what I thought I wanted.

God wanted me to spend my next two years learning to study His word and how to lead others to learn what He wanted them to do. Fifty years ago, I began that journey. He opened many opportunities for me. I have served as a student pastor, salesman, purchasing agent, manager, teacher, husband, father, guide, friend, and mentor.

Now I have time to share all my experience with you, dear reader. I hope you realize the potential that God has given to you to be what He wants you to become. The possibilities are endless and yes, the saying is still true. It’s in the book. Join me as we explore it.

©Copyright 2024 by Charles Kensinger