Ponderings by Dan Ponder

I was new to the choir at the First Presbyterian Church.   Being taller than most, they looked for a robe that would fit me.  I looked at the name tag of the robe that I was eventually given and it said “JB Clarke”.   It was the first of many gifts that I would…

It has been 243 years since July 4, 1776. What an amazing journey it has been for our country! We have survived a civil war, two world wars, a great recession and depression.  We have survived slavery and many other cultural and class struggles. For almost the first century of our country’s existence only white…

I never thought about zippers one way or the other while I was growing up.  You did not want to get anything caught in your zipper and you didn’t want to get embarrassed with your zipper down. A great college friend of mine joined a Japanese company, YKK, right out of college.  Their primary business…

Okay.  I will go ahead and admit that today was not my best day.   I drove 40 miles to pay a contractor for work at our cabin at Compass Lake and forgot my checkbook.   It was a sign of things to come. After having to drive back to Donalsonville to get to my…

It was the very first time I had ever done it.  I actually “unfriended” someone on Facebook.  Not because I disliked them.  Actually I would consider them a personal friend.  Rather, it was because of their continued comments about politics that I could no longer tolerate. In this incredibly divided world that we live in,…

“Touchdown Auburn”.  It was a call made famous by the legendary voice of the Auburn Tigers, Jim Fyffe. He found his voice just five years after my graduation from Auburn 1976. His tragic death following a brain aneurysm at the age of 58 left the Auburn Family devastated.  Who could replace the legendary voice of…

I hiked a thousand miles of the Appalachian Trail in my early 40s.  My wife was asked if I was trying to find myself.  The answer was no, but I did want to prove to myself that I could endure a long backpacking trip.  I wanted to know if I was man enough to be…

I left my home for college just before I turned 18.  Except for Summer vacations, I never lived with my parents again though they were always a close and important part of my life. Eighteen years is a generation, the time it takes for a newborn to become an adult.  It is the blink of…

It has been just over 200 days now since Hurricane Michael visited our area.  There have been some good days and bad days since then.  Progress has been slow but steady.  Changes are starting to become the new normal.  However, I do not think that I have had such a good week since October 10th…