Ponderings by Dan Ponder

What do you discover when you immerse yourself in a culture you don’t understand that has a currency you can’t count, a language you can’t understand and signage you can’t read?  You find out that no matter where you travel, most people are all really just the same. Our two weeks in Europe took us…

The distance from Donalsonville to Prague, Czech Republic is 4,982 miles.  You can imagine my surprise when the very first people Mary Lou and I met upon our arrival were Auburn graduates that lived in nearby Albany.  Sometimes the world is truly an amazingly small place. Prague is a grand city, with a rich history…

I finished the organ prelude this past Sunday and reached up to jot down the date it was played.  I noticed that I first played this arrangement in the early 1980s, shortly after my children were born, a full generation ago. The music was entitled “The Way of Faith”.  I had randomly played it four…

This is the hottest Summer I believe I have ever gone through.  Granted I am older, larger, exercise less and am inside with air-conditioning almost all the time.  However, it can’t just be my imagination.  A pending vacation may have caused me to make the wrong wish. Mary Lou and I are leaving soon on…

Kentucky is widely known for three things; Basketball, Horses and Bourbon.  A three day trip to Lexington this past weekend with some friends reinforced that this reputation is well deserved.  The primary purpose of our visit was to attend an Eagles concert at Rupp Arena in Lexington.  Of course, this facility is best known as…

When I was in college, I called home every Sunday night.  To be honest, I probably didn’t call home much more than that; at least at first.   Of course, cellphones, email and texting have made staying in touch with your kids much easier.  You may not hear their voice every day, but you at least…

I used to say that I lived on the best block in America to have a heart attack.  Of the four homes on my block, two were owned by doctors and one was owned by a dentist.  The house across the street to the west belonged to a doctor and the house to the north…

The average American moves every seven years.  For many, including the military, the house they live in does not really have many memories.  It is where they eat and sleep until they move to the next location.  Their memories are more rooted in the friends they made and the community around them. For others, they…

I walked out of my hotel this morning and immediately saw the message on the sign for the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in Manhattan.  The question begs an answer, especially when considering the sad and tragic events in Charleston this week. I worry sometimes that we become numb to the repeated senseless murders in our…

Tuesday morning took me on an early morning drive to Columbus along US 27.  I have been spending a lot of time lately on Seminole County’s Industrial Park expansion approved by the latest SPLOST.  Along this particular trip, I was struck that I was driving through the true industrial park of southwest Georgia. Actually, the…