Author Archives: chuckbjames

Yesterday was waiting for the elevator in our complex. While waiting…heard the faintest of female voices…”Help, help” We went towards the voice and sure as hell there was a woman standing in her doorway with the door halfway open leaning out and crying, barely whispering, “Help”. I ran down the hall and she was holdingContinue reading “Four Letter Word…”

MR Ducks MR Not OSMR CM Wings LIB…MR Ducks I was walking to work today and saw a line of ducks across the river…they weren’t moving, they were sort of just still in the water. Which means their feet had to be moving pretty good under the surface against the current. I watched for aContinue reading “MR Ducks…”

Someone sent me a message…what if the world shrinks so much that you are “restricted to your home and can’t leave”? I don’t know if that person is incarcerated or just lives somewhere in California… But your world is your world. Your cell is your cell. Your home is your home. There will always beContinue reading “Shrink wrap part 2…”

The world is big. Watching the news…it’s a big big world. I’m in Arizona watching the news and it goes from Arizona to California to New York to Paris to China. There was news about weather, science, politics, health, sports…from all over! I bet there wasn’t 20% about Arizona! 🙂 Frankly it was overwhelming. PeopleContinue reading “Shrink wrap…”

Every day I am “approved”. And every day it feels good. It comes from a strange place though. My credit card company. Every day I buy a coffee, a coke or a sandwich and every day when I give them my credit card I have a sense of angst. Angst that it will come backContinue reading “Approved…”

What are the odds… What are the odds 8 very different guys from very different backgrounds end up on a guys trip. Actually, not that low. Happens all the time. Guys trips are common. They come out of college buddies, sports teammates, church groups, business partners, neighbors. Typically loved by guys and hated by gals.Continue reading “The “Trip”…”

There’s a business principle that talks about “embracing failure”. If you failed, it means you tried. And that’s a good thing. There’s another way people celebrate failure. When I was younger and played a lot of sports, I would succeed. And fail. Inevitably when I would fail people would celebrate it. My opponents I understood…butContinue reading “Celebrating Failure…”

One year ago my daughter Mandy was in Afghanistan. 10 years ago today I was lying on a hospital bed having open heart surgery. I constantly am surprised at the big picture God has and how narrow my view is. I remember a story from one of the very first books Max Lucado ever wrote.Continue reading “Anniversaries Widen the View…”

It’s been a long few weeks with the surgery and complications etc. Getting back to normal and heading to AZ finally. While I was in college I remember going around a circle and people talking about their life experiences. Essentially describing the life events that had shaped them thus far. It was an odd experienceContinue reading “Black Gives It Depth…”

Recent soccer game of 10 year olds…there was no winner…or loser. Only juice boxes. My daughters would have boyfriends and inevitably I would end up giving them a nickname. Ben was Big Ben (that kid was maybe 4 feet tall). Lucas was Jorge. Because he loved Star Wars…George Lucas. Never mind. Ben number 2 wasContinue reading “Juice Box…”