Thoughts and Writings from the furnace by Kent Weathersby

Prompted by something she had seen on social media, Mary Ann recently asked me if I could remember at least three lines from movies or books that were so iconic that one could identify their source when hearing or reading them- Easy:

“Go ahead, make my day!” I love the smell of napalm in the morning!” Continue Reading

When I was barely 16, my father bought me a 1949 Ford Coupe from a neighbor. It was black and I tried not to drive it in the rain because the floorboard on the driver side was somewhat rusted out. Water slinging from the left front tire would somehow find its way directly into my face.

My high school Continue Reading

The Earth was formless, empty and dark. That is until God spoke. What an unspeakable truth- that our God can, did, and does speak His thoughts and will into reality. What would it have taken humans to do to build an Airbus A-320 from an idea.

They would have had to wait from 1896 when Samuel Langley Continue Reading

Mary Ann and I have become a one-car family; partly precipitated by the fact that I totaled my new Grand Cherokee. No injuries thankfully. After doing some research, we decided on a new Genesis GV80 SUV as our only car. I expected it would come tricked-out with the latest advancements in driving technology.
Continue Reading

When Mary Ann and I were raising our girls, We tried to keep in mind the Biblical admonition to “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

I believe that if you have a child’s attention until they are 8 or 9, you have the influence to form their Continue Reading

During the T-37 phase of Air Force pilot training, I had a close call with elimination from the program. The “Tweet” as the T-37 is nicknamed for its high-pitched engine whine, has a stumpy nose. Kind of like looking out of a city bus windshield. This presented me with a real challenge as I couldn’t Continue Reading

With arrogance, condescension, and sarcasm, Pontius Pilate looked truth in the eye and retorted “what is truth?” The events that proceed from that encounter precipitated the crucifixion of Christ and ultimately Pilate’s own death by suicide.

The question “what is truth” is in no way rhetorical. Continue Reading

It’s easy to dismiss as hyperbole the Scriptures that promise that if one has enough faith, he can move a mountain. Mark, the author of one of the Gospels and who is known for being terse, remembered the Lord’s word’s this way: “Truly I tell you if anyone says to this mountain, throw yourself Continue Reading

The first time I saw the Carolina shag, I was out with some guy friends at a long-ago demolished club in East Ocean View, a section of Norfolk, VA. We were 16.

I was enchanted by the intricate steps and statuesque movements. I immediately drove to Mary Ann’s house, collected her, and drove her to Continue Reading

The first time I saw a T-38, my wife, myself, and our, at the time, two-year daughter were driving into Valdosta, GA where I would attend Air Force Pilot Training. As we approached Moody Air Force base, a stark white jet made a low pass over us. Probably just took off. I was amazed at the sleek lines, Continue Reading

Mama, just killed a man
Put a gun against his head
Pulled my trigger, now he’s dead
Mama, life had just begun. . .

For some reason, at least for me, these lyrics from the great Queen rock opera capture the torrential sense of loss that swarms over the passing of a life?a young life.
The Continue Reading

Years ago, my wife and I were relaxing on chaise lounges on a sunny beach at a Disney World resort. Walking our way, were two Clydesdale-like specimens of muscularity. As they drew closer, my wife said, without looking up from her book: “Better watch out, Red, one of those guys might kick sand in Continue Reading

I was recently reading an article about advancements in commercial aviation. Topics ranged from improved next-generation Wi-Fi featured on the new Boeing 737 MAX 9 to research and development of rocket propulsion for supersonic intercontinental travel. Science fiction continues to become reality.

Although Continue Reading

I’m certain that I’m showing my age by suggesting that one of the most memorable pop/jazz songs of the late 60’s is the Burt Bacharach composition “The Look of Love.” Stan Getz did the first instrumental version in December 1966.

The first version with lyrics was sung by Dusty Springfield Continue Reading

As of late 2017, there were twenty-eight states that do not have laws prohibiting or regulating the practice of using a chain or other tether to restrain a dog on a pet owner’s property. The remaining states consider the practice of chaining pet dogs as cruelty to animals. My wife, who like most, Continue Reading

Now that the last carton of decorations has been returned to the attic, another Christmas season has come and gone. Before I share some warm sentiments on the holiday season, I, in full disclosure, have to admit that for me Christmas is exhausting! We have collected over 50 years of decorations, garlands, Continue Reading

it’s always a pleasure to spend time with someone who is a good storyteller. Someone like Jeff Foxworthy who I heard speak recently. Unconscious eavesdropping on good stories being told at the next table in a restaurant can be very entertaining. Not long ago, we were dining at our favorite restaurant Continue Reading

I have only been fired from a job once in my life. For two years, I held the position of Director of Finance for my own company. As soon as my wife became aware that our credit score was plummeting, our debt load was climbing, and our retirement was evaporating, she walked me out to the parking lot Continue Reading

Recently, I had the good fortune to catch a bio piece on CBS Sunday Morning: a “magazine” style program featuring articles on pop culture, travel, art, and profiles of interesting people. The subject of the piece was Leonardo Da Vinci. Amazing!

Da Vinci has been described by students of Continue Reading

Now that Valentine’s Day is behind us, the 1984 double Platinum hit by Foreigner, “I Want To Know What Love Is” is receiving much less play on Satellite radio. With Jennifer Holliday and the New Jersey Mass Choir singing backup, the song has a bewitching, plaintive quality.

Actually, the song Continue Reading

Last night over dinner at a Greenwich Village restaurant, one of my guests asked me if I had ever had a scary experience in the air. I said yes – only once.

I was a crew member on a KC-135 air refueling tanker flying over South Vietnam. Our mission was to loiter in a holding pattern in case a fighter Continue Reading

Ever had one of those moments of perfect clarity during a time of confusion? As they say, that ah-ha moment when an idea or even a single word lights up the perfect path when you are craving direction? Something like when you are driving and realize that you don’t know where you are. But then, Continue Reading

In the oft quoted lines from The Waste Land, T.S. Eliot said: 

We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time. 

One of the sweetest gifts God has bestowed on us is the ability to savor sweet places and events Continue Reading

Remember those black-painted jets portraying the Russian insulters bearing down on the US aircraft carrier in Top Gun? Those were Northrup F-5 fighters which are an iteration of the T-38 Talon trainer aircraft used to train student pilots in the US Air Force when I entered the program. It Continue Reading

Many say that the Don Felder and Joe Walsh guitar riff at the end of “Hotel California” is the best of its kind ever played. I can’t not listen. But, personally, my favorite Eagles song is “Desperado,” especially the last verse –

“Desperado, why don’t you come to your senses?
Continue Reading

One day many years ago, I came home from work and was pulling into the driveway when I saw our first born daughter, who was at the time 4 or 5, playing by herself on the lawn.

She had spread out a blanket over which she had scattered her dolls and their accessories. I don’t think she saw me and Continue Reading