Larry Miller

A short time before his passing, Hulk Hogan gave an interview where he talked about the reality of the spiritual world and the illusion of reality in the physical world. When I was a young man, I heard this from several people but really did not comprehend what they were telling me. Many people toda…

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After the thrilling finish of this year's Indianapolis 500 ever intrusive television camera's found second place finisher, Marcus Ericsson, quietly weeping for coming with one second of winning the big prize. This emotional response, especially when the margin is slight, comes about when you have th…

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I was sitting listening to my Pandora channel of old time rock'n roll. Thankful that I grew up in a simpler, happier time. No computers, no cell phones. Happy, feel good music on the AM radio as I cruised down Broad St in my Tri-Power Pontiac. My needs were simple and I had pretty much everything a …

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While a new year is a good time to draw a line in the sand and determine to do things differently, a page on a calendar is not usually sufficient motivation to make basic changes in one's life. The gyms and health clubs across the nation are packed with well meaning people hoping to develop a health…

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A short time before his passing, Hulk Hogan gave an interview where he talked about the reality of the spiritual world and the illusion of reality in the physical world. When I was a young man, I heard this from several people but really did not comprehend what they were telling me. Many people today have the same thinking – how can anyone say that something you can see and touch not be real?

After many years, I began to understand. As an example from this motor head: I had a number of cars over the years that I really enjoyed driving and being seen in. I had a '60 TriPower Pontiac, a red '62 Chevy SS convertible with a “four speed, dual quad, positraction 409” (as the Beach Boys sang it), a '64 Pontiac GTO and a '66 Plymouth Belvidere that won me numerous trophies at the local drag strip.

I loved each of those machines and, at the time, they were my reality. Where are they now, I don't even want to think about it. Probably crushed and melted down for scrap metal years ago. They were here for a while, then they were gone. Just like the Bible tells us we are.

The same could be said for the houses I lived in over the years. They have a longer life span but they don't last forever. How many 400 year old houses are in your neighborhood. OK, when I was in Amsterdam many years ago I did see a few. I grew up in a house next to one that had been a stop on the underground railway. Mine was from the same era. The other house has been replaced by a doughnut shop and mine with a parking lot and small park.

We are not here forever and neither are the things we work for and spend our money on. That “reality” is a disappearing reality. I could go on about clothing where you get the latest style and next season it's out of fashion and you have to get something newer... or it just plain wears out. What used to be my favorite shirt is now one I wear when I am working around the house or car.

When we measure our reality by the things around us and the things we own, we have a shifting version that is constantly changing and has no guarantee of being there tomorrow. A long time ago we were awakened by flashing red lights out in our street. I looked at the window and saw flames coming from the house across the street. A little boy ran back in to get his jacket, but in the morning, the house was gone and so was the little boy. Things changed over night.

Last fall, we had two hurricanes hit our area within a few weeks of each other. Beautiful homes by the water now were submerged in four feet of water. More lives turned upside down.

I guess with all these changes, many people are still trying to hold on to the material world that they can see and touch as their “reality”, but there are things that don't change, they don't disappear over night. That is in the unseen spiritual world.

The Bible tells us that God, our Creator, is the same yesterday, today and forever. It says that the same spirit that gave wisdom to the Apostle Paul is still alive and well in the lives of those who accept Him. This is a reality that doesn't change with seasons or the fashion magazines or the rising and falling of the stock market. Paul talks about being content when he had plenty and when he had little because, in the big picture, those were all temporary circumstances.

So which reality is the best reality... one that can be snatched away in a moment or one that will still be there no matter what happens. The choice is ours and our choices determine our futures.

After the thrilling finish of this year's Indianapolis 500 ever intrusive television camera's found second place finisher, Marcus Ericsson, quietly weeping for coming with one second of winning the big prize. This emotional response, especially when the margin is slight, comes about when you have thirty three extremely talented and highly motivated drivers all chasing a prize only one can catch.

The t-shirt often seen at NASCAR tracks that says: Second place is just the first loser, sums up the mindset of many like Ericsson as they chase their dream at speeds well over 200 mph. As gut wrenching as the near miss was, Ericsson had to absorb another punch to the gut – this time from his own team. His car, along with two others failed the post race inspection and were relegated to the back of the field. This is in addition to two of the fastest cars starting at the back because they failed tech inspection before the race.

The shocker in this sad tail is that these were not small, under financed teams but giants in the racing world – Penske and Andretti. They did not get caught in some gray area of the rule book. The rules were that certain parts were to be used just as they were manufactured. It does not suggest they should not be modified or tweaked, it says don't mess with them. Simple enough. Twenty eight teams were able to get it right.

In fairness to the Captain and the Andretti's, these are not the people turning the wrenches and working on the cars. In Roger Penske's situation, he fired the three men he found to be responsible... experienced team members who should have known better. His problems were found before the race so at least they had a chance. However from starting at the rear of the field and working his way up to fifth place, Josef Newgarden thrashed his car so hard it eventually gave up before the race was over.

I don't know why Andretti's parts issue was not discovered before the start, or how they handled the situation within the team, but in both cases, there were lower level people working in a highly competitive environment where one second at the end of five hundred miles can make the difference between success or failure. It's not just the drivers and owners that want to win, that spirit permeates the entire team.

It is no surprise that some will go beyond the rule book looking for an advantage. In the early days of NASCAR, slipping something past the tech inspectors was almost expected and car builders like Smokey Yunick built a reputation on it. He claimed to be responsible for half the rule book. The TransAm series gave Roger Penske's team the opportunity to have their own “legendary” interaction with that rule book. With Indy cars, teams bought or built their chassis and if it passed the safety inspection, it was good to go.

The system worked fairly well, despite each circuit losing a driver or two every year. However, costs increased. Speeds increased. With Indy cars, the decision was made for everyone to use the Dalara chassis. While there is no way to be absolutely safe traveling in a pack of cars going well over 200 mph, the record is remarkable as drivers are now walking away from crashes that would have been life ending the past, or at the very least, career ending.

This is why the organizations tend to come down hard on certain modifications. This is why there are plenty of ways to find more speed and why there are parts that should be left as-is.

I'm not one to follow rules just because they are rules, and probably neither are half the people reading this. I don't know what the safety impact would be for the modifications in question, but it does give a background to the disqualification issue.

The point is that someone, probably not the top guy took it on themselves to make a tweak to the supplied parts, possibly endangering the driver and chance of victory for the entire team. I'm sure they did not think about it that way at the time, but in a win at all costs culture that we see today, it's easy to understand how some would try for an advantage and just hope they don't get caught.

We see this in the corporate world, in other sports, in politics – where it hurts all of us. There is very little honor left in out system. In some companies, there are more lawyers than planners and builders. They have book length contracts where these lawyers try to cover any devious plan that could be developed. These lawyers are good at coming up with devious plans as that is what they get paid for.

President Reagan used the term “trust but verify” to describe his foreign policy. The hand shake deals are a thing of the past in most cases. Would I like to go back to that? Not with the people we are dealing with today!

Disqualifications in racing are just a byproduct of our society. They can take the word of the teams that everything is on the up and up... but then they need to SEE FOR THEMSELVES!

I was sitting listening to my Pandora channel of old time rock'n roll. Thankful that I grew up in a simpler, happier time. No computers, no cell phones. Happy, feel good music on the AM radio as I cruised down Broad St in my Tri-Power Pontiac. My needs were simple and I had pretty much everything a teenager in a small town could want.

Sure things were not perfect as many perpetually negative America haters would be quick to point out. Things would soon change for the worse as word came to my school that President Kennedy was killed on the streets of Dallas. This precipitated some bad times for many young men around the country. Whereas the young president was preparing to withdraw Americans from Vietnam after seeing how the French had failed in that country – the new president, Lyndon Johnson, gave the go ahead to the Joint Chiefs and CIA to begin the involvement that would cost over fifty eight thousand American lives.

This took place just four days after the events in Dallas before Kennedy's body found its permanent home in Arlington Cemetery. The real push came in August of 1964 when the alleged attack on an American vessel in the Gulf of Tonkin was used as excuse for ramping up US presence – and the intelligence community along with the military-industrial complex had their war. The problem was that the incident we were told about and the politicians used as justification never happened.

We bought their story and learned the truth only decades later. The father of lies did his work on the American political class and brought and end much innocence in America. The good times or “Happy Days” were over as we saw weekly casualty reports that told us we were winning because more enemy were killed than Americans. President Johnson waged his war of attrition against an enemy that did not value life as we do. However these optimistic reports didn't ease pain of families who welcomed their sons back in body bags.

Years later, as I walked along the wall in Washington, looking over the names of the Americans we lost, all I could feel was rage at the damage this corrupt president had done to our country in general and some families in particular. Each of the dead had their own story and ambitions... but it wasn't only the dead. Many thousand more came back horribly wounded and disfigured. Even those with no visible signs came home after seeing and doing things no young man should have to live with. Some of the best and bravest had been sacrificed.

As for Lyndon Johnson, he and most of his cronies were long gone from the land of the living by this time. They had fallen into the hands of the living God – something far more frightening than anything an angry country could do to them.

The good time rock'n roll turned more somber and nihilistic. The young men now had a shadow over them as they didn't know if or when they would be drafted into a military where they would be expected to kill strangers they were told were the enemy.

As time went by more and more truth began to emerge despite the best efforts of the ruling elites. Recently President Trump has declared that we should see the truth about the deaths of President Kennedy and his brother Robert, along with Martin Luther King Jr. Considering how the ruling elites in government, military and industry saw each of them as an obstacle to their nefarious ends, it could be very interesting as well as very dangerous to those seeking to find out what really happened.

We may well be faced with the choice of the blue pill or the red pill. However we need to remember only the truth will set us free. Lets choose the red pill and pursue the truth. It may not be as comforting as believing the lies we are told but we will no longer be slaves to the ruling class lies.

While a new year is a good time to draw a line in the sand and determine to do things differently, a page on a calendar is not usually sufficient motivation to make basic changes in one's life. The gyms and health clubs across the nation are packed with well meaning people hoping to develop a healthier lifestyle. However, after a month or two, the place gets back to normal and the unhealthy go back to their old, but comfortable, habits.

I would venture a guess that many reading this have already forsaken their good intentions and retreated to their comfort zone. Why is this? Is it that because they really don't want to be healthy, or lose weight, or learn more about a subject? Or is it that the price of accomplishing these things is too high in terms of time and effort expended or maybe even expense involved?

Perhaps we need to think about making changes in another way. Often times we make steps toward changes that would be nice to have, but are not essential in life, only to give up after the work and time involved is known. As I get older there are many things in life that would be nice to have, but am I willing to spend my time and resources on them when there are many more important things that are essential?

With making lifestyle changes, do you really need to be that different person or do you just want to be that different person. Wishing to stop smoking or be thinner is like wishing to win the lottery. I am pretty good at wishing, but I have found my chances of winning the lottery are almost as good as those who actually buy tickets.

Making changes comes from motivation and motivation does not come from a calendar. Even if your doctor tells you to loose weight or exercise more or you will die... you need to want to live longer. Why do you want to live longer? Is it because people count on you, or do you have something you are working on that needs to be completed? Or don't you care? The answer to that question will determine how much effort you will put into change.

Do you need more money or just want to be a better investor? Or do you wish for these things? You and your acquaintances can easily see the answer to all these questions when they look at the steps you have taken to achieving them. If you haven't done anything, you just have a wish and not a goal. If you do a little bit every day you will be moving toward your goal... whatever that may be. Over time, if you stick with it, you will see some results. Even if the don't completely hit your goal, you will much closer to it and be better off for your efforts. One more point to consider is that if don't have a time frame to define your success, it is difficult to say you really have a goal.

Getting back to the initial question, New Years Day has nothing to do with it. What matters is not the calendar, but you deciding it is time to move. How bad do you want to achieve your goal? Is there any reason you can't begin today? For your good, be careful that your reason is not just a convenient excuse.

Now, go get it! Seize the day!