junkyard wisdom Archives - Junkyard Wisdom

Vacation With Jesus!

About a month ago my wife D’Aun had a fun trip with a few of her friends. So I had a ton of time on my own, and I spent it writing an absolutely ridiculous series of devotions. They are unlike any of the other edgy devotions I wrote and more, well … more … well … you’ll see.

Basically, I take an imagined vacation with Jesus. To Belize. In 2022. And while we’re there—which somehow also takes place two thousand years ago, by the way, before Jesus begins his public ministry—he talks through an upcoming sermon he calls “The …

Want a Free Chapter of my New Book?

My new book, Junkyard Wisdom Rebuilt, will be released June 2nd! The publisher has generously agreed to release one chapter early, and it’s completely free.

Well, almost completely. I need your email address, but that’s all. Enter it below and you’ll be redirected to a page with the free chapter! And it’s one of my favorite chapters, so I hope you enjoy it. It’s a PDF so you can download it if you wish. Please do remember it’s copyrighted, of course.

Obviously we hope this freebie entices you to buy the book. But if not, well, okay I …

Power Dynamics & Generosity

If we want to give wisely we must learn about power dynamics.

One of the tenets of my understanding of generosity is we must go beyond merely writing checks. We need to build a relationship with the people we are trying to serve. This is why we must tear down walls that separate us by class, age, race, economics, politics, etc..

But when we start building those relationships we will find that our power — or perceived power — will alter the relationship. There are an infinite number of gears and levers in any relationship so it’s easy to not …

Which Part Are You?

Last week I wrote about junkyard wisdom and used the line, “Junk cars, like broken people, often have the parts to make something whole.”

It triggered some fun/silly exchanges with friends about what car part they actually are. One said he was a UV joint because he held things together, another said a seatbelt because he was strong but passive, and another said a spare wheel just waiting to go but enjoying the downtime (sounds Covid induced to me). There were others, but you get the idea.

So I was thinking about what spare part I am, and the metaphors …

What’s Wisdom Got To Do With It?

Apologies to Tina Turner for hijacking her song title and making it worse, but the question of the day is why junkyard … wisdom?

Everybody understands the junkyard piece, at least they do when they read my bio. I grew up working Saturdays and summers in our family’s wrecking yard – aka junkyard – and it shaped my perspective on the world. I see life through the prism of a family business that bought junk and sold parts.

But how does wisdom fit into this perspective?

Wisdom is elusive to define. It is many layered, showing up in …

Ten Years

Ten years ago this month was the launch of Junkyard Wisdom™. Technically my blog started 11-years ago, but it had the ridiculous name Roy Goble’s Blog. I mean really, what creative genius came up with that???

So ten years ago I started a crowdsource competition to find a good name. It was shocking how many people wanted to participate! There were over 75 different nominations in one week. Most of them were truly awful! But they were all fun, most made me chuckle, a few even made me reflective.

Eventually I narrowed it down to eight good options and I …

Looking for a good book to read?

To everyone sheltering in place, thank you. It’s clearly working and it has saved lives. As one wag said, our parents/grandparents were called to war to defeat facism and save the world, whereas we are called to stay home and sit on a couch; we can do this! 😂

So to do your duty you’ve watched all the Netflix shows, gone through the backlog of chores, organized the kitchen and garage, spent way too much time shopping online, and perfected the Zoom call. You’ve probably also read a fair number of books. Actually, you might need more books to read!…

Solutions of Privilege II

A few years ago I wrote about the “problems of privilege” and what the solutions might be for those problems. A recent conversation about the people on a cruise who were quarantined off the coast of California had me thinking about what we call privilege versus what we call sacrifice. So here is a redraft of the original post.

What are problems of privilege? Well in the simplest of terms, these are problems that become evident when people complain about meaningless things — my new iPhone is now outdated, the waiter didn’t bring us water when we asked, or I …