My Thoughts
My personal blog
I’ll be writing here about the things that go through my head: my life, hobbies, relationships, current events, and many other topics.
My book – ‘Ex’d out’
In 2012 I published this book. It’s a chronological journal representing many changes that occurred in my life, spirituality, and relationships.
About John
I’ve had an interesting life. I’ve compiled some of those details here.
My most recent articles
John, where is God in your life today?
After many years of an internal process of changes in my spiritual development I found a statement that caused me to do some thinking. I was actually encouraged as I evaluated this question: "John, you haven't included enough about God in your writings and posts....
Two People, Painful Past Connection; Come Together and Talk
In 2017, Garrard Conley wrote a memoire, "Boy Erased", about his life and his experience with Love In Action, a residential recovery program purporting to help homosexuals leave homosexuality. The program Director at the time was me, John Smid. When I...
Our New Home Part #6, Closing Delays and Keeping up With the Subs
This week was a little bit of a roller coaster ride. We were originally scheduled to close on our house here in Texas on April 19th. As the day came, we discovered that the buyer's house in California had a closing delay. So, our closing was rescheduled for April...
Our New Home Part #5 – Closing our Antique Mall Space
This featured image says it all! Standing together. We made the decision to close out our antique mall space April 30th. We placed everything on sale at 50% off. The first weekend, we sold almost all of our larger items! There are still a few...
Our New Home Part #4 – Land Survey and Layout for the Property
It was a very productive week! The survey came in for the property. As soon as we had it, we called the site worker and the septic tank designers to meet with us on the property. So, we drove to Pearcy on Friday. During the meeting we laid out a plan for where the...
Our New Home Part #3 – Preparing the House Plans
Yesterday I was walking into the house through the garage and something profoundly moving hit me. We are going to leave this house. That was the door I walked through when I first came to Larry's home. That door is very significant to me for many reasons, but one...
Our New Home Part #2 – Starting to Look for a House
We began our journey looking for a manufactured home. We went to the first mobile home dealership that we saw. It was a spur of the moment turn off of the hiway into a dealer. Looking at their offerings, we went away very discouraged. The quality and design were way...
Our New Home Part #1 – We Are Moving to Arkansas!
We are moving! Larry bought this home in 2002. I moved here in 2013. At one level we never thought we'd ever move. We have been happy here. The space, the home, our shop all work very well for us. Several years ago we redecorated the home, updated the windows, floors,...
My Blog – Picture
In 2013, I spent some time creating some personal art. I just let my mind wander and created colorful pictures. One I'd like to highlight here is the picture that is on the banner of My Personal Blog page here on my website. During this time I was having many really...
Happy 100 Dad!
Norman (Bud) J. Smid Feb. 6, 1922 – Mar. 21, 1997 This is my dad’s 100th birthday. When I was about 3 1/2 years old, we lived in a duplex with a small back yard with a swingset in it. My dad was a mailman and would often come home for lunch. He wore a blue uniform...