{"id":393,"date":"2008-03-25T01:01:19","date_gmt":"2008-03-25T01:01:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/markdroberts\/2008\/03\/you-know-youre-in-a-small-town-when-3.html"},"modified":"2008-03-25T01:01:19","modified_gmt":"2008-03-25T01:01:19","slug":"you-know-youre-in-a-small-town-when-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2008\/03\/you-know-youre-in-a-small-town-when-3.html","title":{"rendered":"You Know You\u2019re in a Small Town When . . ."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Feb. 3<br \/>\n1200 block of S. Main Street, 12:30 a.m., Police pulled over a vehicle for driving recklessly. The driver said that he thought the vehicle in front of him was a bunch of kids so he was acting dumb. [MDR: I&#8217;m a little worried if the driver actually thought the vehicle in front of him &#8220;was a bunch of kids.&#8221; Notice, it doesn&#8217;t say, &#8220;was filled with a bunch of kids.&#8221; No, he thought the vehicle was the kids. That&#8217;s pretty scary! ]<br \/>\nFeb. 4<br \/>\nJ Williams Road, 10:35 p.m., A caller reported that someone placed a dead deer on her car during the night. [MDR: Either that or a dying deer jumped up on her car right before giving up the ghost.]<br \/>\nFeb. 5<br \/>\n100 block of West Street, Comfort, 4:32 p.m., A caller reported that her purse was stolen from her unlocked vehicle. [MDR: Note to self: Always lock car when leaving purse in it. Another note to self: Don&#8217;t leave purse in car. Period.]<br \/>\nFeb. 6<br \/>\n37000 block of W. Interstate 10, 12:39 a.m., Police responded to a 911 hang-up call. The caller said he just moved into town and was lonely and just wanted to talk. [MDR: So did they arrest him? Or take him out for dinner?]<br \/>\nFeb. 7<br \/>\n100 block Thunder Valley, 11:59 a.m., Caller reported that while trying to sell a piece of property, prospective buyer was attacked by neighbor\u2019s dogs. Seller wanted to know if he could shoot the dogs. [MDR: Now that&#8217;s a way to lose a sale. At least seller didn&#8217;t want to shoot the neighbor.]<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.markdroberts.com\/images\/zebra-hat-texas-5.jpg\" alt=\"zebra texas hat\" align=\"right\" height=\"255\" hspace=\"25\" vspace=\"10\" width=\"360\" \/>Farm Road 473, 10:15 p.m., Caller said a stray zebra was standing in her front yard. While an officer was en route, a vehicle hit the animal which sustained minor injuries. Animal control loaded the zebra into a trailer and took it to the wildlife refuge. [MDR: I hate it when stray zebras show up in my front yard. Question: How do you know if a Zebra is from Texas? Answer: Look for the Stetson hat.]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Feb. 3 1200 block of S. Main Street, 12:30 a.m., Police pulled over a vehicle for driving recklessly. The driver said that he thought the vehicle in front of him was a bunch of kids so he was acting dumb. [MDR: I&#8217;m a little worried if the driver actually thought the vehicle in front of&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":214,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-police-blotter","category-small-town"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>You Know You\u2019re in a Small Town When . . . - Mark D. Roberts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2008\/03\/you-know-youre-in-a-small-town-when-3.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"You Know You\u2019re in a Small Town When . . . - Mark D. Roberts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Feb. 3 1200 block of S. Main Street, 12:30 a.m., Police pulled over a vehicle for driving recklessly. The driver said that he thought the vehicle in front of him was a bunch of kids so he was acting dumb. [MDR: I&#8217;m a little worried if the driver actually thought the vehicle in front of&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2008\/03\/you-know-youre-in-a-small-town-when-3.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mark D. Roberts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-03-25T01:01:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.markdroberts.com\/images\/zebra-hat-texas-5.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mark D. Roberts\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"You Know You\u2019re in a Small Town When . . . - Mark D. 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Roberts","description":"Mark D. Roberts: Thoughtfully Christian Reflections on Jesus, the Church, and the World","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/1ff094a57b7e41f534434b1723df3d73","name":"Mark D. Roberts","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/f2d\/f2ddf5f080861f66ea230384f9d1bab2x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/f2d\/f2ddf5f080861f66ea230384f9d1bab2x96.jpg","caption":"Mark D. Roberts"},"description":"The Rev. Dr. Mark D. Roberts is a pastor, author, retreat leader, speaker, and blogger. Since October 2007 he has been the Senior Director and Scholar-in-Residence for Laity Lodge, a multifaceted ministry in the Hill Country of Texas. Before coming to Laity Lodge, he was for sixteen years the Senior Pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church in Irvine, California (a city in Orange County about forty miles south of Los Angeles). Before his time at Irvine Pres, Mark served on the staff of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood as Associate Pastor of Education. (Thanks to Janel Pahl for taking the photo to the right.) Mark studied at Harvard University, receiving a B.A. in Philosophy, an M.A. in the Study of Religion, and a Ph.D. in New Testament and Christian Origins. He has taught classes in New Testament for Fuller Theological Seminary and San Francisco Theological Seminary. Mark has written several books, including No Holds Barred: Wrestling with God in Prayer (WaterBrook, 2005), Dare to Be True (WaterBrook, 2003), Jesus Revealed (WaterBrook, 2002), After \"I Believe\" (Baker, 2002), and Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther (Word, 1993). His most recent book is Can We Trust the Gospels? Investigating the Reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (Crossway, 2007). He is currently working on a commentary on Ephesians that will be published by Zondervan in 2014. Mark writes a devotional for The High Calling of Our Daily Work, a website associated with Laity Lodge. His \"Daily Reflections\" can be viewed online or sent as a daily email. If you wish to receive this email, just visit TheHighCalling.org and sign up. Mark serves on the editorial board of Worship Leader magazine, where he publishes articles and reviews, including his regular column \"Lyrical Poetry.\" Additionally, he has published dozens of articles in leading magazines and journals. He often speaks for churches and other Christian groups, and has been interviewed on over seventy-five radio programs nationwide. Mark is married to Linda, who is a Marriage and Family Therapist, a Spiritual Director, and a retreat speaker. They have two children, Nathan and Kara.For Publicity Photos and Bio Statements for Mark, please check here. Mark's Dossier Professional History: Senior Director and Scholar-in Residence, Laity Lodge, October 2007 to present. Senior Pastor Irvine Presbyterian Church, June 1991 to September 2007 Adjunct Assistant Professor Fuller Theological Seminary, 1994 to 2007. Courses: New Testament Theology and Exegesis. Adjunct Instructor San Francisco Theological Seminary, 1995 to 2001. Courses: New Testament Greek and Exegesis Associate Pastor of Education First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, 1987-1991 Teaching Fellow Harvard University, 1980-1983 Education: Ph.D. in the Study of Religion. Harvard University, 1992. Area: New Testament and Christian Origins M.A. in the Study of Religion Harvard University, 1984. A.B. magna cum laude in Philosophy Harvard University, 1979. Phi Beta Kappa; Danforth Fellowship Books: Can We Trust the Gospels? Investigating the Reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Crossway, 2007 No Holds Barred: Wrestling with God in Prayer. WaterBrook, 2005 Dare to Be True: Living in the Freedom of Complete Honesty. WaterBrook, 2003. Jesus Revealed: Know Him Better to Love Him Better. WaterBrook, 2002. After \"I Believe\": Experiencing Authentic Christian Living. Baker, 2002. Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther in the Communicator's Commentary Series. Word, 1993. Contacting Mark: You can reach Mark at: E-mail: mark@markdroberts.com mroberts@laitylodge.org Phone: Laity Lodge: (830) 792-1216 Address: Laity Lodge 719 Earl Garrett Kerrville, TX 78028","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/author\/mroberts"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/214"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=393"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/393\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}