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Wednesday, May 26, 2004

I don't know if there was ever a time in our son's life when he checked the mailbox so many times. Now you're thinking "Oh, a letter from a girl, huh?" No, it was grades from college. See, this was during our son's last visit home when he was going to college, and the grades for the semester just completed were supposed to be mailed to him at home. Of course, I was thinking they should have been mailed to me, because they sure mail the bills to me! Well, it got a little frustrating and as he talked with all his college friends, because they, in other parts of the country, already had their grades. And every day that they didn't come, well, he got a little more frustrated. Now why was he so eager to get his grades? He had every reason to believe that he had done very well this time. And finally, they came. Best grades by far since he started college - he was on the Dean's List! High five's all around!

Tuesday, May 25, 2004

Now, I grew up in Illinois, so, well, I'm impressed by the mountains in the eastern United States. I mean the highest are around, you know, like 3,000 feet. That's pretty good for Illinois, but my friends from the Rockies think the eastern mountains are like, well, glorified hills. In Colorado, they brag about the mountains they call the 14ers - those that are over 14,000 feet. That's impressive, but when I was in Ecuador, I was awed by the volcanoes that ring the capital city of Quito, and they rule much of the countryside - like Anasana for example - 18,000 feet. It dwarfed the tallest peaks I had ever seen. And then my host really amazed me. He said, "You know, Ron, some experts believe that Anasana used to be even higher." They think it was as much as 28,000 feet high. Well, so much for Colorado's 14ers. I said, "What happened?" Well, the volcano blew its top one day, and though the eruption lasted only a short time, the damage has lasted ever since.

Monday, May 24, 2004

My son had dreamed about an old Mustang for years. I mean, the kind with four wheels, not four legs. He saw a great price advertised; he sold some of his baseball card collection, and he became the proud owner of a 1968 Mustang. Yeah, right, the kind that runs on gasoline, not oats. Right? I just wanted to make that we're clear on the Mustang thing. Now he invited me to take a drive, and I slid in. I turned the key. It whirred to life, and several nearby birds went for counseling as I started up the driveway. I mean, this thing had a roar to it! Now, when I reached the top of the driveway, I found out what I didn't like about that "cool"' car - turning it. See, I'm spoiled. I've got power steering. This car had power steering, except it was my power. When you want to turn that Mustang, it's like a total body operation. You sort of wrap yourself around it several times. You sort of call it corkscrew turning. Now, I never asked to drive the Mustang much after that. It was entirely too hard to turn!

Wednesday, April 21, 2004

Twice in a little over a decade, Saddam Hussein's Iraq has been the focus of a war involving American and other Coalition forces. Operation Iraqi Freedom, the second Gulf War, turned out to be much quicker than anyone could have imagined. Saddam Hussein was toppled from power and ultimately captured. But that didn't stop critics from calling into question the intelligence that led to the decision to send troops to Iraq. The absence of the expected stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction brought a widespread outcry for an investigation into how American intelligence missed what appeared to be the real situation. Well, you know, this is nothing new. It's always been important for a country to have reliable intelligence information before they venture into battle. A lot of important decisions are made based upon the reports from intelligence.

Monday, March 15, 2004

Some years ago, my wife got a very serious case of hepatitis. Later, the specialist told her that the battle for her liver was so acute he could hear the blood rushing to save it, "Just like Niagara Falls," he said. Thank God, she recovered fully with no trace today of that disease or any of its effects. But it took a while - seven months of bed rest. That was an interesting time for Daddy - suddenly known as Mr. Mom - and for our three children. Thankfully, our church brought dinner to our home almost every night. God bless them! It's a good thing. I mean, if it had been up to me to feed the kids, they probably would have been on the cover of something like World Vision magazine eventually. But as tough as it was, my wife said she had much to praise God for in her recovery from hepatitis. For one thing, no one could really look to her or count on her for seven months. Here's what she said about it: "God gave me the gift of cleansing my schedule!" He weeded out a lot that didn't matter after all and left only what did matter.

Friday, March 5, 2004

Over the years, I've had the honor and the pleasure of speaking for many professional football chapels. You should have seen me with the New York Giants. I was like the New York dwarf! I guess I'm tall inside, you know. But anyway, their "thank-you" for speaking was two tickets for the game. And they had great seats reserved for the chapel speaker, midfield under cover. Of course, any time you go to a public event like a game or a concert or a show, you hope for great seats. On occasion, I've even looked up a seating chart for the facility where an event was being held so I knew what seats to ask for. Unfortunately, you have to pay a little for the best seats, but you get a view most folks can't see.

Thursday, March 4, 2004

It was a crazy Christmas at our house! Everybody in our family - three generations now - is so excited about giving gifts to the others. Oh yeah, about getting them, too. That sometimes our festivities are not quite like "peace on earth." Such was our last Christmas. The chatter was loud, the laughter was hearty, and the buzz was intense. Or, in the case of a two-year-old, confusing. My wife, with her finely-tuned grandma's radar, noticed that our little grandson seemed a little dazed by all this happy Christmas crossfire. So she just quietly slipped to the floor where he was and began working patiently with him on assembling a toy he had just opened. This precious scene had been going on for a few minutes before any of us even noticed in the chaos. But there was Grandma, quietly creating an island of sanity in a sea of craziness.

Monday, March 1, 2004

Thanksgiving dinner in Baghdad! That's not many folks' dream way to spend Turkey Day. But for some American soldiers, Thanksgiving 2003 may be one of the more memorable holidays of their lives. That was the day the President of the United States joined them for Thanksgiving Dinner - actually helped serve them Thanksgiving Dinner. In the aftermath of the Iraq War, Baghdad was still not a very secure place, so the President's visit came as a total surprise, a total secret from the press. Many American soldiers were feeling the weight of an extended tour of duty and, for many, the sudden appearance of their President was a real morale boost. As GIs have learned in previous wartime visits from other Presidents, there's something re-energizing about a personal visit from your Commander-in-Chief.

Friday, February 27, 2004

If you ask our kids about the four or five most indelible memories from their childhood, at least one is bound to bring up the night of the hurricane. Some friends had offered their home on Eastern Long Island to us for our vacation. I wonder if they had advance word that Hurricane Belle would make it all the way up the East Coast that week and smack Long Island right on the chin? Thankfully, the home we were in was on a cliff above the ocean so we didn't have to evacuate. But we made all the appropriate preparations. We loaded up on batteries and candles, stored water in the bathtub, lined the freezer with newspaper in case the power went out. Well, the leading winds of the hurricane started blowing in about bedtime that night, and you could really hear it howling around our bedrooms upstairs. The kids were pretty unnerved. So, we all moved out of our rooms to the downstairs living room. We laid out some sleeping bags, and slept side by side together in the living room. I'll tell you, the kids loved it. They actually said, "Hey, hurricanes are fun, Dad!"

Thursday, February 26, 2004

Okay, I admit that I'm often in a hurry to get where I'm going. More than once, we've been traveling in the crew configuration my wife and I have used for years - me pilot at the wheel, her navigator with map. I'm clipping along at a healthy rate of speed, believing that the purpose of the exercise is to be there, not to spend a lot of time getting there! Right? And even though my beautiful navigator may have announced that a turn may be coming up soon, I maintain my "must get there" speed. Then, suddenly, I hear those words, "This is our turn!" Zoom! We blow right past it - sometimes without an opportunity to turn around for several miles. So much for me trying to make good time. Too often, I've ended up on the wrong road - just because I was going too fast to turn.

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