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Thursday, May 25, 2006

When you drive in the New York City area, lane switching becomes a well developed art form. Of course, the danger zone in switching lanes is your blind spot. That one area in your rear vision where you can't see in any of your mirrors - that's pretty critical. Actually, the words blind spot have taken on new meaning for my wife and me. She had some vision problems and she developed what the doctor believed to be a temporary blind spot. He injected some dye to see how much of her vision was blocked, and I was surprised as the doctor showed us the results. He said, "Now, here is the blind spot that we all have." I said, "I do?" Right around the optic nerve, there are no rods and cones to produce a visual image, so we all have a blind spot.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

My family calls it an idiosyncrasy or is it "idiotsyncrasy"? I'm not sure. But no matter when we get home whenever we've been on a trip, I must unpack. It is the first thing to do when you get home. Oh, it may be 2am, but there's Ron putting his clothes in the closet where they go; making sure his toothbrush is where it needs to be the next morning, putting my books back where they came from. Everyone else is zonked! They're in a coma, and here's Mr. Compulsive busily restoring order. See, I'm not home until I'm unpacked and finally I fall into bed and I go, "Ah, I'm finally home!" See, once everything is put away, I can finally start enjoying being home. Actually, we should unpack even sooner

Friday, April 14, 2006

Years ago, the "Star Wars" trilogy of movies exploded into our popular culture like, well, like Darth Vader's Death Star. Millions of people developed a fascination for the adventures of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, and, of course, the infamous Darth Vader. Hero Luke Skywalker became a Jedi knight and he learned the power of what was called The Force. Darth Vader, who was the villain, had mastered the power of the "dark side" of The Force. And then, decades later, a new "Star Wars" trilogy began, telling the story of the events that preceded the original episodes. So there's not Luke or Han or Princess Leia for a while, but guess what is still there? The Force, of course. And what is the Force? Well, no one's really sure, but it seems to be this spiritual power that you can tap into to help you win your battles.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Sometime in your life, you've probably run into a waiter or waitress with a stinky attitude; maybe even two or three. But a lot of times you can't blame them totally, if you see the way a lot of them get treated in a day's time. They're not America's best treated people. Maybe that's why I've made it sort of a personal crusade to brighten their day a little bit by remembering their name, smiling, saying thanks and sometimes even goofing off with the server a little bit. Sometimes, when they come back during the meal they ask, "How is everything?" I'll say, "Wonderful! You're a great cook!" It's always fun to watch their response. Usually they just stop cold for a minute. Sometimes they'll laugh; sort of embarrassed and they'll say, "Oh, I don't cook it!" I know that. They're delivering what someone else created!

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Chimney Mountain! I had to get to the top of it. Why? Because it was there! Of course, I had to drag my young family into this obsession with me. One vacation day, I made that "Daddy's Great Adventure for the Day." Now it wasn't a steep hike; a trail through the woods that gradually took you to the top of the mountain. As we walked along, my wife and the kids kept noticing little things - like chipmunks and squirrels and flowers and interesting rocks. Of course, whenever we noticed one of those little things, we had to stop; which was not my favorite thing to do. I had a goal, folks, and chipmunks and interesting rocks didn't help me get to it. At one point, they stopped us just to listen to the wind blowing through the tall pine trees. That's nice, you know, but not if you wanted to see the top of Chimney Mountain before sunset. Finally, my frustration made it to my mouth, "Honey, the reason for this hike is to get to the top. Don't you understand?" To which she said something like this: "Oh, I thought we came to enjoy the hike." Great! I was interested in the result; she was interested in the process!

Thursday, April 6, 2006

The wind was blowing so hard that day, I was afraid someone was going to end up in Oz; and this isn't even Kansas, Dorothy. I was in my office during one of those blustery hours, but you couldn't miss the roar outside. At times the winds were approaching hurricane force. I mean, they were knocking out electric power to many customers, tearing branches off trees, and in one case, actually causing the deaths of four schoolgirls in New York City. They were actually in their church-school van when a 60 miles per hour gust whipped down the street and uprooted a 68-foot high maple tree, which fell on the van, killing those girls instantly. But the next day the mayor suggested that this was a tragedy that did not have to happen. Several months earlier, a nearby sidewalk had been paved without a permit, possibly weakening the roots of that tree. It may not have been the storm that caused the tragedy - it may have been the weakened roots.

Tuesday, April 4, 2006

I felt like the Big Bad Wolf in that story of Little Red Riding Hood; the part where he's masquerading as grandma. Little Red says, "What big eyes you have!" That was me when I left the ophthalmologist's office the other day. He had put dilating solution in my eyes for an eye checkup. Well, the checkup was over, but my eyes didn't know it. They stayed dilated for the next couple of hours. And everyone said, "What big eyes you have!" It wasn't really much fun. Even though it was basically a cloudy day, I was squinting and I was trying to cover my eyes. With my pupils so big and so wide open, the light was blazing right into my eyes. I wasn't missing anything and it was blinding!

Friday, March 31, 2006

She's a princess in the royalty of Hollywood; one of the most successful, most admired actresses in America. Behind the glamour, there are unrelenting struggles and unanswered questions. Recently, she was given some major recognition at an international awards ceremony, and as she expressed her gratitude, she also opened up her heart in a brief moment of extreme candor. She said, "You know, I play so many roles, sometimes I wonder who the real me really is." You don't have to be a Hollywood star to have that going on.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Maybe you're like me; one of those people who lives in a climate where there are four seasons, where the fall and spring are spectacularly beautiful and where winter is really winter, and summer is really summer. There's probably one change of seasons, then. that is probably anticipated by you more than any other - the end of winter! I've always lived with four seasons. I like them all. I just think one of them lasts a month or two too long. That's why I was so excited during a February ministry trip to South Carolina. Now February is still winter where I was living, but on this February weekend in South Carolina, the trees were starting to bloom! Not only were the flowers out on the trees, but the shorts were even out on the humans! I don't remember seeing dogwood blooming in February! That was early even for the mid-South, but there had been a string of days in the 70s with temperatures that were still mild at night. So those little flowers said to themselves, "Hey, it's warm, guys! I guess it's time to bloom!"

Thursday, February 16, 2006

Our granddaughter was almost three when her parents took her to the place that blew her little mind - Disneyland. She loves Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh and Cinderella, and this was where they live! For many months afterward, she continued to talk about the experiences she had there. But it was her first reaction that was the most priceless of all. They got off the tram and walked onto the main street of Disneyland with a castle in front of them and Disney characters greeting them. Her reaction wasn't verbal, so it's a little hard to convey it. But imagine a dark-haired, dark-eyed, round-faced little girl stopped in her tracks with her eyes wide like saucers, her hands suddenly covering her mouth, and only one audible reaction - gasp!

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