Subscribe  

May 17, 2021

Download MP3 (right click to save)

When you're five years old, you have a number of those milestone experiences - a lot of "firsts." Like your first soccer game. Yeah, our five-year-old grandson had that. I reminded our daughter that she had joined that much-talked about tribe called "soccer moms." Yeah, our grandson had never played soccer before, and he didn't have an older brother or sister to learn from. So his first game was, shall we say, a great learning experience. And he did a good job. But not good enough for the kind of performance most firstborns expect of themselves. Though he got the ball several times for his team and moved it down the field, he didn't score any goals, and he was bothered that he missed one. Right after the game, he gave his mom his two-word summary of how he thought he did. He just said, "I tried."

May 14, 2021

Download MP3 (right click to save)

When St. Patrick's Day rolled around, I realized I'd lost my shamrock tie. Yeah, I was bummed. Of course, everybody else was thrilled. Oh, yeah, yeah I always used to love wearing it for St. Patrick's Day every year to celebrate that part of me that's Irish. In spite of the fact that people insensitively described the color of it as "barf green." It just doesn't seem that anyone is missing it but me.

May 13, 2021

Download MP3 (right click to save)

One of the great names for Jesus in the Bible is the "Lion of the Tribe of Judah." When noted author, C. S. Lewis, created a character to be his Christ-figure in his "Chronicles of Narnia" fantasies, he introduced us to Aslan, the lion-king of Narnia. In Lewis' enchanting books, Narnia is a land where the animals speak, where the forces of evil are strong, and where Aslan, though only seen on rare occasions, is the dominant figure. Lucy is one of the children whose transported to Narnia. In one of the later books in the Chronicles, Lucy is finally reunited with the lion-king, Aslan. I'll let C. S. Lewis take it from here: "'Welcome child,' he said. Lucy said, 'Aslan, you're bigger.' And he answered, 'That is because you are older, little one.' 'Oh, not because you are?' Lucy said. 'Oh, I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.'"

May 12, 2021

Download MP3 (right click to save)

I was teaching my son to drive, I think. There were some pretty thrill-packed moments as he learned to drive. And there was a strange byproduct taking place as he learned to drive. My driving improved! Yes, and it needed it! See, we were living in the New York area. And when you're there, traffic tends to make you a little more careless about the right way to drive; the way you learn how to drive; the way the book says you ought to drive might be two different things when your survival is at stake, which it almost is constantly there.

May 11, 2021

Download MP3 (right click to save)

There's just enough of a kid in me, I really like those glass elevators they have in some hotels. You know, you get in on the main floor and then you ascend to the top floor, all the time you're watching the big things in the lobby become small things in the lobby. And the limited view you had down there, oh, suddenly turns panoramic. Or if you've been in one of the world's great skyscrapers, you may have tried some of those elevators. We're talking lobby to observation deck in like seconds; rising scores of floors in less time than it takes to place some phone calls. So, at 10:02, you're down in the lobby or even the basement and at 10:03 you're looking out over the entire city - all because of an elevator.

May 10, 2021

Download MP3 (right click to save)

The folks at the hospital asked my father-in-law if he'd like to donate his organs. He smiled and said, "Depends on how soon you want them." That's a great answer.

May 7, 2021

Download MP3 (right click to save)

I guess parental pride comes with your baby's birth certificate. I mean, you brag about their first word, their first steps. We show off pictures of our babies, and then if they're ever selected for a solo or a starting position later in life, or they get a part in something or an award, we will be there to take pictures, get video, whatever. A parent has a special glow when his son or daughter makes him proud. Of course, it's supposed to work the other way, too.

May 6, 2021

Download MP3 (right click to save)

Well, I went to get an additional weather alert radio for our home. They were out. I probably shouldn't have been surprised. Not in light of the tornadoes we've been having, what they've done to lives and property across eleven states. And we weren't far from one of those ourselves.

May 5, 2021

Download MP3 (right click to save)

Do you want me to speak from the floor or up on a platform? See, sometimes I'm asked to make that choice before I speak somewhere. Now, I would rather be on the floor, given that choice, because I just like to be closer to the people I'm speaking to. The problem is, if I do that, I will disappear. I know on the radio you think I'm like six foot six. Well, in person I can only seem to muster, you know, about five feet six inches or something like that. But if I'm standing down on the floor kind of on everybody else's level, then you might as well be listening to a recording, because you can't see the expression on my face. So I need to be above the crowd at least a little in order to best communicate my message. See, I need a platform. So do you.

May 4, 2021

Download MP3 (right click to save)

I've got to tell you, I was really moved by Lincoln's story. He actually is a respected African-American pastor that I've had the privilege to get to know. One day he told me a little of his personal history, and it's like the histories of so many African-Americans. His father was a sharecropper, his grandfather was a slave.

May 3, 2021

Download MP3 (right click to save)

When our kids were growing up, we made a lot of memories hiking up mountains and through some really great forests. And then, of course, grandsons. They started making those same kinds of memories with their daddy. In fact, they were on one of those forest hikes with Dad, and the older brother had an idea. One that he had, no doubt, gotten from watching his father and what he had done with him. Little brother's legs started to tire out, and big brother said he wanted to carry little brother on his back. Well, there actually is now a photo showing big brother with little brother on his shoulders. Is he Super Boy? No. There's a third person in the picture. It's Daddy standing behind, supporting little brother on big brother's shoulders.

April 30, 2021

Download MP3 (right click to save)

Jonesboro. Paducah. Columbine. The list goes on. Another school shooting after another school shooting. One was in Chardon, Ohio. And, you know, having spent so much of my life on high school campuses, my heart sinks every time. I see these all-too-familiar scenes; students running, crying, parents desperately seeking information, SWAT teams moving in, law enforcement briefings, shooter profiles, ambulances converging, and then those heartbreaking candlelight vigils.

April 29, 2021

Download MP3 (right click to save)

We've always been big Winnie-the-Pooh fans at our house. Our kids always enjoyed having that read to them, and now they read it to their kids. There's one scene from Winnie-the-Pooh I really remember.

April 28, 2021

Download MP3 (right click to save)

Over our long trips, my wife and I would take turns at the wheel, and we'd have two different approaches to observing the speed limit. In her case, she would like to set it on cruise control, and that's a great invention. You can set your speed, and stay at that speed indefinitely. Not so much for me. See, I'd rather be able to really accelerate for a hill and keep up with the traffic sometimes as they say; to vary my speed. I know I can just break and reset the cruise control, but I would rather not bother with it. In a sense, not so much about driving, but I just want to discourage you from setting your personal cruise control.

April 27, 2021

Download MP3 (right click to save)

I think it had to be one of the most like insecure afternoons of my life. Our committee had been meeting for two days at this hotel. Two days straight! We had a slave-driving chairman, and finally he said, "All right, guys, how about a couple of hours in the pool?" "All right! The pool! The sauna! We deserve a break today."

April 26, 2021

Download MP3 (right click to save)

After Whitney Houston's sudden death some years ago, the world was fixated on replaying her iconic and now more poignant performances of her signature songs. And what stuck in my mind was a video they showed of one of her first performances and the video of one of her last.

April 23, 2021

Download MP3 (right click to save)

Because we have so many Native American friends in the Southwest, I was carefully watching a ravenous wildfire in eastern Arizona. When you're told to evacuate, honestly you never know if you'll have a home to come back to.

April 22, 2021

Download MP3 (right click to save)

I know you shouldn't yell, especially on a Sunday, but I did that Sunday. You know, it was during the Super Bowl some years ago.

April 21, 2021

Download MP3 (right click to save)

I'm a newspaper man! Not a career journalist. I'm a guy who likes his newspaper. But, I have to admit I get frustrated occasionally when it's not there; which means the delivery guy either goofed up or goofed off. See, there are many reporters all around the world who worked to collect that news, and then there's this expensive process of getting it all laid out, and edited, and printed. And the products of all that expense and all that effort ends up on the doorstep of one delivery person; some man or woman who's going to deliver it. You know what? If they don't deliver it, all that expensive effort doesn't get to me...it never reaches me. You know something? We're all in the delivery business.

April 20, 2021

Download MP3 (right click to save)

Over the years, we found a little tool that was smart to have if you were going to be spending time next to the ocean. They call it a tide table. It tells you what time high tide and low tide will be each day. That's good to know, especially if you're going to really set up shop for a while on the beach - which many people do. I've watched people bring their own little civilization to the beach with them: tarps and coolers and toys and appliances. You'd think they were planning to live on the beach. What's kind of fun to watch is the people with all that stuff who fall asleep somewhere between low tide and high tide. (You know where this is going don't you.) Slowly but surely, the waves start creeping up from the edge toward their civilization. You really should wake them up, but that wouldn't be any fun. Eventually, as the tide tickles their toes, they wake up only to find some of their civilization about to float away. It's panic city, man! But it didn't have to be that way. There's this little tool called a tide table that tells you when the tide...well, you get the idea.

Subcategories

Your Hard Times

Your Relationships

Page 54 of 216

A Word With You Categories

                

GET IN TOUCH

Hutchcraft Ministries
P.O. Box 400
Harrison, AR 72602-0400

(870) 741-3300
(877) 741-1200 (toll-free)
(870) 741-3400 (fax)

FIND OUT MORE

Home / About

What We Do / Resources

News / Blog / Store

Contact Us / Privacy Policy

Donate

STAY UPDATED

We have many helpful and encouraging resources ready to be delivered to your inbox.

Please know we will never share or sell your info.

Subscribe

rhm-logo-white Copyright 2025 - All Rights Reserved - Hutchcraft Ministries

Back to top