July 12, 2019

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Eight wedding showers in a month! Six hundred guests scheduled to be at the wedding where 14 bridesmaids and 14 groomsmen would attend the bride and groom. Four days before the wedding, the bride went missing after she went out for a jog. The American news channels were dominated by the all-out search and the investigation into the case of the vanishing bride, and then we learned what happened. The bride turned up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, claiming she had been kidnapped - a story which she later changed to tell the real story of what happened. She said that the stress leading up to her wedding had given her cold feet, and she just kept running with those cold feet. In retrospect, I'm sure folks must be saying, "Girl, why didn't you just tell someone what you were feeling?" Instead she ran from her family, her community, her wedding, and even from the truth. Tens of thousands of dollars and countless man-hours were spent looking for her. Now she faced the additional stress of negative national notoriety and even the possibility of legal or financial penalties. Pretty simple here: running solved nothing. It never does.

July 10, 2019

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Some say it's legend. Some say it's history, but it's one of the most inspiring stories from America's past. The scene: a tiny mission near San Antonio, Texas. You know, a small band of Texas Freedom Fighters is taking their stand against the invading Mexican Army, and they're vastly outnumbered. There's a brief window during which the men of the Alamo have a choice between leaving or staying to fight. Col. William Travis is in command of the garrison, and according to some accounts, he gathered the defenders in the courtyard of the Alamo. With his sword, he drew a line in the sand and he called his men to a destiny choice: cross the line as your pledge to fight or stay where you are as an announcement that you are leaving. They all crossed the line to heroism, to immortality, and to honor that has endured some 200 years.

July 9, 2019

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Our friend Joy became an expert on moving, I think, you'd say. Her husband was a career Air Force officer, and that means seeing a lot of different places, having a lot of different addresses, and seeing a lot of moving vans in your life. Well, we were talking some time ago about what was their last move in the military and what she considered one of the greatest gifts she's ever been given. It didn't have beautiful wrapping paper or bows on it. In fact, it was a dumpster! That might not sound all that exciting to you, but it was to her! She and her family had so much stuff to move, and everything they could get rid of, they didn't have to move. Someone said to her, "I've got this dumpster I'd like to loan to you for your move." Joy said she was overjoyed! She said there was something so exciting about the first thud of the first thing they threw into that dumpster. Then it was all about lots of thuds as they threw away mountains of stuff. They couldn't wait to go get more.

July 8, 2019

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It was a beautiful morning for a walk. I was on an Indian reservation in Arizona where you don't see much water, so my eyes were drawn immediately to this sparkling little pond down a short little pathway just off the road. Well, you know, I've got an explorer in me. I couldn't just walk by, so I started down that little path to enjoy that sun-sparkling water up close. Then, I... Well, I got closer and I saw the sign. The only word I really remember was "sewage." Yeah, I was about to enthusiastically explore a facility with a sewage pond. You'd be surprised how fast I can retreat when I need to.

July 5, 2019

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Rwanda. A lot of Americans had never heard of that African country until a few years ago, and then it became the scene of horrific bloodshed and a tribal war that left thousands of Rwandans brutally slaughtered. With this awful season of attempted genocide, Rwanda became a word that was written in blood. And then the challenge became to try to heal the nation. Leaders who helped South Africa reconcile its years of apartheid violence came to Rwanda to help them find a healing road like they have. Out of that struggle came a story I'm not going to soon forget.

July 4, 2019

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They keep it under glass that seals out any air getting to it. And when it's not on display, it's kept underground in a vault - actually a bomb proof vault. It's the most important document in the history of the United States. Yep, the Declaration of Independence.

The men who signed it on that hot July 4th in Philadelphia knew it was very important, but I wonder if they could have possibly conceived what a sacred piece of paper it would become to the nation that it birthed. Here were subjects of the English king, daring to declare their independence from their king. It changed their lives forever. It changed the world forever. And once a year, every Fourth of July, America stops to remember that Independence Day.

July 3, 2019

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It's amazing how you can go outside on a brutally cold winter day, and you go from shivering to sweating in a few minutes. If you just stand around in the cold or just move around a little bit, you're not going to stay outside for long. It's just too frigid out there, right! But in a very short time you can get to where you barely even notice the cold. Just start shoveling snow or some other vigorous activity. You know, my wife once was out in the middle of a snowstorm, working on some outside chores, and she told me, "It's amazing how you can work up a sweat on a day like this!"

July 2, 2019

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It was one of the causes Princess Diana was most passionate about. A little-known organization that addresses this issue won the Nobel Peace Prize. It's not an issue we think much about, but it's one that costs countless lives every year - land mines. They are the deadly leftovers of a lot of old battles, and a lot of innocent people are injured or killed by them. A land mine, of course, is not where you can see it coming. It's buried. You're just walking along and suddenly the ground beneath you explodes, maiming or destroying an innocent person.

July 1, 2019

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It was a great day for a high school football game, and I was on the sidelines helping out our local team. And then my 12-year-old son, well he was playing a pickup game on a football field nearby. And I was surprised to see him suddenly heading my way, holding his arm, and then, oh man, I saw him wincing with pain. He'd been tackled and he'd fallen on his arm. I can tell you, it was so badly broken the bone was protruding from his skin. So, we rushed him to the emergency room where I had some of the more agonizing moments of my life. Yeah, I know it wasn't my arm. I know, but I was watching the doctor struggle to set my son's multiple fracture. Doug was a tough guy, but he was in great and obvious agony. If you're a parent, you know. It might as well have been me the doctor was working on.

June 28, 2019

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Our friends had bought a new horse and named it Peanut. What kind of horse does that suggest to your imagination? A cute little Shetland Pony? Nope. Try again. Peanut was the biggest horse in their pasture. You know those Clydesdale horses in commercials, you'll have some idea of the size of this big mama. Part Belgian, part Morgan. That meant she was so big my body's probably not big enough to ride her. And they named Peanut. Something is wrong in this picture.