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Tuesday, August 7, 2018

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When our son and his family lived in another state, man, we cherished visits from him, his wife and our beautiful granddaughter. She was two at the time, but she seemed to have the vocabulary of like a five-year-old. Besides being unexplainably beautiful (being my granddaughter, that's miraculous), she really knew how to communicate – with words, with gestures, with facial expressions. We loved our time with her, and she seemed to love her time with us. But, well, this wasn't home. They lived many miles from here. She needed to be home ultimately, sleeping in her bed, playing with her toys, being around the people she loves there, and enjoying her personal world. This is where she visited. That's where she lived. She was in the car with Mommy and Daddy, all strapped in her toddler seat and ready to pull out of the driveway to head home. Oh how she cried! She begged me to get in. She begged me to sit down. Her crying broke a grandparent's heart. But once she was home she loved being where she lived. It's just that leaving is so hard.

Monday, August 6, 2018

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It's one of the most popular convention locations in the United States-Las Vegas. We can each guess as to what some of the reasons for its popularity might be. But it's become a popular destination for people other than conventioneers. You know, you might remember that advertising campaign; they were advertising Las Vegas as the place to go if you want to get away with something. Using some scenes that suggest some covert relationships and secret romantic liaisons, the tantalizing promise that flashes across the screen says: "What happens here stays here." Wrong! 

Friday, August 3, 2018

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Okay, I'm sort of a news junkie, and I really like to watch a national news cast sometime before the day is over. But there are some words I cringe at when I hear them in the news, like "hostage". I mean, soon as you hear that word "hostage" you know that there is a potential life or death standoff going on between some angry desperate assailant and the officers. The law enforcement people are trying to save the hostages that he's holding. You know, recently I talked with a police officer friend of mine, and I asked him how they handle those dangerous rescues. He said, "First you want to use something like tear gas, or fatigue, or a marksman. Then what you've got to do is to immobilize the hostage taker." 

Thursday, August 2, 2018

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Driving is never more exciting than it is during a major snow storm. In fact it is so exciting, you ought to avoid it. Sometimes you just can't. I was scheduled to speak at this retreat in the Poconos Mountains one January weekend and a major snow storm moved in right on the Friday when everyone was supposed to be traveling to Pennsylvania from New Jersey. So I waited all day for the call, I was sure it was going to come. "Sorry, it's been cancelled." Oh, I got the call; yeah, they were still going. And by that time it was dark, it was snowing very impressively and I got on the Interstate. I traveled at a very reduced speed and it looked almost impossible to make it until I spotted my friend up ahead. Well, my friend the snow plow. He was clearing a lane as he went. So I just fell in right behind Mr. Snow plow and followed him through the storm all the way to the Pennsylvania line. Oh, that works!

Wednesday, August 1, 2018

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I just don't understand why this beautiful girl at college didn't have love at first sight. I mean, when she met me, you know? I mean, it wasn't even love at second sight, or tenth sight. We met at college, and it wasn't as if she was holed up in her room studying all the time. She was very active socially-especially in dating some of the most sought-after guys on campus. I knew getting her wasn't going to be easy. So I carefully planned my comings and goings so I would be places that I thought she would be. Don't you dare call it stalking - no. I thought about things I could say that might impress her, and I ultimately let her know that I had more than a casual friendship in my mind. There were challenges, but there was no way I was going to lose this girl. I loved her, I relentlessly pursued her, and I got her! And what a wonderful life it's been together! 

Tuesday, July 31, 2018

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The Lord's been good to our ministry and given us vehicles when we needed them through His people. It's been a wonderful thing. And I remember years ago, He provided our ministry with a used car. It was the easiest car to drive we've ever had up to that time. The windows were interesting. Looking out the windshield, everything looks clear. Looking out the side windows; that was another story. They were tinted for privacy. But over the years and the miles and all the heat, the tinting had started to create ripples in the glass. So everything you looked at through those windows just didn't look quite right. It's was blurred, it was distorted, it was dark.

Monday, July 30, 2018

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We tend to measure life by its milestones. Take our first born child, our daughter. There have been a lot of milestones in her life. I remember looking at the films of her learning to walk. Now, that's a big milestone from a long time ago. Her first piano recital; we have pictures of that of course. Her first band concert; that was a big one. Let's see, there was her junior high graduation, then her high school graduation, her college graduation, her wedding; man, there have been a lot of things. I remember that when she graduated from college there was a sense of completion I think for all of us. She had a double major in college. She graduated with honors. She got a degree from a great school, and I wrote something on her graduation card for all the work and all the money that that degree had cost. I told her there is another degree that she needs. One that is far more important.

Friday, July 27, 2018

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Our son and daughter-in-law own a little piece of rhodochrosite since a recent western vacation. (I think I'm saying that right.) And with the stone came the story. Their host told them about the men who were in search of gold who didn't care much about this rock they found on their way to the gold. Initially, they just tossed it aside. But they noticed that embedded in the granite was an attractive rose-colored stone. As they refined it, the rare and rich, almost ruby-like color of that stone revealed its beauty. There was a time when it was just used for making driveways or even just discarded. But today a relatively few ounces are worth thousands of dollars. 

Thursday, July 26, 2018

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He's only in our office for a few days each year, but we think about him a lot. He's our auditor-the man who comes to check up on us financially after each fiscal year. It's important that a ministry have an annual audit we think. We're committed to always taking the high road and we try to be stewards of God's money that has been sent through His people. Everything needs to be handled by the highest possible standards. Now, the auditor will publish his statement after his review, and if he finds any weaknesses, he publishes those. I'm really thankful that we continue to get a good clean audit, but that's because we're thinking about the auditor all year long. I mean, here we are trying to decide the best way to record or document something. We always ask, "Well, what does the auditor want?" See, that helps you make right choices. You keep in mind that accounting that you're going to have to give.

Wednesday, July 25, 2018

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I was speeding along the Interstate; legally speeding of course, and this van passed me. He pulled into the right lane and then he seemed to be maintaining a pretty consistent speed. For many miles, I ended up traveling behind him. I noticed there was something unusual about this van-it had a plastic bubble that was mounted just above the roof. I had some ideas of why it might be there, especially in light of the words printed on the side of the van. It gave the name of a large express mail delivery service, followed by these words, "Critical Care Van." Later, actually a law enforcement friend of mine confirmed my theory of what that vehicle was actually carrying-parts. Body parts needed for transplants that can save lives. And the bubble on top? My friend said that's a strobe light that actually turns traffic lights green as the van approaches them! Wonder how I could get one of those for me?

Tuesday, July 24, 2018

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If you were the baby of the family, you might be able to relate to the occasional complaint that was filed by our youngest who's now all grown up. He kiddingly talks about how many pictures were taken of his older sister, then his older brother, and how we seemed to run out of film by the time he came along. You know, the last-in-line complex. But when reflecting on another sibling comparison he came to a happier conclusion. He said, "You built this big dollhouse as a gift for my sister. Then you built this big, fully loaded barn for my brother. Then you built a general store for me-about half the size of the dollhouse and the barn." At first, he thought, "Here we go again. Yep, they run out of gas by the time they get to me." But then, all of a sudden he noticed that his store had something neither of his siblings' had-a sign on the store with his name, identifying him as the proprietor. Our son said, "You know, I felt really good when I realized that what you gave me had my name on it!" All right, let's hear one for the baby! 

Monday, July 23, 2018

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Now, I'm not a deer hunter. I think I was brainwashed by "Bambi" a long time ago, but I tell you, something incredible happens in a lot of parts of the country when deer season opens. Some places they close school for a few days because of the deer, and in many places it's just understood. I mean, workers aren't going to show up for work that day; they're going to be somewhere in the woods on Operation Buck. Unfortunately, sometimes the hunt can end in tragedy-for the hunter, I mean, not the deer.

Friday, July 20, 2018

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I know this is going to come as a shock to you, but radio guys like me, we actually make mistakes sometimes. Yep, believe it or not. But you don't hear them. No, I have wonder-worker. Yep, producer, editor. And I have to always be nice to him. See, producers edit out my mistakes, but that doesn't mean they throw away the tape. No, see, the same goes for the random and sometimes crazy things I may say before or after we record a program. You will never hear those! Oh, it's all there. Yeah, he makes sure the tape is always rolling. I mean, one Christmas I was reminded of that in a most vivid way. They put together a recording of some of my mistakes and comments, stretched together in an imaginary interview with a TV reporter, and they played for our whole staff. No, you'll never hear it. Sure enough, if I say it, they've got it. 

Thursday, July 19, 2018

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I don't know if there was ever a time in our son's life when he checked the mailbox so many times. Now I know what you're thinking-a letter from a girl, right? 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. Well, it got a little frustrating and as he talked with all his college friends, they were telling him in other parts of the country, that they already had their grades. And every day that they didn't come, he got a little more frustrated. Now why was he so eager to get his grades? He had every reason to believe he had done very well this time. And finally, they came. Best grades by far since he started college, the Dean's List! High fives all around, baby!

Wednesday, July 18, 2018

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If you've ever listened to the fans at a college or professional football game, you know some of them are the ultimate experts at what their team is doing wrong and what they should be doing. It's just amazing some of those fans haven't been hired as like head coach of the team, right? Yeah. After speaking for professional football chapels and getting to know some of the players, I was less than patient with their critics all around me up in the stands. I mean, I knew some of those guys on the field. I knew they had everything on the line when they played and that they were the only heroes in the game. You know, there were no heroes in the stands. Sometimes I just wanted to stand up and say to one of those guys: by the way, I never did because they were all bigger than I am. But I wanted to say, "Hey! Why don't you get out of the stands and get in the game!"

Tuesday, July 17, 2018

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Over the years it's been an honor and a pleasure to speak for a lot of professional football chapels. You should have seen me with the New York Giants. I was like the New York dwarf! Hey, listen, I'm tall inside okay. Their "thank you" for speaking was two tickets for the game; 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, well, you've got to pay a little for the best seats, but you get a view that most folks can't see.

Monday, July 16, 2018

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"Please help us." That's what the people stranded on the roof of their house wrote on the sign that they waved over their heads. They represented so many thousands of New Orleans residents who were left stranded and in deadly danger by the floods of Hurricane Katrina. The wind and the rain of that category four hurricane were bad enough, but it was when the levees broke that suddenly major parts of the city were underwater, literally up to the rooftops. We heard the harrowing stories that began to unfold of how people had moved from a first floor to a second floor to escape those toxic waters. Then, as the second floor filled with water, how they moved to their last point of refuge-the roof. And many were stranded there, no food, no water, and increasingly no hope. Then hope showed up in the shape of a Coast Guard helicopter, hovering over their rooftop refuge. Hope was a man coming down a cable to where they were; a man who secured their rescue and saved their lives. 

Friday, July 13, 2018

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If you ask our kids about four or five of the most indelible memories from their childhood, I think at least one is bound to bring up the night of the hurricane. Some friends had offered their home on Eastern Long Island; we could use it 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, and lined the freezer with newspaper in case the power went out. The leading winds of the hurricane started blowing in about bedtime that night, and I mean, you could hear it howling around our bedrooms upstairs. The kids were pretty unnerved (including this kid). So, we all moved out of our rooms to the downstairs living room. We laid out some sleeping bags, and we slept side by side together in the living room. The kids loved it! They actually said, "Hey, Dad, hurricanes are fun!" Really?

Thursday, July 12, 2018

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When I was a kid, "Nautilus" was Captain Nemo's submarine in a Jules Verne novel. I knew that because (No, I didn't read it.) Walt Disney put it on TV. Then "Nautilus" became the name of an early nuclear submarine launched by the United States. But not too long ago I saw a nautilus while we were at Ocean City, New Jersey. It wasn't a submarine. It was the original nautilus; the little sea creature with the fascinating shell. We actually saw a lot of nautilus shells in little shops. We bought one for our living room. It's real smooth on the outside, got stripes on it, and it's bigger than my hand. Now, to me, the nautilus shell is shaped sort of like a big, shiny human ear, and maybe we could say it's like an unborn child in the womb, if you can picture that. The original inhabitant is gone, of course, but his fascinating shell-house remains. When you cut a nautilus shell in half, it reveals the life story of the one-time inhabitant. At the center is this circular chamber with a wall around it. That was the original home of a little bitty nautilus. There are circular chambers all the way to the outer edge of the shell, and each chamber is a little larger than the previous one. That little sea creature kept outgrowing his shell, so he left it behind and moved on to the next chamber-and chapter-of his life. 

Wednesday, July 11, 2018

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Look, whether you're a Yankee or a Confederate at heart, you don't take much joy in what happened at what is called the "High Water Mark of the Confederacy." If you're a Civil War buff, you know that's where the Union Army turned back Pickett's Charge at the Battle of Gettysburg. Some 15,000 Confederate soldiers marched courageously across a field in a very tightly packed formation, advancing on 40,000 Union soldiers. Only 150 of those Southern soldiers made it. General Lee had made an honest but tragic mistake. See, he'd been trained at West Point in Napoleon's war tactics-masses of men, advancing against imprecise, short-range weapons until they could overwhelm the opposing troops in hand-to-hand combat. Unfortunately, things had changed since that kind of strategy had won battles for Napoleon. Recent technology had greatly improved the range and the accuracy of the rifles that the Union Army was using, which meant those masses of men were brought down long before they could ever reach enemy lines.

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