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Wednesday, March 21, 2018

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Just when you think little kids are pretty much all about their toys, TV, and what’s to eat, they amaze you again. Our daughter had one of those times when our grandson was puttering around the house in his jammies one early morning, and he wandered over to an East window. He stared out at the brightening early morning sky for a few moments and then he suddenly launched a question Mommy’s way, "Mommy, who painted the sky?" Before his mother could answer, our grandson answered his own question, "Jesus did."

Tuesday, March 20, 2018

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There's a stretch of nights in the fall when the moon is absolutely incredible! It's usually in October - harvest time for farmers. And when it's full moon time, you can see this huge, brilliant, yellowish moon rising in the eastern sky. It just makes you stop and almost catch your breath. I think it was in the days before electricity that farmers started calling it a "harvest moon." With so much depending on the harvest and so little time to bring it in, every hour had to count. And the days never seemed quite long enough to get it all in. So a bright full moon was more than just a beautiful view...it meant something much more important. With that extra light, God was giving them a little more time to harvest!

Monday, March 19, 2018

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I was watching the History Channel one day, and I was reminded of something I had heard about one of World War II's most dramatic confrontations. British General Montgomery went face-to-face with Hitler's best, General Rommel. They called him "The Desert Fox." He was a brilliant strategist in his campaign to take and then to keep North Africa for the Fuehrer. Well, Montgomery finally defeated the Desert Fox at the Battle of El Alamein. But history also tells us one reason why he did. See, General Montgomery had a picture hanging in his command tent where he could see it every day. No, it wasn't Winston Churchill. It wasn't the King of England. It was a picture of General Rommel. Montgomery said he didn't ever want to forget who he was fighting.

Friday, March 16, 2018

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For years, the stories of J. R. R. Tolkien's "Middle-Earth" were contained in his "Lord of the Rings" book trilogy and enjoyed by a relatively small number of people who loved those stories passionately. But since the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy exploded from books to blockbuster Hollywood movies, millions became enthusiastic fans. The engaging fantasy world of Tolkien's "Middle-Earth," the unique characters, the epic battles, and the spiritual themes that run through the stories; there are many layers that have blended into an experience that has magnetized millions of people. It's a great story, but for many, this is a story that seems to say something - something important. Tolkien, the author of the "Lord of the Rings," was a man with a deep Christian faith, and that faith helped to shape the provocative spiritual themes that many find in "Return of the King," the finale of the trilogy. There is this ring. There is this king. And there, somewhere tied to both, are many of us.

Thursday, March 15, 2018

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Some years ago when three American soldiers were held as prisoners in Yugoslavia during the Kosovo crisis, their loved ones in the United States tied yellow ribbons around the trees in front of their homes. We've seen yellow ribbons before when loved ones are being held prisoner. I think my first recollection of seeing them was during the Iran hostage crisis yeas ago when the American embassy staff in Iran was held hostage for many months. Now, the people who loved those being held hostage tied these yellow ribbons around the trees in their yards and they wouldn't take them down. The yellow ribbons were a symbol of their hope that the one they loved would be back home. And when those hostages finally did come home, man, there were yellow ribbons everywhere!

Wednesday, March 14, 2018

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Some years ago our family was vacationing on the eastern end of Long Island near a little village called Sag Harbor. It was amazing how much that village changed, though, over a period of just 24 hours. One day it was a sleepy little town of tourists kind of strolling from store to store. The next day it was a chaotic beehive with snarled traffic and anxious people rushing from store to store. Do you know what made the difference? A hurricane warning! Yes, a powerful storm was moving up the East Coast and it was expected to hit that part of Long Island. So people were rushing everywhere to get prepared. Batteries and candles suddenly appeared by every cash register in every store. And they quickly disappeared. People were suddenly living differently when there was a major storm.

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

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Sometimes when I'm speaking at a youth conference, I show up on the platform with a pie and a can of whipped cream. Sometimes it makes the front row a little nervous. But not to fear - it's only an illustration, not a weapon. I have my pie cut into six slices. I cover one of those slices with a generous serving of whipped cream. Then the big question to the audience, "How many slices are going to taste like whipped cream?" There's no trick question here. One slice will. Then I spray the whipped cream all over that pie and then there's whipped cream everywhere. And then I repeat the question. This is not hard. Every slice of the pie now will taste like whipped cream. Which, whether you realize it or not, could have a lot to do with how God feels about you as a Christian!

Monday, March 12, 2018

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Marathon man! Yeah, that's me. When we're driving a long trip, I want to get there. I like to drive. Oh, guess what? We just keep barreling. You can ask my kids when they were
little. They knew we only stopped when the gas tank was nearly empty. Sometimes when our other tanks were really full I guess. But they might say, "No, he wasn't marathon man.
He was psycho man!" Well, I have to wonder if I would stop at all if the car didn't have to. You know, cars are like that. They just have to stop for refueling. Cars don't run
forever. Neither do we.

Friday, March 9, 2018

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Fasten your seat belt, science fans. These days it seems as if there's a blockbuster discovery almost every day in the rapidly expanding world of science. But few things have amazed me more than some of the discoveries that came out of the mapping of human genes, human cells, and the stuff of human life that we call DNA. You've lived in your body so many years you probably don't think much about it. Well, think about it for a minute. Your body has, according to the research, ten trillion cells. Each of those ten trillion cells contains a strand of DNA that, if you uncoiled it, would be about six feet long. Now, here's what they're telling us. If you were to place each of those ten trillion strands in your body end to end - ready for your mind to be blown? Your DNA would span the solar system! Go take another look in the mirror.

Thursday, March 8, 2018

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It was a scene that was re-enacted a number of times when our daughter was a little girl. Okay, here's Daddy, in his chair in the living room, immersed in his newspaper. In comes daughter, asking for a little attention from Dad. Dad says, "Uh, in a while, honey." The request is repeated, and the same response. Then, after a few minutes, a little girl comes crashing through the newspaper onto her father's lap. Before I could say anything, she would wrap her arms around my neck and just say, "Daddy, it's cuddle time!"Oh, boy! Melted Daddy, all over the floor.

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

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"The Mad Cleaning Man" That's one of the nicknames affectionately given to me by my family. And I've worked pretty hard to earn that name. Let's put it this way, I hate clutter. I'm not the neatest guy in the world, but I can only function so long when mess is building up around me, you know? So, often without warning, I would go on a straightening rampage. And what was the best way to keep from having to pick something up again? Right! You throw it away! I look at things before I trash them. Come on, you should know that. I'm not irresponsible. But over the years, a family member would walk into a room that was messy when they left but had since had my magic touch. But they would say "Oh no! Dad's been at it again." Which could be followed by cries of frustration as they look for some item, "Dad, where's my such-and-such? It was right here!" Then they would see the glazed eyes of "The Mad Cleaning Man" and they gave up asking. Cleaning up is good, right? But it can be irritating.

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

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I had just returned from an exciting, but exhausting, ministry trip. I was, as I think the British say, "cabbaged." Well, that kind of described me. Two of our staff picked up my remains at the airport, and I settled deep into the passenger side of the front seat. As we were approaching my home, one of my co-workers said, "I can tell you're really tired." I asked how. The answer was, "You didn't ask to drive." Now that's amazing. I guess I always want to drive, and this time the thought hadn't even occurred to me! I'm not even sure I had any thoughts.

Monday, March 5, 2018

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The setting was a beautiful Christian conference center, nestled in this idyllic spot in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Now Rocky Mountain fans won't be impressed, but some of the mountains around the conference center rise to five or six thousand feet. I had been speaking there, and the director began to tell me some interesting stories from their last few months at the center; like the man they had to go looking for at the top of a nearby mountain in the middle of the night. See, he'd gone too far, and he'd stayed out too long. I asked the obvious question: "Well, was he lost?" The director said: "He didn't think he was."

Friday, March 2, 2018

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Our friends own this historic New England inn, and we were privileged to be their guests there on occasion. We loved to go there. I mean, that quaint New England village with a lot of charm. Unfortunately, it's not real close to any major ski area or other attractions. So the hotel and motel owners there were doing OK, but they seldom would sell out. We can understand why our friends, the innkeepers, and the other hotel owners in the area weren't too excited about the news that a couple of major national motel chains would build in their town. There doesn't seem to be enough demand for rooms there to match all that supply. In fact, one point my friend kept making to the town fathers was this. He says, "This is a nice place, but this is not a destination."

Thursday, March 1, 2018

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He may have been the greatest American hero of his time; his name was Meriwether Lewis. When President Thomas Jefferson bought the massive Louisiana Purchase from Napoleon, the size of this young country was more than doubled overnight. The land stretched from the Mississippi all the way to the Pacific, and much of it was known well to Native Americans but largely unknown to white Americans. Jefferson tapped his personal aide and a distinguished war veteran to lead this incredible adventure that we know today as, that's right, the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Following the long and winding route of the Missouri River, Lewis led his expedition all the way from the point where it ends near St. Louis to its headwaters in Montana. His longtime dream had been to find the source of that river and to drink from it. He got his dream. If only it had satisfied his thirst.

wednesday, February 28, 2018

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It's really a beautiful area of the Southwestern United States, except for this one horrendous eyesore. It's a graveyard for cars. Acre after acre; you've seen them. They're covered with cars that have been discarded, or wrecked, or crushed, and stacked several cars deep. And every time I pass this one and I see all these trashed and mashed cars, I can't help but thinking to myself, "Just think, one day that car was somebody's dream come true." Someone probably wished for that car, got that car, and showed everybody this car they were so proud of. Look at it now!

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

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Look, people were confused about it for centuries. They looked at the sun rising and setting every day and they reached a seemingly obvious conclusion: the earth is the center of everything and the sun revolves around the earth, right? If you say "right," you need to go back to third grade science. Actually, if you think the sun revolves around the earth, well, did you know you agree with about one out of five Americans in a recent survey? Well, that's a good thing to get right. I mean, what's in the center and what revolves around it.

Monday, February 26, 2018

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Our son-in-law has always liked to ski, even though he has never gotten to do it that often. And like everything else he does athletically, he goes for it when he skis. But his last time on the slopes was different from all the other times in his life. See, for the first time, he had a son! And that little baby was on his mind when he was on the slopes. When we asked about his ski adventure, I got the distinct feeling he didn't take the risks he's taken before. Actually, here's the way he put it. Moving his arms in skiing form as he said, and just kept saying, "I'm a Daddy. I'm a Daddy. I'm a Daddy."

Friday, February 23, 2018

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It's one of life's passages-taking your first child to college. You drive off, leaving your firstborn there, knowing your life and theirs will never be quite the same. When we left our daughter at the Christian college she had chosen, her two younger brothers were sure they knew how their mother would react. In fact, without announcing it, they just kept watching her all the way home, waiting for her to cry. Well, she never did, and our boys were baffled. They finally asked, " Mom, why didn't you cry?" (What is this to kind of watch Mom cry?) Well, see, the college had given us parents two days of very reassuring orientation, and my wife and I had been very impressed with how they had thought through their students' needs. So why didn't Mom cry? She said, "I don't cry about leaving my child when I know they're in good hands."

Thursday, February 22, 2018

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This grandparent thing can be an expensive proposition. I mean, without grandchildren, you can walk past hundreds of cute toys and never miss a step. But when you have a grandchild, you keep seeing your grandchild's name on those toys. Which means you must buy toy with name on it. Right? Well, not all of them, but probably too many of them. We happened to be in a store with our little granddaughter when she was about one year old, and I happened to see this great stick horse that I thought would be entertaining for another grandchild. That would be our nearly three-year-old grandson at the time. When you squeeze the ear of the head of this horse, the William Tell Overture (otherwise known to us non-intellectuals as the "Lone Ranger Theme") starts playing, and the horse starts whinnying and snorting, and its nose starts twitching back and forth inside its halter. Well, I walked up to the grocery cart that our one-year-old granddaughter was riding in, and I turned it on for her to see. Her reaction was interesting. She reached in the direction of that twitching steed, wanting me to bring it closer. So I did. But as I brought it near her, she pulled as far back as she could, laying her head against her mother's shoulder. So much for my field test.

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