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Thursday, November 9, 2017

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You know, sometimes people just overwhelm me with their love and their kindness. Some dear people from the church I grew up in learned about some needs we had in our home for a long time. And well, with the schedule I had, there really wasn't much time to make some of the desperately needed improvements or repairs-not to mention the fact that I (How can we put this?) am constructionally challenged. And with our limited budget, we hadn't been able to pay anyone else to do it either. Well, in this amazing expression of God's love, a work crew from my childhood church came to our house for three intensive days of house transformation. And now we could see all over the house the wonderful results of their labors and their love.

Tuesday, November 7, 2017

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Our neighbor, Dan, is a walking miracle. One year he was in a terrible automobile accident that many say should have killed him. He was evacuated from the crash site by a helicopter actually, with multiple injuries, including his back being broken in two places. But God wasn't finished with Dan yet. He miraculously spared his life--and miraculously delivered Dan from the paralysis that his injuries should have given him. And through it all, Dan surrendered his life to Jesus Christ. What a testimony Dan has! Now, I've never had a serious injury in my life. I've never been in a hospital for a long time facing possible death or paralysis. So my story is nowhere near as dramatic as Dan's. But that's OK. I'm excited about how God put Dan back together, but I'm glad I didn't have to be put back together!

Monday, November 6, 2017

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It's been a lot of years now, 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. (Sorry, I couldn't help myself.) 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 was still there? Yeah, The Force. And in subsequent movies, of course, still there. And what is The Force? No one's really sure, but it seems to be the spiritual power you can tap into to help you win your battles.

Friday, November 3, 2017

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Well, it's been kind of a long time since our daughter was a little girl, all grown up, married, a mom and all. But the other day she told me about a Bible verse she learned as a little girl and has never forgotten. You've probably heard it, "If God be for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31). Then she told me why she's never forgotten it. One day when she was pretty young I brought her to my office, and at lunchtime, we walked downtown to get something to eat. And, as Lisa remembers very vividly, we passed this storefront that must have been a fortune teller's place. There was a picture of a big human palm in the window, signifying that the occupant did palm reading. Now, Lisa tells that I explained to her what that all meant-and that night she got to thinking about it. And really she was too scared to go to sleep. At which point she says I knelt next to her bed and I gave her a word for today from the Word of God: "If God be for us, who can be against us?" She went to sleep repeating those words. She said she never forgot them, and she's hung onto them many times in the years to come.

Thursday, November 2, 2017

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My wife and I had been on the road for quite a while, and company was coming as soon as we got home. Frankly, with the whirlwind that preceded our departure, there was some unfinished work that we left behind at home. And, thankfully, a friend came over while we were gone and pitched in. One job my wife had asked her to tackle was to get some stubborn food and melted wax spots out of our nice red tablecloth. Well, one of the first things we noticed when we walked in the door after our trip was that tablecloth spread out on the dining room table, looking as good as new. And it had a handwritten note on it. It simply said: "I'm clean. I've been washed, and all my dirty spots came out." Pretty amazing - a note from a tablecloth. That could only happen at our house.

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

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It had been a long time since Karen and I did the baby thing, but then our kids started having kids. And our first grandchild came. Our wonderful grandson, and I forgot how those little guys could eat! I assure you there was nothing wrong with this boy's appetite. You could tell the first couple of days on earth. He'd start crying to make his announcement that it was time to eat, and he wouldn't stop crying until he had his fill. Of course, I'm like that sometimes. And then that second day, he had just eaten, and right away here he is again announcing he still needed to eat some more. We were able to distract him briefly. You know, we could play or sing or change positions, but only briefly. Nope! Pretty soon he was at it again – until he got fed some more.

Tuesday, October 31, 2017

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When historian Stephen Ambrose wrote the bestseller about their amazing adventure, he appropriately titled it Undaunted Courage. It's one of the many accounts of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, the daring group who explored America's new Louisiana Purchase 200 years ago. As they made their way along the Missouri River, traveling from St. Louis all the way to the Pacific Ocean, most every bend in the river revealed sights and wildlife that no white man had ever seen. One of the many critical moments on their two-year expedition was the point in Montana where they encountered a fork in the Missouri River. There was no map to guide them, and a wrong choice could exhaust their resources for a very long journey. The river to the right was muddy like the Missouri had been. The crew wanted to go that way. But Captain Lewis and Captain Clark assessed the situation, and led their reluctant men down the left fork. When the expedition reached the massive waterfalls that Indian friends had told them they would find, they all knew they had chosen the right way.

Monday, October 30, 2017

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My wife, Karen, received this lovely family heirloom diamond ring. And she took it to the jeweler so he could look at it with the magic eye that jewelers have. As he looked at it under magnification, he let out a curious "hmmm." He told Karen that the diamond had a fracture in the middle of it, invisible to the naked eye. Which caused Karen to ask how there could be a fracture in the middle. Why didn't it go all the way across the diamond? Mr. Jeweler gave a very interesting explanation. He basically said that while some diamonds are developing, some underground disturbance – maybe a quake or a tremor – causes the diamond to crack. But apparently some diamonds continue to develop anyway. Like the one we had. It was fractured, but it didn't stop growing!

Friday, October 27, 2017

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Hooper Bay, Alaska. It's a little Eskimo village on the edge of the Bering Sea. And it was a place missionaries had repeatedly wanted our Native American outreach team, "On Eagles' Wings", to go to. They all spoke of the unparalleled desperation there. Well, thank God, we were able to go and see an amazing response to the Gospel – although we almost didn't get there! The weather closed in as our small missionary plane made its landing approach. My wife, Karen, was in that lead plane with several of our Native team leaders. The clouds were very low, the rain was falling, fog was all around. And our seasoned missionary pilot was making literally moment-by-moment judgments as to whether he needed to turn back. Now, hanging out over the Bering Sea, approaching that tiny runway, there was a whole lot of praying going on. But Karen, who knew enough about flying to read the critical instruments at least, said everything appeared to be lined up perfectly. Oh no, not according to their senses, not according to their stomachs, but according to the instruments. And moments later, sure enough, they were safe and sound on that runway! With a total instrument landing!

Thursday, October 26, 2017

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Matt is 16, and he hates his birthday. At least, that's what some of his friends said. He said his birthday is always the worst day of the year for him ever since his sixth birthday. He remembers that like it was yesterday. See, his mom went out and bought a special cake, she invited all his friends to come over for Matt's birthday party, and nobody came. And since there was nobody there for the party, his mom took the cake back to the store. There was no one there to celebrate him.

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

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One of the great privileges of my life was serving in the leadership of the Northern New Jersey Billy Graham Crusade in the Meadowlands. Now, for many of us who had been trying to reach people in this very hard corner of America, it was thrilling to see that arena nearly full on that opening Wednesday night. The arena seats 18,000 people, and filling it in Jesus' name was a victory of historic proportions for our area. By Thursday, it was totally full. But I was strangely restless. See, by faith, we had set up 8,000 chairs and a jumbo-tron video screen in the parking lot just in case there was overflow. It looked like we wouldn't need it – as the press so graciously reminded us. Even though we were seeing unprecedented attendances and spiritual harvests, I felt led to pull together several of our Crusade leaders after the second night. After thanking God for all He had done, I asked them to pray with me a prayer I had never prayed before. "Lord, if anyone other than You is holding a lid on this thing, if there's even more You want to do, would You blow the lid off!"

Monday, October 23, 2017

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They often give you one when you check into some sprawling motel complex, or a big theme park, or a large convention facility. It's a map of the place. And for the directionally challenged like me, there's one important thing I look for on that map. It's that "X" and those very helpful words, "You are here". See, you're not helping me very much by just giving me a drawing of where everything is. In order for me to use that to get where I want to go, I need that one fundamental piece of information-where am I right now?

Friday, October 20, 2017

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Today's children have barely even heard of the disease, but when I was a kid, it was every parent's greatest fear for their child - that crippling, sometimes deadly disease called polio. I can distinctly remember how my mother didn't even want me to be in big crowds because of how polio seemed to spread so quickly. But then along came the vaccine. We all got our shots and we were immune to polio. Since then, there are a lot more shots like that for everything from smallpox, to tetanus, to the flu. And they all work basically on the same principle; in essence, you get a little of the virus injected into your system so that your body will build up an immunity to what could otherwise cripple you or kill you. That kind of immunization can save your life. But, on the other hand, immunization can be really dangerous spiritually…even deadly.

Thursday, October 19, 2017

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It was exciting that first time I landed at LaGuardia Airport in New York City. There's the skyline of Manhattan out the window, and water all around us as the plane touched down on the runway. It was only after I had landed that my host in New York told me how they built LaGuardia Airport. He said, "Oh, they built it on the garbage of New York." Landfill in the bay created a base on which an airport could be built. By the way, on which my airplane just landed.

Wednesday, October 18, 2017

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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was not only the creator of Sherlock Holmes, but apparently he was a creative practical joker, too. The story is told of one horrendous - although clever - practical joke that he played one time. He just wrote a short, unsigned telegram - all in fun - to 12 of the best known men in England. The anonymous message was the same; only six words - six scary words: "All is discovered. Flee at once." You want to guess what happened? As the story goes, within 24 hours not one of those men could be found.

Tuesday, October 17, 2017

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During an opportunity I had to work with my son on some Native American youth outreaches, one of our attractions that night was various basketball competitions. Alex was one of those who showed up to compete in the 3-point shooting contest. Alex is probably about 12, and he appears to have Down's Syndrome. But he doesn't let any Special Ed limitations slow him down. Alex plunges right into things. It's neat to watch. Now, his shooting didn't win any prizes, but his attitude sure would have. In fact, later in the evening, I saw this very special scene at the far end of the gym. Our son, Brad, who is a moose, was holding Alex in his arms and letting him shoot baskets from that improved altitude. Alex was loving it. But the best part came a few minutes later. I glanced down the gym floor and I saw a similar scene – except this time it was Alex lifting up a boy smaller than he was so that little guy could shoot some baskets! Wow!

Monday, October 16, 2017

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My wife, Karen, was waking up to a sound she hadn't heard before and she couldn't identify. It sounded like crinkling cellophane, and it was coming from inside our bedroom walls! Now, somehow I missed this little symphony, but Karen sure picked up on it. Since we were pretty sure no one was actually crinkling cellophane in our walls, we looked into other possibilities. Like carpenter ants, for example. And sure enough, that's what it was! Those little marauders were feasting on the wood in our house, and they were gradually eating our home! We didn't even have to think about what to do. "Hello, Mr. Exterminator?"

Friday, October 13, 2017

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I was traveling to South Africa, and I had this 18-hour flight layover in Rome, and I wanted to see as much of it as I could. A friend of mine picked me up at the airport and we began this whirlwind day by taking me to the Coliseum. As we left, we were surrounded by five or six gypsy children who started talking all at once. My friend actually told me to hang onto my stuff, which I desperately tried to do. I had my wallet in my front pants pocket as a precaution, my passport in my sport jacket, a camera bag, and an umbrella because it was raining. Those kids were good at what they did. They did everything to distract us as they tried to grab something of value. Well, my friend fended them off using his umbrella like a sword, and then we breathed a sigh of relief as we checked to see if we had everything. We had just rounded a corner when I saw this little gypsy girl - maybe five years old or so - running over the hill toward us. She was waving something blue in her hand. It was my passport. Unbeknownst to me, the kids had gotten my passport, and unbeknownst to them, this little girl had brought it back to me. It was a little miracle actually, and it was a good thing. I wasn't about to get into South Africa without my passport!

Thursday, October 12, 2017

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Not long ago I got to take one of my favorite East Coast walks. You know, growing up in Illinois, I didn't know much about the ocean. So when we moved to New Jersey, I quickly developed a pretty deep love for the ocean. So it's no surprise that Ocean City is one of my favorite places to go, right? And I love to walk out on the long, rock jetties that reach out into the sea from the beach. I really love it at high tide when the surf's crashing in around those rocks. When you see some of those monster waves surging toward those rocks, it looks like there's going to be a classic confrontation between the irresistible force (the ocean) and the immovable object (the rocks). Well, I'll tell you, the ocean sure overwhelms everything else in its way. But every time those rocks I stand on meet the mighty power of the sea, the winner is always the same. The wave is shattered. The rock remains.

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

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Ronald Reagan led one of the most extraordinary lives of the 20th Century-a life which he sadly and progressively forgot in the last years of his life. His long battle with Alzheimer's Disease acted like a cruel eraser. It removed recollections of what he had done and even who he was. After Ronald Reagan's death, we learned a lot more about what happened during his long journey into darkness. Memory of his years in Hollywood just disappeared, and then he couldn't remember being Governor of California, and ultimately he lost all that had happened in his years as being President of the United States. But one memory stayed alive almost until the end. In the office that Nancy Reagan set up for him, there was a picture on the wall; it was a picture of the Rock River in Illinois. When visitors would ask him about it, after most of his life was there no more, he would brighten and he'd say, "Oh, that's where I was a lifeguard when I was 17. That's where I saved 77 lives!"

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