Download MP3 (right click to save)
The tragic shooting that killed four students (and the shooter) at Marysville High School in Washington shocked everybody. When it first appeared that 15-year-old Jaylen Fryberg was the shooter, it was all the more shocking.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Several years ago I had the privilege of visiting Old Jerusalem. And as I walked through that city, I saw a peculiar site. Some Israeli soldiers who appeared to be on a holiday, because they had their arm around their girl, they were laughing, they were shopping. The curious part was that they each had a gun strapped over their shoulder; the Uzi with a full clip of ammunition. Those Israeli soldiers, well they know that they always need to be prepared for war, even when they're taking the day off. They always carry their weapon.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
When Ebola first popped up in the United States I was watching that news story about the Dallas nurse who was the first person to ever contract Ebola in America. And I was hit by a lesson that I found intensely personal to me.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
My wife is not your typical American television viewer. In fact, she seldom watches it. And secondly, when she does, I often find her watching nature shows. One time when I walked in there was this program on whales. It did make her blubber a little bit, but I did learn a lot watching it with her. It was about how this killer whale is really not as vicious as you might think he is, even with the name "Killer Whale." They actually had footage of a killer whale lying in the water with all these smaller animals playing all over him. Isn't that cute! The commentator said, "The killer whale is usually pretty gentle." Well, if so, he can afford to be gentle. He knows no one can threaten him, because I don't think anybody's stronger.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
If you're in a hurry, there are words you really don't want to see on the highway like, "Reduce Speed", or "Construction Ahead." Often that slow-down occurs long before you even see the sign. You wonder, "What's going on here? Why am I in a two-mile traffic jam?
Download MP3 (right click to save)
A dog and bubbles: Ah, There's an amusing combination! I think my wife discovered this when our little Shih tzu dog was just a puppy, a new member of our family, (and I'm happy to report, the only one with four legs), and she was kind of still discovering her world. My wife went out and bought one of those containers of bubbles, you know the one with the little wand that you could blow the bubbles out of? We used them when we were kids.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
My flight was scheduled to leave Newark Airport at 2:30 in the afternoon. There was bad weather at my destination, so they said we were postponed until 4:30. Then, "We have no idea when we'll be able to leave." Then they said, "We think we'll go at 5:30." Finally we did leave at 6:00. Of course that gave us lots of time to memorize the menu at the airport restaurant, which didn't take long, to check out the restroom several times, buy lots of magazines, and count the designs in the carpet. In the meantime another flight had been cancelled and some of those passengers were put on my flight. So this was one very full plane.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
I had just finished up a great conference in Canada, and Michael, our Field Director was there with me. We were walking back to our hotel to pack up and leave. I was really tired and pre-occupied when he handed me this envelope. I noticed a phone message written on it, and I distinctly remember Michael saying something when he handed it to me, but I was concentrating on that message that been written on the envelope. I looked at who it was and I said to myself, "Oh, I already made that call." And since I was finished with the message, after I got in my room I threw the envelope away.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
We were sitting in the living room of a Native American family who were among the few Jesus-followers in their entire tribe. That's not uncommon. And Mom was telling us about how Jesus entered their family. Her grandmother had been a priestess in the tribal religion until she discovered what she called "the black book" and discovered the love of Jesus Christ. She was the first Jesus-follower in her family. And the village leaders didn't like it at all. In fact, when people decided to follow Jesus in that tribe, they expelled them from the village. So, suddenly, their family had no home.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
I'm making a list of great books someone needs to write. One is called "How to Motivate Kids to Work". I'd have bought that one when the kids were growing up. I have to be fair to our guys, they pitched in a lot. But sometimes I could have used a book like that.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
It was the biggest event of the year in the little town of Cornwall; the annual Christmas pageant, starring many of the people of the town. When it came time for casting the various parts, every parent was pushing for their son or daughter to be included. On audition day, it didn't take long to match every part with just the right person.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Like most Americans, I just about O.D. on the news. No matter what it's about! It could be news about elections, or some economic problem, or eruptions in the Middle East. It's all important, but it's not exactly in the "joy to the world" category.
So I absolutely loved the feel-good story out of New York City that went viral across Facebook a couple of years ago. It was about the friendly policeman and the freezing homeless man. And it had "Christmas Story" written all over it.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
When my son was in college I think his favorite Christmas song was "I'll be Home for Christmas." That might be every college student's favorite song. He started counting the days, the hours, and the minutes until it was time to go home. But none of our kids have ever experienced anything like what my wife calls her loneliest Christmas.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
The short story writer, Bret Hart, gives us a story out of the Old West about a town called Roaring Camp. I think it's a story that brings the miracle of Christmas into very sharp focus into our lives today and I want to share it with you.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
The Christmas season always involves these big shopping decisions, "What should we get for the kids?" Well, our children over the years were always helpful enough to provide us with a list. Now it's kids and grandkids. And now it's our grandchildren that really have great lists.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
In some ways I'm glad the three little Hutchcrafts aren't little any more. When they were, the day before Christmas always meant assembling some "easy to assemble" toy. I hate those words! It wasn't easy to assemble. Oh, and the day after, oh that's nice. It usually meant fixing what was not easy to assemble in the first place. It seems like the day after Christmas there was always something was broken. Actually, there's some fixing that needs to happen before Christmas.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
The sign said Antique Auto Show, so my wife and I decided that we'd take fifteen minutes and stop at this car dealership and look at the antique autos. Really we were interested in seeing the ones that, you know, like went back to the 50s and 60s. There was this one, sleek, black '66 Mustang that had a flawless exterior, a rich interior, the hood was open so you could look at the horsepower underneath.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Ellis Island was the first piece of America that millions of immigrants ever saw – ever touched. Perhaps it was that way for somebody in your family. Ellis Island was the point of entry for all the immigrants coming through New York; a little island in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
A boy from the south side of Chicago; a girl from the Ozarks and they lived happily ever after. It's the story of my wife and me. As we approached our wedding day several years ago, (ahem!) it was a week after our college graduation. We had a lot of love, but no money to speak of.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
We were trying to teach some young leaders the importance of teamwork. One of the exercises I used was to have them put together a puzzle. (I thought it was a bright idea.) You tear off a page of a magazine, tear it into pieces, dump it into the middle of each small group, and see who could put their pictures together first. It didn't work too well. See, I forgot one little thing. I forgot to give them a copy of the complete picture so they could see what it should look like when it was all together. Duh! Now, I've tried to work on one of those big, many-pieces puzzles myself, and I've had the same frustration because I didn't know where the top of the puzzle box top was. It was really hard to put the pieces together when the complete picture wasn't there.
