Thursday, August 28, 2014

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In the "olden days" if I had wanted to keep our home warm for the winter I would have had to go out and chop wood. I'm not sorry I missed that. But when I was little, my Dad had to shovel coal into a furnace so we could get heat, with a little help from me of course...very little. And then our home back in New Jersey had oil heat, and we always had enough heat. I didn't have to worry about running out of oil. And I didn't have to go get any. Our heating company always seemed to know when our supply was low. So for me that meant no chopping, no shoveling. Someone always made sure we never ran out.

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

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I remember the summer that I trained two teams of young people for ministry. I went as a speaker with the South Team. The other team was the North Team.
Now, both teams had been sleeping on the floor at training camp-these are tough kids. But things changed when they got on the road. Our team stayed in
private homes with real beds. They were happy campers...or happy not-campers I guess.

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

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"We may never know why this happened." That's the usual reaction when another "senseless" shooting leaves its trail of death and heartbreak. Not this time.
This vengeful gunman in the horrific rampage near Santa Barbara, California left this hate-filled, 141-page manifesto to explain it. As one student's
self-described "day of retribution" he called it.

Monday, August 25, 2014

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Well our mail came today, and yesterday, and the day before yesterday. Big deal, right? It comes most days. It's a big deal. Yeah, the post office has this
motto and they try their best to follow through on it. It's a promise to keep, and it's not an easy one. You know, "Neither rain nor sleet nor snow nor
darkness of night shall stay these couriers from their appointed rounds." Things that need to get through to you usually do. And these people do their best
to keep their promise to get it there no matter what's in the way.

Friday, August 22, 2014

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Some friends said, "How would you like to use our condominium down by the ocean in Florida?" It was a very hard decision, but it took us ten seconds. I'll tell you what, it was really a great place. I never thought I'd stay in a place like that. It had some very distinctive furnishings. Well, yeah, the mirrors! They were everywhere. And they were very strategically placed so you could see the ocean from almost any spot in the house.

Thursday, August 21, 2014

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I was at the headquarters of an international missionary radio ministry, and I was looking into creating a radio project and I needed a little help. I was told that I should speak with, let's just call him Chuck. Okay?

This man that they wanted me to speak with was a very interesting fellow. While discussing a project he would begin brainstorming. But he wasn't very good about keeping in touch once he headed off to do the project. In fact he literally sometimes could not be found! He didn't call in. He didn't communicate at all! This is exactly what they told me, "You'd hear nothing from him, and then suddenly he would reappear and the video is completely done." The gentleman that recommended him said, "You know, he just about drives you crazy, but we love what the guy produces."

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

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The Mississippi River flood of 1993 was a nail-biter if you had a home or business near the river in St. Louis. The flood had already done unprecedented damage up river, and St. Louis was holding their breath as the crest on the Missouri River and Mississippi Rivers rose.

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

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I've got to tell you, it caught me off guard; tears as I was watching the news. It was all Kevin Durant's fault. The Oklahoma City Thunder star was accepting the NBA's MVP award. Nothing you'd expect to be a tear-jerker, until he dedicated his award to his mother who was in the audience. It turns out at 21, she was a single mother, on her own with two young sons. This mountain of a man said to his Mom at that ceremony, "You made us believe. You kept us off the street, you put clothes on our backs, food on our table. When you didn't eat, you made sure we ate. You went to sleep hungry. You sacrificed for us."

Thursday, August 14, 2014

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Well, as usual, during our summers with Native Americans, we had a memorable time with some of our ministry team on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona and New Mexico that particular year. We had a very busy time of reaching people. We did have one break, so we packed as many of us into a van as we could and drove to see this spectacular canyon.

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

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Sports is such an emotional thing! It's a lot of thrills, but then there's an occasional tragedy. This happened some years ago, but I still remember the death of the captain of the Boston Celtics basketball team, Reggie Lewis. He collapsed in a basketball playoff game. A team of doctors said that he had a potentially deadly heart condition and he couldn't play any more. Well, they went for a second opinion and those doctors said it wasn't so serious and he could gradually return to play. He died doing practice shooting in a gym a few months later, maybe trying to make a come back. One newscaster I heard reported it this way, "He heard what he wanted to hear."