Thursday, September 18, 2014

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Every once in a while my wife and I would get to choose what we wanted to do with an evening. You notice I said, "Every once in a while." It was pretty rare when the kids were still at home. They had such busy schedules that kept us running, and we, of course, have always had a lot of ministry responsibilities. Well, there was this one evening where we were actually able to decide what we wanted to do - with each other! We talked about being with friends. Someone had said, "Oh, there's a movie you ought to see." We finally decided we'd stay home and talk. You say, "Oh, boring." We said, "Great!"

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

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Well, I taught my boys some baseball, some football, some manners, some English, some history. Then along came chemistry. Oh, I wanted to help one of my sons who was really struggling with it, but my desire wasn't enough. See, chemistry wasn't my thing. As my wife says whenever one of our sons does something crazy, "The apple falls not far from the tree." I don't know why she doesn't say that when they do something good. Well, that was true of chemistry. Very early on I could see that I was at the limit of my ability to help my son. So I called Chuck. Now, there's a boy who understood chemistry. We discussed that academically redemptive word "tutor". He did it and our son survived the "acid" test of chemistry.

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

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A while back I had the privilege of being in South Florida over Easter weekend. And between the meetings I was speaking for, we took a short drive out on the Florida Keys. It was Good Friday afternoon, and I saw a sight there that really got my attention. We were just cruising along, and all of a sudden we saw this small group of people who were walking along the side of the road. What was unusual was the man in front. He was carrying a large, full-sized cross on his shoulders. Well, not exactly carrying. I actually did a double-take. I might have swerved the car a little bit. The cross was on wheels.

Friday, September 12, 2014

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My friend, Lance, has played a lot of parts on stage, and he has a lot of acting ability. Naturally he was interested when he heard that his church was going to do an outreach drama. It was to be held in a public auditorium and they developed this powerful, original presentation of The Life of Christ. And Lance was stunned by the casting choice they made. They wanted to cast him as Jesus. Well, Lance had been in enough productions to know that you've got to get into the person you're playing. You have to stay in that character all day long if possible. And Lance said he really tried. And he told me, "You know what I discovered? I couldn't play Jesus." Neither can you.

Thursday, September 11, 2014

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I was flying into another city one early Saturday morning, and as I'm getting off in the lounge I see the TV crew. I thought, "Oh, somebody important must be on the plane." I looked around and wondered who I'd missed in first class as I went through. And suddenly there was a microphone in my face. Obviously it had nothing to do with somebody important, so why are they talking to me?

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

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There was a stretch in the life of the Buffalo Bills football team where they had to live down three straight losses in the Super Bowl. Now, there were some memorable victories, but people tend to forget the victories. In fact, they did have this one amazing victory. It was January 3, 1993. It was one of the most amazing games I can remember! It was the wild card game against the team known then as the Houston Oilers. Now, the winner of that game would be in the playoffs, and as things turned out, ultimately in the Super Bowl.

Monday, September 8, 2014

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Life on the road is so glamorous! Yeah, I can pack, unpack and repack my suitcase blindfolded. I have learned the survival skills of living in airports. And one of the most important things to remember, although it is hard sometimes, remember what time zone you're in. You can really get that messed up if you forget that. A lot of things are going to be wrong. I know! You miss planes, you miss meals, you miss appointments, you miss sleep. So I must faithfully reset my watch as I cross in and out of time zones or everything else is going to get messed up.

Thursday, September 4, 2014

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I've been a New York Giants fan for quite a while, and that's been a loyalty that has taken me from the depths of a season with only three wins to the pinnacle of winning the Super Bowl and a lot of seasons in-between there. But I'm a happy camper any time they make the playoffs at the end of a season like any fan would be.

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

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Back in the day when our kids were in school, you didn't really need to pay to go to a circus. You just could come to our house around 7:00 or 8:00 o'clock in the morning; any time before the school bus came. The boys were trying to find their socks and their shoes, or car keys, homework, contact lenses, glasses - mayhem. So many times they get home from school and things kind of landed wherever they landed, and they had to figure out where that was the next morning. The problem is, the next morning you can't remember where you left it, so you panic to find your stuff in those moments that you have to leave for school, because that's pretty unforgiving when school begins when the bus comes. So it was not unusual to hear in our house an old question ringing through the halls, "Mom, Dad, book?" And finding it? Well, everything depended on it.

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

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Our daughter was driving through town with our four-year-old grandson in the back seat. As she passed a local senior housing facility, she said, "Honey, that's where my grandfather lived until he died." At that point, our four-year-old jumped in with a respectful correction of his Mommy's choice of words. "Until Jesus called him home," he said. There was a pause – and then our grandson added – "Someday Jesus will call me home, too."

Monday, September 1, 2014

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For four years my wife and I did whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. It was the first four years we were married, just the two of us. Now I'm happy to say that neither of us required diapers or formula or having to have an early bedtime. And then along came this precious little bundle, our daughter. Our lives were never the same. Maybe you know that experience.

Friday, August 29, 2014

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Sometimes it's just fun to surprise people. But not when you're trying to check into a hotel. It didn't work out so well for me in Houston. Chuck had contacted me on behalf of an organization to fly to Houston and film a training video. He told me what hotel to go to, and I strolled in with my suitcase. I was confident I'd be greeted with a room number and a key. Instead I was greeted with, "Uh, I never heard of you." They had no record of me! Well, finally, after some frustration I tried one more thing. I gave them Chuck's name. Bingo! The reservation was not in my name; it was in the name of the one who was paying for it.

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."