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Wednesday, November 12, 2014

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The baby in the family! Now the baby in our family happens to be a boy. Today he is far from that baby, in fact he's a father himself. But we have this one photo that we all associate with his childhood which we love to bring up to him over and over again. It's our favorite; it's his un-favorite. He's about two years old. He's in our back yard, and he's standing next to our camping tent that has collapsed on the ground. In one hand he's holding a tent pole about twice his size. And he's holding his other hand against the side of the tent, looking totally bewildered. He's got this pitiful expression that says, "What have I done?" He was only playing with the pole and the whole thing came crashing down. And I hope he's listening today.

Monday, November 10, 2014

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Three New York City boys broke into a zoo there, and one of them climbed into the polar bear area to swim in the moat. He was attacked by those bears and he was brutally killed. I was intrigued by an interview with the Park's Commissioner of New York City who said afterwards, "You know, bears are portrayed to children as friendly animals, even as cuddly animals. We've got Winnie the Pooh, and Paddington Bear, and Smokey the Bear. But the Park's Commissioner went on to say, "Actually, they're carnivorous killers." He was right. I mean look, the image of bears is cuddly; the reality is deadly. And not just in bear country.

Thursday, November 6, 2014

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One of the good things about our yard was all the trees we had. One of the really bad things about our yard was all the trees we had; in the Fall that is. See, our town required the bagging of leaves, and we had the exciting challenge of raking and bagging over 100 bags every year! And as the kids left home, one by one, guess what...my labor force dwindled to one. Guess who?

Wednesday, November 5, 2014

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This could sure come under the heading of "You know it's going to be a bad day when..." Yeah, my wife and I were stopped at a stop light during the rush hour one morning. We were on a local street that intersects the busiest highway in the area in that town. There were two lanes. We were in the left one-the left turn lane. The light turned green, I started turning left. Well, I noticed another car next to me on my right turning from the right lane. Well that's not allowed. You're not supposed to do that; it's illegal, and it's very dangerous at this intersection. Well, suddenly, I guess this guy saw in his rearview mirror – this blinking light behind him. He had just made that illegal turn right in front of a police officer. Needless to say, he was pulled over on the shoulder before he even cleared the intersection. I mean he's not even out of the neighborhood yet and he's been caught.

Monday, November 3, 2014

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Okay, are you ready for some exercise? Well listen, only do this if both hands are available. If you're driving, I'd rather you wouldn't try this. Okay here we go! Extend one hand so it's out straight. Okay, Now I'm doing this same thing. Now, poke your index finger full force into that open palm. Okay, got it. Okay now here's part two of the exercise. You got that same hand open? Now make your other hand into a fist. Now, hit that hand full-force with the fist. Okay, here we go. Well...which one had more power?

Friday, October 31, 2014

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I suspect children go to secret seminars on how to manipulate parents. They are so good so early, especially at bedtime. The object seems to be to squeeze out a few more minutes before you have to go to sleep, right? Let's see, there's water, and then there's getting rid of the water, and then there's praying. And then, "Let's pray some more." Who can argue with that one? There's a sudden interest in talking about things; they are suddenly communicators. Then, of course, the ever popular "monsters in my closet."

Thursday, October 30, 2014

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If you live on the East Coast, there is one word that's pretty sure to get your attention—hurricane. Yeah! I'll tell you, Hurricane Hugo was one of those mega storms that really got our attention. You could watch the news for several nights before Hugo arrived. And they would show you this cyclonic circle inching across the weather map toward, well at that point, an uncertain destination. Half a million people were evacuated from Florida to the Carolinas, not knowing where that destructive little circle on the map was going to land. Finally, it became clear that Hugo's 130-mile-an-hour winds were going to slam ashore at Charleston, South Carolina.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

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Many of the world's greatest dramas are not on a stage or a screen. They're played out in that quadrennial spectacle we call the Olympics. Maybe you remember the year Britain's representative in the 400-meter race, Derek Redmond, began to falter and went down in the back stretch with a torn right hamstring. Now, when I describe the scene, you'll know it's one of the great classic moments in Olympic history. As the medical attendants were approaching, Derek Redmond was fighting his way to his feet and he's limping along in anguish. Hopping, desperately trying to finish the race. He knew he wouldn't win; he was just trying to finish.

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

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Well, I watched three of our children run on this track called high school senior. Oh we know about the disease. It's a creeping disease called senioritis. I've seen it for years in other teenagers, and then finally we got to watch it in our own home. It begins with the sense of "Okay, I'm a senior now! High school is my past. I don't care about high school any more even though I have another year." At best a senior just sort of slacks off until graduation. Or at worst, he or she becomes irresponsible and maybe even destructive. Senioritis? It doesn't bring out the best in anybody at any age.

Monday, October 27, 2014

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I guess every neighborhood has its' bully. When I was growing up, our neighborhood sure did-Boomer! I'm not making that up. That was his name! This guy made all of us little kids in the neighborhood his victims. He'd beat us up, he'd tower over us, he'd threaten us, he'd take our stuff. One day I'd had enough! I was little and he was big. But I marched all the way down our little block on the south side of Chicago. I went up the steps on that back porch, and man, I pounded on the screen door there. Boomer came to the door. I said, "Boomer, I want my stuff back!" He said, "Man, you're a brave little kid." Well, he didn't really say that, but you probably said, "Well, Ron, I really underestimated you." Yeah, there was one thing I forgot to tell you. My Father went with me. That made a very big difference. Like this: Boomer was bigger than I was, but my Father was bigger than Boomer was.

Thursday, October 23, 2014

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I'm the early riser in our family, so it's not uncommon for me to be in the bathroom around 6:00 in the morning; only one awake. Even when our children were at home I made a science of being quiet in the morning so I didn't wake up my wife or anyone else who was sleeping.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

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I've stood at many a wedding altar as the minister. But this one was different. The beautiful bride, glowing in her elegant white dress, was our only daughter. What a thrill to perform her wedding and watch her commit herself unconditionally to a wonderful young man. She was a great son picker. And I watched him commit himself to her.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

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I'm pretty easily amazed by technology, so I am totally amazed by my wife's camera. She's a great photographer. You can take the same camera and get two totally different views, just by using two different lenses. She taught me this. For example, we took a lot of pictures at our local football games, because I worked with the team there. And when you put on the wide angle lens, you can see the entire field through that camera. Amazing! Now, when you change that to say a zoom lens, it really magnifies things. You can fill that camera's view with just one face. It amazes me to see how it can go from the big picture to some small, little detail.

Monday, October 20, 2014

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There are certain times of the year when the lawn grows like the set of a Tarzan movie. I remember a time when we had been gone for two or three weeks. We came home and saw the lawn taking over the neighborhood. Now, my youngest son had been very, very busy that summer. But finally he was available on this day when it was desperately needed. So he said, "OK, the lawn's high." He and the mower are outside ready to go. And then I was waiting for the beautiful music of that mower running-nothing. Why? My son came in and said, "Dad, I tried everything. That mower isn't working." Oh, man, it was frustrating. There was the need, here's the worker. Where's the tool?

Friday, October 17, 2014

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I was having a conversation with a young man who was a student in a Missionary Aviation course. Now, he had only had classroom training. He did have a little experience when he visited the flight training facility. On the second day they said, "Okay, go for it." He was flying! Now, he was carrying his notepad with him the day I saw him, and I noticed the sentence he had written at the top of his notes. It was obviously something he thought he would be tested on either in the classroom or maybe in the cockpit someday. Actually, it could be life-or-death information on a particular day. Here's what it said: "Attitude-the relationship of the known to the horizon." Now, he told me that simple discipline is what keeps an aircraft stable. Maybe you, too.

Thursday, October 16, 2014

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Our youngest son was not looking forward to the drive back to college. Oh, he liked to drive, but not 14 hours alone. In fact, his un-favorite state coming from New Jersey to the Midwest – Pennsylvania. Now, this has nothing to do with the scenery. It has nothing to do with the people. Pennsylvania is a great place. It has to do with the length of Pennsylvania. It's about twice as long as any other state between home and college for him. So, when you're driving, it seems like it's the eternal state. Please, no hate mail from Pennsylvania. You can address it to my son. This is not my fault. And that was years ago as a college student.

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

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"Wake up, kids!" We were in this campground; 3:30 in the morning. You ask, "What were you doing to your kids?" Well, I had planned a trip up Cadillac Mountain. I had been told this was the first place you could see the sunrise on the East Coast. I wanted to see this. I thought this would be a great adventure for my wife and my kids. Well, they weren't as enthused as I was, especially when I woke them up at 3:30. Oh, but I thought ahead. I bought donuts the night before, so when they woke up I stuffed a donut in each mouth so they wouldn't wake up the campground. Then we started my well-planned adventure up Cadillac Mountain.

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

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It wasn't the big one, but it was pretty big. It was that 6.6 earthquake that rocked Los Angeles a number of years ago. It was 4:31 A.M. and the ground began to tremble underneath Southern California again. And those who watched it will not forget the picture of what collapsed; those Northridge Meadows Apartments where 16 people died in those apartments. But in the midst of the Northridge tragedy, you heard the word miracle a lot. Maria Ballesteros was one who survived that apartment collapse and she was rescued. And she claimed she knew why. She said there were 50 pictures hanging on her wall and 49 of them were destroyed. But one was still there when the shaking was all over. Maria said this, "The one of the Lord was the only one left hanging."

Monday, October 13, 2014

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I've never really been addicted to TV game shows. But years ago, my son got me to kind of be interested in one. It is called Jeopardy. Three contestants, given several categories ranging from U.S. presidents to cat food, and the contestant picks a dollar value question. The host gives the answer to the question in that category. Then the three contestants vie to see who can get the right question, because the right answer is the question. I think you get that. Do you? Some of them do very well and they win lots of money; others just kind of fold up. I said to my son, "Look at those people! They wind up in the hole with their money! How did they get on the show?" He reminded me, "Dad, it's hard to come up with right answers when you have all that pressure on you."

Friday, October 10, 2014

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I was on a flight from Chicago to Newark, and I was busily working until suddenly the pilot put on the brakes. We weren't really near Newark yet, so I tried to figure out what's going on. It looked as if the plane was beginning to circle, and our wing was dipped down a little bit. So pretty soon I said, "You know, I believe I've seen that house before. I think I've seen that field before. Those trees look familiar." I got to see them again, and again, and another time. Yep, we were in that time warp that is dreaded by every frequent flier called the holding pattern. We weren't standing still. No, I'm happy to say we were not standing still. That wouldn't have been good. But we were using up time, we were using up fuel. We were in constant motion; we just weren't making any progress.

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