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, of course, was pushing 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)
There's just no better time to have a baby boy than Christmastime. My parents did, we did. Not my wife and me! That would really be a Christmas miracle! No, it was our son and daughter-in-law.
And our family was able to say, with the ancient prophecy of Jesus' coming, "to us a child is born; to us a son is given" (Isaiah 9:6). And what a baby boy he was, charging into the world at ten pounds, ten ounces!
Download MP3 (right click to save)
We have a wide variety of people that come to our front door. The salesmen; oh they're basically asked to stay on the front steps and give us their little pitch. And then there are those neighborhood kids who are, well, they are raising money. Well, they usually get inside the door; we'll let them in to the welcome mat, and we'll deal with them there. Now we have a lot of acquaintances and friends who we will just immediately invite into our living room to sit down and stay as long as they want. And sometimes at the door is a relative or real close friend, and they come in and they go straight to the refrigerator and help themselves. They go to the telephone without asking, they call whoever they need to call, they use the bathroom. So you can tell how close we are by how far a person is allowed into our house.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
The occasion was a city-wide art contest. They were told to paint paintings on the subject of "Peace." Well, you can understand the judges were attracted to this beautiful "pastural" scene that a local painter had painted. You probably didn't know that was a word, "pastural." Well, it was a green pasture with puffy white clouds and this beautiful blue sky and a little boy going by with a fishing pole over his shoulder, little quiet brooks and birds flying around. That got second place.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
It's about that time! Rockefeller Center Christmas tree lighting. When I watched it last year, oh, you know, I was, as always heartwarming to watch those lights come on in the middle of the city where I spent so much ministry time.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Over the years, our family has had the chance to see Christmas from many different perspectives: Christmas in Manhattan, in Chicago's Loop, a mountain Christmas, a colonial Christmas, a white Christmas, a warm Christmas, and a one horse open sleigh Christmas.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
I guess you could call it the two faces of Ian. See, Ian is a friend of mine who is the leader of a very effective youth ministry in New Zealand. And as you converse with him personally, well, it's obvious that he has a stutter. And sometimes it makes it difficult for him to complete his sentence, and I'm sure it's probably very frustrating for him. And while it's noticeable, it's not really that important to anybody. Actually he is a Godly, magnetic leader, stutter or not.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Oh, the frequent flyer bonus. That's one of the smartest ideas the airlines ever had I think. You know, you don't usually have to think twice about what airline you're going to book with. If they've got a flight going to the city that I'm going to anywhere near the time I need to go, you know I'm going to try and stick with that one company. Oh, I'm just a loyal kind of guy! No. See, the airline credits me with mileage awards that convert ultimately into discounts, and upgrades, and even free trips. They're getting a little harder to get, but you know, it's still a pretty good deal. Now, that bonus incentive sure has worked in getting me to stay with one carrier. And I understand it's worked on millions of other flyers too. The golden principle here is pretty simple: the biggest rewards are for those who stick with the same carrier.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
The barber shop I used to go to was definitely a man's world, and you got more than a haircut when you went there; you got an ear full. See, something seems to happen when men sit down in that barber chair. It's as if they were administered truth serum, and they start to suddenly talk openly about their relationships, and their marriage, and their kids, and their frustrations, whether you want to hear it or not.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
My daughter wanted to put her fingers in the fan. Oh, she was a very little girl at the time. I said, "No." She cried. I think she thought I didn't love her and if I loved her I'd let her put her fingers in the fan. She really wanted to check it out!
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Okay, some people might call it a form of insanity, I know that, but I love snow. I guess it began when I was a little kid. I guess kind of you're always a five-year-old kid when it snows, especially some of the first snows of the winter. There's this kind of kid inside of me that maybe has never grown up. Well, I love new fallen snow. That probably should be qualified. Oh, it's so nice to walk through our neighborhood when it's blanketed in white and there are no tracks. Now, when the snow has been around for a while, oh it's not really very beautiful. Yeah, it's gets dirty, and crusty, and slushy, and messy. You know. Untouched snow—oh, that's the best, kind of like untouched love.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
I just can't get this little four-year-old girl out of my mind. Even as I was preparing this, her story just hits my heart again.
She and her family only had moments to prepare before the F5 tornado that hit Joplin, Missouri not long ago. Now, Mom and Dad battled fierce winds; they were desperately trying to shepherd everyone into the safest corner of the house, but not quite everyone. Somehow this little four-year-old daughter of theirs got separated from them, and these winds were so strong that it was impossible to look for her any more. So, they huddled together as the tornado made a direct hit on their house. When they looked up, it had leveled everything almost instantly.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
We've always been big Winnie the Pooh fans at our house. Our kids always enjoyed having that read to them, and now they read it to their own kids. Now, there is one scene from Winnie the Pooh that I really remember.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
I think it had to be one of the most like insecure afternoons of my life. Our committee had been meeting for two days at this hotel. Two days straight; I mean two days straight. We had a slave-driving chairman, and finally he said, "All right, guys, how about a couple of hours in the pool?" "All right! The pool! The sauna! We deserve a break today."
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Because we have so many Native American friends in the Southwest, I was carefully watching a ravenous wildfire in eastern Arizona. You know, when you are told to evacuate, honestly you never know if you'll have a home to come back to.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Joey's story really touched me. Joey ran in the handicapped Olympics that were held in conjunction with the Olympics in Seoul, Korea some years ago. Of course it was at a separate location, and in his particular track event there were only two people competing. Well, Joey got off to a good start, but of course because of his handicaps, his arms and legs were flailing and he wasn't very graceful. The announcer was heard to say at the beginning of the race, "I'm glad I'm not like Joey."
Download MP3 (right click to save)
When I spoke at a winter conference in Canada, the word cold took on a whole new meaning to me. It was 40 degrees below—that's Fahrenheit, not wind chill temperature! We added the wind chill in just to make it a little more exciting. It was the coldest, sustained temperature I have ever been in.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
During two visits to South Africa, I grew to love the people of that troubled country and its history too. It used to be British turf, except for the tribal lands of the great Zulu Warriors. And in 1879 the British army moved in under Lord Chelmsford, invaded Zulu land to claim it as a property for The Crown.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Wait! I thought Humpty Dumpty was just a nursery rhyme. You know, the big egg who sat on a wall, but had a great fall. Turns out he's got a lot of company these days—sitting on a high wall, and smashed by a big fall.
Take one of the world's most powerful financial figures, for example, in a $3,000-a-night Manhattan hotel suite one night, and then the next night, in a tough New York jail. He stood accused of serious sexual violation of a hotel maid. Now, those accusations had to be proven in court, but they did resonate with a reputation for mixing power with sexual aggression.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
It was some years ago, but I remember when they closed our local airport. Yeah, there was a violent storm at Newark airport, and thousands of people had their plans suddenly changed. Storms have a way of doing that. Did you ever notice that? There's a snow storm, for example, and schools and businesses oh, they all had their plans made for the day, and suddenly all those plans are out the window. Meetings that had to be today are amazingly rescheduled. Planes and ships are diverted or blown off course. You see, a storm is a classic embodiment of that familiar phrase, "Due to circumstances beyond our control..." Maybe you're in the middle of a storm right now. Your life, your plans are being blown around, and it seems like everything is out of control. I've got good news for you today.
