My friend Dave got tired of wearing glasses. But if he didn't, he was dangerous. After consulting with a specialist, he determined that he was a candidate for this new Lasik eye surgery. During the procedure, a laser beam was aimed at the parts of his eye that limited his vision and the light of that laser changed everything. Guess who doesn't need glasses anymore? All because of the power of focused light.
They call it "Jubilee" and it appears to be unique to one place in the United States: Mobile Bay near Mobile, Alabama. They say it happens on a night after an overcast day with an east wind. And for some unexplained reason, the creatures at the bottom of the bay suddenly become starved for oxygen. As the tide rises, they're virtually beached in their search for some water that will meet their need for oxygen. Suddenly, somewhere between midnight and dawn, there they are, within your reach: crabs, shrimp, flounder, catfish. It's seafood for the taking! People who live along the bay know there's no time to get ready for this opportune moment; you always have to be ready. And there they are, with their baskets and lanterns and tubs always near the door. When it's Jubilee time, folks run out to the edge of the water to collect the bounty that is suddenly within their reach. It's enough to enjoy all year long sometimes. And when this incredible moment of opportunity suddenly comes rolling in, people all along the shore shout that exciting word that makes people drop everything - "Jubilee!"
Scotty had been begging his dad to play hide-and-seek with him for a couple of hours. Finally, Dad finished what he was doing and jumped into the game. He said, "Scotty, you count to 50 while I hide somewhere in the house." It took the little guy a while to count to that big number, but he finally got there. He began right there in the living room, looking behind all the curtains and the big furniture. No daddy. He looked in the dining room, the bathroom, the closets, the kitchen. No daddy. Which meant his father was hiding upstairs. Scotty was disappointed after he looked in the guest bedroom, the bathroom, and the master bedroom upstairs. Still no daddy. He knew there was only one place left to look; that big, dark closet in the master bedroom. Apprehensively, he slowly opened the door to that long old closet with the light switch he couldn't reach. He looked to the right. No daddy. He looked to the left, RRRRRRRRRRRRRR! Suddenly, there was a big grizzly bear, growling and coming at him. He ran as fast as his little legs would go; out of the bedroom, down the stairs, all the way through the downstairs until he was stopped by the locked door of the kitchen. That's when the growling bear caught him, grabbed him in his paws and hugged him! This was no bear trying to hurt him. This was his Daddy wanting to hold him.
Our family has had many great times by the Atlantic Ocean, along the New Jersey Shore. Over the years, we found a little tool that was smart to have if you were going to be spending time next to the ocean. They call it a tide table. It tells you what time high tide and low tide will be each day. That's good to know, especially if you're going to really set up shop for a while on the beach - which many people do. I've watched people bring their own little civilization to the beach with them: tarps and coolers and toys and appliances. You'd think they were planning to live on the beach. What's kind of fun to watch is the people with all that stuff who fall asleep somewhere between low tide and high tide. Slowly but surely, the waves start creeping up from the edge toward their civilization. You really should wake them up, but that wouldn't be any fun. Eventually, as the tide tickles their toes, they wake up only to find some of their civilization about to float away. It's panic city, man! But it didn't have to be that way. See, there's this little tool called a tide table that tells you when the tide...well, you get the idea.
We love it when we hear those stories in the news about ordinary people who come upon someone in danger and risk their own lives to save them. And then there's the kind of story that came from Mount Everest. A British mountaineer became desperate for oxygen on his descent from that peak that is really a legendary mountain. Ultimately, he collapsed along a well-traveled route to the summit. He was dying. And more than forty climbers are thought to have seen him as he lay dying, and they passed him by. He died there of oxygen deficiency. He did not have to die.
Our local high school band worked hard to put on some great performances at our football games. I know. Our daughter was one of the trumpet players. I also remember going to band competitions at different schools. We have some precious memories of sitting on the top bleacher with a wind chill that would have made a polar bear go inside. My teeth were chattering loud enough to be in the percussion section! Our band also got to perform in several local parades. But, there's just a handful of high school bands that get invited to play in one of America's really big parades, like the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City. Recently, the Mountain Home, Arkansas, band had that thrill.
Recently, a friend of mine had a ringside seat on a family of birds. They actually decided to nest under the roof on the porch. The fun part was watching the birth and development of those baby birds. My friend actually got to see them hatching out and then settling down into their nest. They all fit very nicely in there - at first. See, Mama kept filling their open mouths with more and more food, and the little birdies didn't stay little! They grew and the nest seemed to shrink. As it got more and more crowded, each baby did more and more wiggling around to kind of keep his position in the nest. Then they feathered out and they forgot about all of them sitting in the nest ever again! They began to perch on the edges of the nest until they were pushed off the edge by their siblings in a battle for whatever food Mama brought. One by one, as crowding pushed those little birds to the edge - and then over the edge - they were forced to either fly or die. They decided to fly. The last nester stayed in the nest for actually another full week, being fed as an only child by Mama Bird. Finally, Mama must have gotten disgusted with her nest-addicted child. She quit feeding him. First, there was a lot of squawking and fussing, and then even he abandoned the nest to finally touch the sky.
I had 18 hours in the city of Rome. That's how long it was between my flight connections to Africa. I decided not to waste that time sleeping in the airport when I could be seeing one of the world's great cities. And, my missionary friend, Dave, was kind enough to be my chauffeur and guide. With his help, I got a whirlwind tour that included the Coliseum, the Sistine Chapel, and some beautiful piazzas. But the highlight of my day in Rome was my visit to the Catacombs, the ancient caverns that wind beneath the streets of Rome. Dave's been there many times so he said he'd wait while I went in. Here were the caverns where some of the first Christians hid from the Roman soldiers who would take them to their execution for believing in Christ. Here they carved in the walls the ancient symbols of their faith - like the cross and the sign of the fish. Those symbols are still there as silent testimony to their faithfulness. And here in the walls, they buried countless loved ones who'd been torn to pieces by the lions in the Coliseum all because they would not renounce Christ for Caesar. As I emerged from those Catacombs, Dave said, "Well, what did you think?" All I could say was, "Our faith is very, very expensive."
My granddaughter obviously got her grace and coordination from me. She must have. Somebody's got mine, because I sure don't! She demonstrated some of that grace and coordination recently in a dance recital she was in with other four and five-year-olds. They actually had two little performances in one day. The first was in a little roped-off area in a small shopping mall. It was cute. That night, they did their real recital. Except this time it was on a big stage. You could tell the girls were excited and maybe a little intimidated when the curtain went up. And there was an audience of adoring fans: Moms and Dads, and Grandmas and Grandpas. I was thinking, "Well, I already saw this this morning. I'm here to support my granddaughter, though." Excuse me. They did the same numbers, but not the same way! They moved all over the stage like birds that had been let out of their cage. I realized that their morning performance had been on such a small stage that they could only do small things. But now they were showing what they really could do!
The man who first climbed Mt. Everest said his reason for risking it was simply "because it was there." That's how it was with that monster sand dune near a Bible conference where I was speaking. It was no Mt. Everest, but it was a pretty daunting mountain of sand. The reward for reaching the top was a scenic view of a nearby lake and the satisfaction that you did it. I convinced two of our team members to climb that dune with me. Climbing sand is kind of like "much effort, little progress," as your shoes start filling with sand and your legs start yelling "Stop this!" We were about halfway to the top when my younger colleagues said, "Is this far enough?" They were ready to quit. We stopped to catch our breath and I pointed to the bottom of the dune and I said, "Hey, look at how far we've already come! Let's not turn back now!" They rolled their eyes and grudgingly agreed to follow the old guy all the way to the top. We were very hot. We were very tired, but the view at the top and the joy of conquest made it worth it!
