Subscribe  

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Download MP3 (right click to save)

Our daughter-in-law grew up in the desert. So, the first time she saw the ocean, and the seashells that are all over the beach at low tide, she said, "Can you keep them?" She did! Well the good news is, yes, you can. And we've loved collecting seashells when we've had opportunity to spend time along the coast. Some of those shells make it to shore totally intact. Others are broken, sometimes by the surf, sometimes by seagulls who've peck them open to get at their yummy tenants. Occasionally, I've found a particularly striking treasure like the conch shell that I picked up a few years ago. It was badly broken. But inside there was some amazing beauty - beautiful swirls in white and blue and pearl, and it made an incredible design to behold. Outside, that shell was just rough and plain - just another shell - but not on the inside. I never would have seen its unforgettable beauty if it hadn't been broken.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Download MP3 (right click to save)

He was having a great day on the slopes, and a lot of fresh snow - an already deep base. It was just the kind of day an experienced skier would hope for. But then this one skier decided that he wanted more. He skied onto another part of the mountain; a section that was clearly marked with a large skull-and-crossbones sign with a warning about going any farther written in bold print: "You may die. You decide." It couldn't be any plainer than that, huh? Sadly, that skier decided to ski where he never should have gone. Then came the massive avalanche that drove him headlong into a tree and buried him in a snowy grave.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Download MP3 (right click to save)

I first learned about the United States Life-Saving Service years ago on a family vacation. We got to see a life-saving station that had been preserved at a strategic point along the Atlantic coastline. There used to be many of them. In some areas, they were every seven miles along the coast. Each one was staffed by a seven-man crew. They were heroes in every sense of the word! When a ship was in distress near their assigned area, they'd go out into the surf, or the storm, even the hurricane to try to rescue the people on board. They lived their motto: "You have to go out. You don't have to come back." They saved countless lives who otherwise would have been lost.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Download MP3 (right click to save)

For years, her voice was one of the signature voices of Gospel music. When Bill Gaither started doing his Homecoming videos, her commanding voice became known to more people than ever before. When Vestal Goodman belted out a song, it captivated an audience. I was actually surprised to learn that Vestal Goodman's singing didn't always dominate a room. Her husband Howard said that when they first started traveling in itinerant ministry, his wife actually had this little, light soprano voice. Something obviously happened. The storm happened. The near hurricane-strength storm that hit Monroe, Louisiana the day they were supposed to have a concert in their big tent years ago. Those violent winds destroyed everything, including the tent and their sound system. They moved their meeting to a church that night, and Vestal asked Howard to accompany her on a song she'd never sung before publicly. As he started to play that song, something happened! Suddenly he was hearing his wife sing with this great voice he'd never heard before - a voice that belted out a Gospel song; not only for the folks in the church that night, but for millions of people for decades to come.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Download MP3 (right click to save)

The train left Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, at 7:30 in the morning, headed for a popular resort area along the Indian Ocean. The train never made it. It was suddenly hit by this massive wall of water - that killer tsunami, you remember, that devastated so much of South Asia. The force of the waves tore the wheels off of some cars and leveled the train in this grove of palm trees. In one of those countless heart-wrenching scenes that came out of the tsunami aftermath, one young man at the train site wept in the arms of his friends as the body of his girlfriend was buried. He spoke out to this sweetheart who had died on that train: "We met in university. Is this the fate we hoped for?" Then, as he began to sob even more, he said, "My darling, you were the only hope for me."

Monday, October 19, 2009

Download MP3 (right click to save)

Our friend commuted in his private plane hundreds of times, flying from a little airfield near his house to the community where his office was. Well, not too long ago, knowing that he wanted to get home before the weather set in, he left his office earlier than usual and he headed for his plane. As he was boarding, he told a friend, "I'm going home!" Those may have been his last words. As he landed a few minutes later, the plane went into a skid and it slammed into a tree. He probably died instantly, but he still made it home.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Download MP3 (right click to save)

I was in a Board Meeting in a hotel conference room. It was in the 90s outside, but I was ready to put gloves on so I could write without shaking. The air conditioner in our conference room was set one notch past high. It was on arctic! We wandered over to the control box on the wall, and all we did was discover that the controls were locked up. Great! So, we called the desk and they had a hard time understanding us because our teeth were chattering. They finally got the message, and the maintenance man came and he turned down that ice machine. At that moment, he had the power in his hands. Summer or winter, he is the man who decides what the temperature will be. You know, that's a pretty significant position.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Download MP3 (right click to save)

A couple of times this week I ordered out for lunch and it came on a paper plate. Guess what I did with the paper plate when I finished my lunch? No, I didn't wash it; I didn't save it for later. Now, look we've never had a lot of money, but I've never in my whole life saved a paper plate. I throw it away, of course, like you probably do. And I don't feel any great sense of loss or regret, "Oh, I can't believe I lost my paper plate." No, it doesn't bother me. But we have these other plates at our house, we keep them in a cabinet in our dining room and we save them for special occasions. We wash those when we use them, because it says "fine china" on those. At least that's what my wife wrote with a magic marker on the back. It's the best we've got. And when we're done, we put those plates away very carefully. In fact, if you drop one of them, you're out of the family. What's the difference? Paper plates are cheap, practically worthless, right? You throw them away. Now, fine china on the other hand is expensive; it's too valuable to throw away. Do you know which one most people feel like today?

Thursday, October 8, 2009

Download MP3 (right click to save)

Our former offices were on this long hall, and each night the last one got to walk that long hall and make sure all the doors were locked and the lights were turned out. And with the amount of work the team had to get done each day, it was pretty close to "beddy-bye" time when some of them left. Of course, Daylight Saving Time meant that you could leave well into the evening and it would still be light. Maybe that's why the lights in some of our closets were accidentally left on sometimes. When it's still bright outside, it's easy to miss a light that's on. But in the winter, when it's dark, you can't miss the light!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Download MP3 (right click to save)

A lot of times when I'm introducing my younger son, I'll call him "my baby" which is a little ridiculous if you look at the two of us. The boy I used to pick up is now the man who picks me up. And that's pretty embarrassing. He will sometimes greet me at an airport or some public place, put his arms around me and lift me in the air. When I stand next to this moose in our family, I ask myself, "How did this child of mine ever get so much bigger than I am?" A while back, a disturbing thought occurred to me, maybe this isn't just about my son growing. Could it be that I'm shrinking? I'm sure I used to measure at least 5'8", but the doctor says I'm 5'7" now. Hello! Where did that inch go? Don't you dare tell me it went to my waist either. Actually, I understand as you keep having birthdays that your tissues and vertebrae begin to sort of scrunch together and you start to shrink. That is a pretty depressing thought when you don't have that much to start with in the first place! But shrinking as you get older may not be all bad.

Subcategories

Your Hard Times

Your Relationships

Page 307 of 424

A Word With You Categories

                

GET IN TOUCH

Hutchcraft Ministries
P.O. Box 400
Harrison, AR 72602-0400

(870) 741-3300
(877) 741-1200 (toll-free)
(870) 741-3400 (fax)

FIND OUT MORE

Home / About

What We Do / Resources

News / Blog / Store

Contact Us / Privacy Policy

Donate

STAY UPDATED

We have many helpful and encouraging resources ready to be delivered to your inbox.

Please know we will never share or sell your info.

Subscribe

rhm-logo-white Copyright 2024 - All Rights Reserved - Hutchcraft Ministries

Back to top