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Friday, January 28, 2011

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Did you ever notice that children are great score keepers, almost before they can count. Oh yeah, they're really adept at measuring how they're being treated compared to the other kids in the family. Maybe you've noticed that. Now, our oldest - our daughter, was followed by a brother two years younger. And when they were little, I was introduced to this score keeping aptitude by little brother's four word statement, "How come my sister?" He'd then go and talk about some inequity he had noticed. It was always followed by little brother's presentation of some perceived injustice. His sister apparently got something good that he didn't get. Or he got something bad that she didn't get. "How come my sister?" It sure did make me think twice when I was buying gifts to bring back from a trip, and a lot of other choices I made. Actually, our son was verbalizing a concern that bothers a lot of us long after we're grown up.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

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I was speaking in a city out west, and went back to my hotel room and I flipped on the evening news. And I saw the most incredible police chase I think I've ever seen recorded on a camera. It just so happened that after a burglar robbed a local savings and loan that the news helicopter happened to catch sight of him. And as the police were pursuing him, the helicopter was overhead filming this. It was almost like a TV show, but it wasn't fiction; it was really happening.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

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We have one of our staff who has a pretty regular assignment. That is, show up at the post office every morning. Yeah. Yeah, the one who goes there is a pretty familiar figure. They know about what time to expect our person to come in, and they know it's important. See, the orders are, "Don't stop at the office. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Go straight to our post office box." See, that daily trip to the post office is really our lifeline. She checks the box and there we find the contributions that really keep us going, very important communications, maybe answers we're looking for. And I'll tell you what, if she's sick, we'll send somebody else over there the first thing in the morning. We are dependent on that daily pickup.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

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When we finally graduate from childhood to grownuphood, we trade in some simple games for some complicated games. You know, once you get bigger, you have to learn all the rules of football, and baseball, and basketball. And they can get pretty complicated. But I remember some of those uncomplicated games I played with I was little, like dive bomber. Yeah, simple rules. All you had to do was come in with your arm extended and knock the hat off the other guys head. That was pretty simple rules. Oh yeah, and try not to knock off the head with the hat. And then we played keep away. That was pretty simple. Keep throwing the ball back and forth and keep it away from the guy in the middle. That was easy. And dodge ball, Did you ever play dodge ball? You know, we'd play dodge ball when a bunch of us guys would get together and we had a good sized ball. And the object of the game was very simple. When another guy tried to throw that ball at you, you just tried to dodge it. In fact, we boys got pretty good at dodging. In fact, some of us still are.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

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If you're paying attention, a child will often tip you off very early as to what to expect from them later on in life. I've got movies of our daughter, and she was about five or six, seven years old, singing for us using a spoon - a big wooden spoon - as a microphone and standing on something in the living room as a stage. Well, over the years, God used her wonderfully in singing, and musically, and speaking. It was really no great shock; we saw the first hints of that when she was little. When our son was five, he was tying our house together with string very imaginatively. I'd walk in...I'd open the back door, and it would open the drawer of my dresser in the bedroom. He had everything tied together. At the age of 13 he was the technician of the house, who loved to figure out how things work; how to take them apart; how to put them together, I hope - how to solve problems. You know what? Grew up to be a great planner and a very creative technician in ministry. There's a pattern...a connective line from the past into the future in the life of every child; my child and God's child. In fact, that's true of you too.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

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I imagine it's been a little while since you've asked somebody, "How's your liver today?" I never thought about it until my wife got sick. She had hepatitis, and for many months I learned how vital the liver is; never thought about it before. It's the filtration plant of your body. We've got all kinds of toxic materials pumping into us every day in medicines that we take, and foods that we eat, and our liver keeps those poisons from getting into our blood stream. Now, liver disease like hepatitis or cirrhosis can cripple you or even kill you if the poison can't be filtered. See, it's deadly if the poisons don't get filtered and they get into your blood stream. And there is one toxin that is on the loose, and it has a long history of being a killer.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

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Certain birthdays are like, you know, special milestones. Every birthday is a milestone, but take 40 for example. For some reason, we sort of enshrine that particular one as a special marking place in your life. And I remember when my wife had her 40th birthday. I'm not going to tell you how long ago that was, but she handled it very well. I mean, she was so cool about it; it was no big deal. I hope when I get to my 40th I'll be able to handle it as well. Well, it wasn't like she had just crossed some great river in her life. Then my 12-year-old son came along a few months later. He said this, "Hey Mom, do you know you've been on earth for 14,662 days?" You put it that way, it takes on a whole different feel. Forty years doesn't sound too bad, but 14,000 plus days? Hello, prehistoric! After he said that I got to thinking about the days that we had with our three children, and you begin to realize how many are gone, and how many are left, and how quickly they slipped away. And you think about kids. They don't think about next year, next month, next week. It's all about the day isn't it? You know, we need to take a better look at the days we still have; the days that you have.

Friday, January 14, 2011

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My friend, Ed, thought he had the perfect hiding place, and he told me about it. Now, Ed's not really his name, but it is a true story. The incident happened this way. About 20 years ago he was a teenager, and he came from a nice Christian family - nice Christian boy, except for some of his reading material. Now, it was before Internet days, so he had a habit of going out and buying Playboy and some other magazines like it, and he hid them in an old, unused icebox where no one ever went. And he was sure no one knew the place. Well, when he went to get his dirty magazines one day, they were gone. But that's only part of it. In their place there was a Bible. He knew his Dad had to leave it there. There was never any yelling, his Dad never talked to him about it, but he bought no more magazines because of that little switch his Dad had made.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

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They've tried a lot of things to discourage people from smoking; especially now that we know the great health hazards of it. In fact, recently, maybe you've seen that they're trying to put some disturbing pictures on the packages themselves of people dying of lung cancer. They already do that it in some other countries. But I think one of the most impacting things I've ever seen along those lines was a commercial that was done on TV years ago. There was a great award winning actor named Yul Brynner. You may remember him; he had a very distinctive accent and shaved head. He was in a lot of great movies. He was the star of The King and I, and he died of lung cancer. His lung cancer was caused by a lifetime of smoking, and they filmed this public service announcement shortly before his death. He knew he was dying, and basically in it he says, "Take it from me, it's not worth it. It's too late for me, but you still have time to change." Man that hit hard. In a sense, he was a voice from the grave with a very sobering warning. Well, there's another one that's even more sobering.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

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My wife is really a gifted photographer. Honestly, she has missed some memorable photographs because of her husband. See, I was in too much of a hurry to stop. The scenario goes something like this, "Honey, look at that picture!" Well, I don't see what she sees. But there is one there, and it's usually some beautiful scene somewhere we're driving. And on several occasions I've said, "Hey, you know we'll be back this way a little later. Why don't we get it then?" Somehow the same picture isn't there later. The same objects are usually there, but the lighting, shadows, the mood; the magic moment has changed. I remember one time we were driving along in New England, and there was this cabin nestled back in the woods in this little valley, and a beautiful rainbow over that. And I said...Now, here was a smart guy, "Honey, listen, we'll be back in just a few minutes." Well, you know that picture wasn't there a few minutes later. It's amazing how there's this brief...I guess you'd call it a window during which you can capture the scene, and then it's gone. It might be the same players and the same setting, but the golden moment is gone.

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

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I really hate to be viewed as a typical tourist. But when I went to South Africa a few years ago, I was Tommy Tourist, I have to admit. I had my camera clicking everywhere. My friend, Ted, was kind enough to take me between the conferences where I was speaking to Kruger National Park; probably the finest natural game park in all the world. Of course, I was seeing things I'd never seen before. I'd see a giraffe, or a rhinoceros out in the wild or my dream. I just wanted to see wild elephants, and I did. And I'd yell at Ted like Tommy Tourist, "Stop! Pull over the car!" And I'd promptly jump out and start shooting pictures. And Ted patiently said to me, "Ron, move quickly, and I'll watch your back." I said, "Why?" I didn't think my back was that much fun to watch. He said, "Ron, you have to understand that in this tall grass, there may be lions." He went on to tell me about the tourist that had been mauled while taking pictures in Kruger National Park. It's amazing how fast I could get back in the car, and what great pictures you can take out the window. I learned to take a lot of pictures from the car. You know it's great to know, though, that there's someone watching your back when there might be a lion ready to pounce on you.

Friday, January 7, 2011

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Over the years I've had the privilege of being in all of the United States, but one of the last ones I got to was Alaska. I've been there a few times now, but oh man, what a place! And you know what? From the first time I was there, I saw that they lived up to their license plate motto: Alaska - the last frontier. Wow! Hundreds of thousands of miles of unpopulated expanse. All kinds of abundant wildlife you just don't see anywhere else. These great, untamed areas...even some untamed people. But you know what? It really is the last frontier.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

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There are few words that strike fear into the heart of a student like the word "test." Now, I'm informed that some are to be feared more than others. For example, an essay test is a 10 on the anxiety scale. You have to know your stuff. True and false, well, that's not as bad. And multiple choice, oh man, that seems to be especially popular among students. See, there's the right answer right in front of you; just pick the right one. Now, occasionally multiple choice tests are complicated by those confusing words: All of the above, or none of the above, which makes it a little tougher. Actually, academic tests are pretty good preparation for the real test that you take for the rest of your life.

Tuesday, January 4, 2010

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A lot of us were like broke most of the time we were in college. So, it was always nice to find some free Saturday night entertainment. And in downtown Chicago, there was a place called Bug House Square. Yeah, it's not the real name it was, but that was what it was affectionately known in the neighborhood at the time. See, Bug House Square was a small city park just north of downtown Chicago. And it was a place where anybody could get up and make a speech about anything - thus, the name. So, people who couldn't find a platform anywhere else, well, they could find one at Bug House Square. Some frustrated people got to deliver the message that they never got to deliver anywhere else. You know, it's frustrating to have a message and no platform to proclaim it from. And it's surprising sometimes where our platform turns out to be.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

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It happens a lot in sports - especially when there's one of those games they like to call "The Big Game." Two rivals go at it in a game that's really important in the standings, and one team blows out the other team with this huge, lopsided victory. You can almost predict what's going to happen to the winning team in their next game, even if they play some pitiful team that loses a lot more than they win. The guys who totally dominated their rivals in the Big Game may very well lose the little game that follows. It happens a lot. You win big and then, for some reason, you lose big.

Wednesday, December 22, 2010

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Our friend told us that her youngest child, Ralphie, was like "Mr. Christmas" at their house. Very early every Christmas morning, he was everyone's alarm clock to get up and get going on those presents. That's what made this one Christmas so strange. Two weeks earlier, Ralphie was doing a little exploring in the closets while his parents were gone, and he found where they had hidden their presents! He couldn't resist. He opened this one bag and he saw the major gift they had bought him. And then came Christmas. Everyone slept later than they ever had on a Christmas morning because Ralphie didn't get up. Everyone was waiting impatiently around the Christmas tree, so Dad called up the stairs, "Ralphie, are you coming?" "Yeah," Ralphie replied. All the other kids were psyched as they opened their gifts. Not Ralphie. He opened his with little emotion, sort of a halfhearted thanks. Dad took him aside and said, "Ralphie, are you sick, man? You're always Mr. Christmas around here!" Ralphie explained why his "joy to the world" had gone. "Dad, the problem is I opened my gift early, and I ruined Christmas."

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

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Over the years, we've always tried to keep the real mission and meaning of Christmas in front of our children. Taking food and clothes into New York City to give to homeless people there put a whole new face on Christmas. Only a few miles from our home we were face-to-face with the tragedy of people without anyplace to call home. I remember the time when I went into the city to talk with some homeless people for my youth broadcast - to try to open my listeners to a needy world. One man was living on the street, near a major bus terminal. His house was a large, tattered cardboard box. He actually allowed me to crawl inside that box with him, and it was heartbreaking that a box was home. At Christmastime - well, at any time - it's a tragic thing to be without a home.

Monday, December 20, 2010

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Our boys used to approach Christmas as methodically as a military campaign. They painstakingly made their Christmas lists sometime about, like October? You know, you must get the jump on anybody who wants to buy you underwear or socks. Right? So, they listed what they wanted in priority order, with what they called "the big one" right on top, circled and surrounded with big stars. One year, our oldest son had the year's hottest toy on top. I knew I would have to break my pattern and do this particular shopping early. So right around Thanksgiving, I bought it before it became virtually "ungettable." But my son must have reminded me about that thing 20 times between then and the day he got it - that very happy Christmas Day. Of course, I just smiled.

Monday, December 13, 2010

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Now, we've driven some pretty desolate stretches of the U.S. For a guy who used to wait 'til the last minute to get gas, those stretches were life-changing. A couple of bad experiences and you become mister "fill up at half a tank." But America's desert and wilderness stretches take a back seat to some of the wilderness of the Middle East; especially some of the desert traversed by God's ancient people as they went from Egypt to the Promised Land. Recently, a writer named Bruce Feiler decided to physically retrace some of the geography of the first five books of the Bible. Including the still-challenging Sinai wilderness where God's people wandered for 40 years. He spent time with the nomadic Bedouins who make that wilderness their home. He walked the hot sands, the daunting mountains of that wilderness. And, in the process, he found himself on an unanticipated journey of spiritual discovery. And he learned something about why God led His children through the desert - and why He still does. Here's what this author said: "In the desert, there's no such thing as independence - only dependence."

Thursday, December 9, 2010

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Centuries ago, Tyre was one of the greatest cities of the Middle East, strategically located on the Mediterranean Sea...until it was leveled by a foreign invader. Actually, there was an ancient Biblical prophecy that Tyre would not only be leveled, which was unimaginable at that time, but that the site would be so swept of Tyre's rubble that fishermen would one day lay their nets there to dry. The city was gone, but the rubble still remained until Alexander the Great came along. By that time, Tyre had moved to an island offshore, confident that they would now be unreachable by a future invader. They underestimated Alexander. He ordered his engineers to use the rubble of the old city to build a causeway to the island, and that's what they did. And Alexander and his army marched across the bridge that was made from rubble and won what seemed to be an impossible victory. So the site of ancient Tyre was, in fact, swept clean. And in modern times, fishermen have - well, you probably guessed -dried their nets where the city once was.

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