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Monday, September 24, 2007

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The Lewis and Clark Expedition! They were that bold group of explorers that Thomas Jefferson sent to explore the largely uncharted Louisiana Purchase. The expedition, under the leadership of Captains Lewis and Clark, faced blazing heat and bone-chilling cold. They had some close calls with vicious animals, they were attacked by insects, they had the prospect of massacre by many Indian tribes whose land they were crossing, there were perilous passages, and even the death of one of their own. After a year and a half of paying a very high price, Captain William Clark stood one day in the bow of his boat, pointed west up the Columbia River, and shouted, "Ocean in view!" Later he wrote in his journal: "Ocean in view! O the joy! Great joy in camp! We are in view of the ocean, this great Pacific Ocean which we had been so long anxious to see!"

Friday, September 21, 2007

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One of our new staff members just discovered the secret in our headquarters dining room. As she was carrying her lunch to the table, she bumped into this white pillar that stretches from floor to ceiling, and it moved. The look on her face was priceless! She wasn't quite sure what she had just done, or if she was about to cause the collapse of the room on top of all of us. But, see, that's the secret. The pillar looks real enough, but it's just decorative. It's made of plastic, and it doesn't hold up anything!

Monday, September 17, 2007

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For a while, it seemed like it was just a head cold. But suddenly my wife's chest started to hurt, and a serious almost uncontrollable cough developed, and minor activity even made it hard to breathe. I had suggested she see a doctor earlier in the week, but she's about as good at taking those suggestions as I am. But eventually she got so miserable, she called for an appointment. "You've got pneumonia, girl!" That's what the doctor said after the chest x-ray. Sure enough, there was this dark stuff, camping out in her lung, causing all this trouble.

Friday, September 14, 2007

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Amid all the amusement and theme parks clustered in Orlando, Florida, there's one that is pretty distinctive. It's a Holy Land theme park that attempts to bring some of the scenes and the stories of the Bible to life. Our daughter and son-in-law were there not long ago with our two grandsons. And the kids, who are pretty up on their Bible stories, really enjoyed walking through those stories and meeting some of the characters (actually, people portraying some of those characters). The one that impressed our then two-year-old grandson the most was Jesus. A man portraying Jesus stood in the middle of the small crowd and He spoke some of the very stories He told in the Bible. But then came the moment our little guy will not soon forget. Jesus came over and picked Him up, just like Jesus did with the children when He was here. The next day Mom and our little guy were talking about his upcoming third birthday party, and suddenly out of the blue, he said, "I want Jesus at my birthday party."

Thursday, September 13, 2007

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Recently, I spoke for a large youth conference at one of the East Coast's most popular vacation spots: Ocean City, Maryland. The boardwalk, the hotels, the restaurants, the amusements seem to stretch for miles. My friend told me he's been coming to Ocean City since the 1970s, when most of what I was seeing wasn't there. Not that many folks used to come to Ocean City. I asked my friend what changed that. "Oh, the bridge," he said. The building of what is called the Bay Bridge opened up this beautiful spot to many people who had never experienced it before.

Monday, September 10, 2007

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"Court TV." Sure enough, there's a popular cable channel in America that just shows court trials all day! For some reason, America's got this strange fascination with criminal trials. It's almost like another sport we watch. We're even learning some of those fancy legal words that only lawyers and judges used to know. So how's your "writ of habeas corpus" doing today? Is an angry parent now the "plaintiff" and the disobeying child the "defendant?" The trials that really intrigue us are those celebrity trials, where someone rich or famous or notorious is on trial. And from these trials have come even the phenomenon of celebrity lawyers - attorneys who make big bucks and a big reputation trying to get some big names off the hook. Believe me, those folks make sure that they get the best defense attorney money can buy!

Friday, September 7, 2007

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Norma Jean was born on a cold, snowy day after a battle just to get into this world. She's a little white calf whose mother wouldn't have anything to do with her, and she lay out in the snow and the cold for many hours, actually, before her owner realized her predicament. That newborn was in pretty bad shape, with her hind legs just not even supporting her when she tried to stand. Her attempts to get up were, well, they were pitiful. Kenny's a teenager, and he doesn't live on the farm where the calf was born. But when he saw her, he offered to take her and try to pull her through. The farmer was pretty pessimistic about the calf making it, but Kenny arranged for her to stay in a stall in a friend's barn. Every morning, he drove to that barn before school, and he faithfully fed Norma Jean a big bottle of milk substitute, and slowly nursed her back to health. Today, that calf who had been on her last legs is now bouncing all over the place on four good legs!

Thursday, September 6, 2007

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"Embedded reporters." It was a concept most of us had never heard of until Operation Iraqi Freedom. But the U.S. Military decided to allow reporters to actually travel with and report from active combat units, fighting for the liberation of Iraq. The result was these amazing live transmissions from sandstorms, rapid troop movements, actual combat in progress, and even the takeover of some of Saddam Hussein's palaces. It was the ultimate in reality TV. Of course, it had one disadvantage; one that briefers and Pentagon officials kept reminding people of. The embedded reporter could only report on the small slice of the big picture that he was able to see from his unit's vantage point. A seasoned military observer expressed it this way on television: "The closer you are to the battle, the less you can see the whole war."

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

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They're usually some of the most exciting moments in sports; the touchdown or field goal that wins the game with no time left on the clock. That game-winning basket as the final buzzer sounds. The game-winning home run with two out in the bottom of the ninth inning. Whatever the sport, there is nothing like a sudden victory when victory seems out of reach. It makes the fans go ballistic.

Tuesday, September 4, 2007

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It used to be that just one superpower had missiles which could carry deadly destruction to American soil. But in today's post-Cold War world, there are several countries that either have or may soon have that capability; which has necessitated some fresh thinking about America's defense against a missile attack. That, in turn, has birthed the idea of anti-missile missiles. It could be a controversial plan sometimes, but it proposes that we launch defensive missiles to pre-empt and destroy an incoming enemy missile.

Friday, August 31, 2007

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It was a day of national mourning; an unusual outpouring of emotion and affection for the man who had died. The final farewell to former President Ronald Reagan began with official funeral observances in the nation's Capitol: the long, all-night lines of everyday Americans paying their respects at his coffin in the Capitol Rotunda, the highest officials of the land paying tribute to the former President, the memorial service in the National Cathedral, and then that final journey on Air Force One to a family service at his ranch in California. One of the more moving moments of a day with many such moments was when Air Force jets flew over in what is known as the "missing man maneuver." Clusters of jets flew overhead, with one jet in the final cluster suddenly peeling up, away, and out of sight. That's a symbol that says a lot.

Tuesday, August 28, 2007

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At first, they were frightened and even bruised faces appearing on Iraqi TV. Early in the Iraq War, there were seven American soldiers and pilots who had been captured by Saddam Hussein's forces and then they were paraded on television for all the world to see. After that, none of us could be sure whether they were hurt or healthy, or dead or alive. They've been way too many scenes like that. Well, retreating enemy soldiers informed American troops of the place where the POWs were being held. As the heavily armed soldiers burst into the room, they first shouted for everyone to lie down on the floor. Then, they yelled out an unmistakable command: "If you're an American, stand up!" Seven prisoners stood up, and they were free.

Monday, August 27, 2007

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I hate it when a five-year-old makes me feel dumb; especially when it's my grandson. I mean, he doesn't mean to make me feel dumb. He doesn't know he's making me feel dumb. But he is really smart, and he knows a lot about a lot! Like the solar system, for example. He's got the planets down cold along with all kinds of facts about the universe. Things I either have forgotten or maybe never knew. Another thing our grandson is really mastering is numbers. Man, can he count! He's working on thousands, millions, billions, and his favorite quantity, a google! When it comes to our universe, he's never going to be able to count that high!

Friday, August 24, 2007

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There's a bridge in a park not too far from here; they take carriage rides there. It's just a bridge to most folks, but not to our son and daughter-in-law. That will always be a very special spot to them. It's where he asked her to marry him. It's interesting how a plain old piece of geography becomes forever special when something special in your life happens there: the place you were born, or where you had your first date or your first kiss, or where you were married, or where some significant "first" in your life took place. When a certain place is where something important started, it will always be a special place.

Friday, August 17, 2007

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Every once in a while as you're cruising down the highway, you'll see one of those trucks - the ones that are carrying a truckload of smashed cars. We're talking, you know like, steel pancakes here. Sometimes you'll drive by the scrap yard where these junkers end up, and there you'll see row after row with stacks of these flattened old vehicles. "Junk," you say. Today it is, but there was a day when that hunk of steel was someone's dream come true. It was the new wheels they'd hoped for and saved for; a prize they wouldn't let anyone touch - now flattened.

Friday, August 3, 2007

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My son and I were waiting in front of a restaurant and we saw this dad desperately trying to keep his impatient two-year-old occupied. What's that word they use sometimes to describe the "two's"? "Terrible"? Now there's something in a little child that wants freedom, and will go for it at the first opportunity. This kid was no exception. As soon as his dad let go for a moment, he started chugging down the sidewalk. Dad started after him, pretending he was having a hard time catching the little guy. Well, you knew he wasn't. My son just watched in amusement and he said to me, "It's so funny watching a kid trying to get away from his father. You know he's going to lose."

Monday, July 30, 2007

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It was home improvement time at our house, and with me having a chronic sense of "uncoordinitis," well, we obviously need some help. And our friend Tim is the man for the job for two reasons. First, he's just really good at designing and building and problem-solving. Of course, there are a lot of people who are craftsmen like that. See, the second reason is what really made Tim the man for the job. Sometimes we were gone when he was going to be at our house working. And since he was working in all parts of our house, he needed keys to everything, and there was no place in our home that he couldn't go. That meant we needed not only someone who could do the job, we needed someone we could totally trust. And we had someone like that.

Monday, July 23, 2007

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I shave the old fashioned way - hot water, shaving cream, and a razor. I guess that makes me a "real man," huh? Well, the other day I was shaving in a hotel and I realized I had run the hot water too hot. It's one thing to soften your beard; it's another thing to cook your face. So I ran just a little cold water into the sink. Now that was amazing! Suddenly, the water was not hot enough! See, I underestimated how quickly the cold can cool off the hot.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

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I’ve flown into the Anchorage, Alaska, airport before, but I’ve never driven around that airport before. I was returning my rental car, which had to go to one terminal, and I had to race to make my plane at the other terminal. It was still dark, which didn’t help in reading the signs at an unfamiliar airport, and somebody else must have my sense of direction. I thought I was heading for the rental car return until suddenly it looked like I was heading out into nothing that looked like an airport at all. As soon as I realized I was going the wrong direction, I knew what I had to do. I turned around as fast as I could and drove very quickly in the right direction. And I made it!

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

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We get our share of storms where we live, and we’ve got our share of trees. So, you can probably figure out the rest. After almost every storm, I make the rounds in the yard, picking up the souvenirs the storm left behind. I haul all those downed branches to my special brush pile place, even if they’ve got leaves on them. Even if I am a city boy, I know there’s no use planting those branches in the ground and hoping they’ll grow more leaves. In fact, those leaves they have are soon going to fall off. As soon as the branch gets separated from the tree, it starts dying.

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