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Wednesday, September 13, 2006

I was with some missionaries in Guadalajara, Mexico. David was there leading a team that was reaching young Latin Americans through a historic youth radio broadcast. Now David is a big guy and I had my picture taken with him; he was wearing a tie - I was wearing a sport shirt. It looked like "bring your son to work day." Guess who looks like the son? Because of the crime rate in David's area, he and his family needed a guard dog, and they had one - a big one that's a match even for his master, David. The dog is appropriately named General and he's pretty much in charge at the house. When David came home from a night of ministry, General was right there at the gate, waiting to play. Playing with this aggressive German Shepherd could cost you a finger or two if you're not careful. But, somehow, David had done a good job of mastering the dog. In fact, I heard him tell General, "Get your bowl, and I'll feed you!" General just wanted his master to give him food, but David wanted him to go for it. So, this German Shepherd bolted up the walk to his big, empty plastic bowl, grabbed it in his iron jaws, and trotted up to his master with it. Sure enough, if he got his bowl, his master would fill it.

Monday, September 11, 2006

It seemed harmless enough when I entered. I was just a kid at an amusement park in Chicago, and the ride was just a big cylinder that made you feel like you were walking into a washing machine. They called it The Rotor. I stood against the edge and I waited for it to do its thing. Then it started to do what something called The Rotor might be expected to do - rotate. As it began to spin faster and faster, the floor started to disappear in front of my feet. I was plastered against the side of the cylinder, looking down into this yawning black hole. I hated it. I wanted off. Too bad!

Friday, September 8, 2006

When my wife and I are driving somewhere, we don't lose any time when she drives. In fact, we've set some records, so it's all right if she drives. Once when we were on a trip and I was preparing for the meetings we were going to, she was driving down this four-lane, divided highway, and I was looking down. All of a sudden, I looked up and I saw orange plastic cones on the middle line that divides the two lanes on our side. Now, I wasn't clear which lane we were supposed to be driving in, because I hadn't been looking up. And as I looked, every vehicle but one was moving into the left lane, to the left of the cones. I said everyone but one - that was us. My wife continued in the right lane, and I said, "Honey, what are you doing? It looks like this lane is closing." She said, "Just watch." Well, we passed a line of cars on our left, with a big truck at the head of it. See, that truck had moved into the left lane, and all the other cars said, "Oh, that must be the lane to be in." and all the other cars followed it. The problem was that the truck that they were following was taking equipment to a big tar truck parked in the left lane, so we waved as we zipped by all those cars as they were headed for an unpleasant surprise.

Thursday, September 7, 2006

The power was out this morning when some of our neighbors woke up. In fact, several hundred customers were without electricity. Now, it wasn't the power company's fault. It was the fault of a driver who ran his car into an electric pole. Oh, not on purpose, of course. See it was a grandfather returning from an all-night hunting expedition with his grandson. Unfortunately, his body didn't want to wait until it got home to sleep. So the driver fell asleep at the wheel. Now, he was injured, his car was damaged, and lots of folks had no power.

Wednesday, September 6, 2006

There's bad plaque and there's good plaque. The bad kind is that substance you hear about in toothpaste commercials that builds up on your teeth. Then there's good plaque - that's the kind we have hanging on our walls all over the house. Those are good plaques because they have different promises on them from God's Word. For example, one of the first things people have seen over the years as they've entered our home has been a plaque with Isaiah 54:13 on it. It says, "All your children will be taught of the Lord; and great will be the peace of your children." Now, that's meant an awful lot to us; we've hung onto it. Most Christian homes and churches have verses like that on display in various places. But plaques like that are meant to do more than hang on walls. They're meant to float!

Tuesday, September 5, 2006

It was Father's Day, and my friend Dave and I were making the most of it. Our families were spending the day together and Dave and I knew what our job was on Father's Day - loafing and making sure everyone understood our needs. And sometimes someone even paid attention to us for a second. Well, all of us were sitting at the picnic table in the yard and I was explaining what the day's activities were going to be and why Dave and I were the ones making the plans. I said, "It's Father's Day." To which his son mumbled this interesting comment, "At our house, every day is Father's Day." And that got me thinking.

Monday, September 4, 2006

I've stood at many a wedding altar as the minister before lots of brides and grooms, but this one was different. The beautiful bride, glowing in her elegant white dress, was our only daughter. Man, what a thrill it was to perform her wedding, and to watch her commit herself unconditionally to a wonderful young man. She is a great son picker. And, of course, I watched him commit himself to her. I had the privilege of watching that relationship grow over three and a half years to the point from her first discovery of him on a missions trip, and then her deepening love for him. Then all of the experiences they had together that build trust, the joy of their engagement, and the months of preparation for the wedding day. There were a lot of important stages that led up to that glorious moment, but something decisive happened that day at the altar. Everything else was important, but it was just preparation. And it all came down to a magic moment on a life-changing day for my daughter. Maybe there's a moment like that for you.

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

We had been working on our production for our college's Junior-Senior Banquet for months. It was an original musical drama, written and directed by my roommate and me, based on the book of Esther. The orchestra had rehearsed night after night, the chorus had rehearsed, the actors, the light crew, the sound crew; we had prepared as much as we could. The night before, we had the dress rehearsal. But all those months of preparation and practice came down to one evening - the night of the big performance, and it was show time!

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Jenny's only two years old but she's already teaching her parents. She often starts with one or both by announcing, "Let's pray." Now, she doesn't always pick her times well. Dad might be studying or Mom might be involved in her housework or running to get ready. That doesn't stop Jenny. She'll just say, "Let's pray." She grabs her hands, closes her eyes and she expects you to do the same. She's fully expecting Mom or Dad to drop whatever they're doing. Mom told me, "I don't dare tell Jenny, 'Later honey, I'm too busy now.'" Jenny is only two, but she's got the right idea.

Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Every child's dream - Disney World! Our three-year-old granddaughter had counted down to her visit there for weeks. And she was absolutely giddy as she finally entered the Magic Kingdom. One ride she really wanted to try was the flying elephants. Actually, the flying Dumbos, named after that elephant with oversize ears that enabled him to be a flying elephant! Dumbo basically just goes around and around; he's a ride for the little kids - kids like me. Now when you pull the bar in your Dumbo car, it starts to go up. Not super-high, but high enough to get a nice view of a lot of things in the park. And our granddaughter began making those Dumbo circles with her uncle, he started to pull the bar to help the flying elephant fly. It was not to be. Our little princess would have none of this going higher business - too scary! And she made no secret of her desire (well, maybe "demand" is more accurate) that Dumbo was to fly at the lowest possible level - and stay there.

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