Friday, July 14, 2006

I was speaking for an Easter Sunrise Service in the Ozarks, and I saw something that seemed strangely out of place. In front of this church, there's a ten-foot section of a brick wall with a sign in front of it that says, "Berlin Wall." I was thousands of miles from Berlin, but there was a chunk of what used to be the most famous - or most infamous - wall in the world. Many of us remember how the Berlin Wall represented for decades the Cold War division of our world into Communist and free. The Communists built it on the border between East Berlin and free West Berlin. In spite of that wall, many people still risked everything to scale that wall and escape to freedom. A few made it. Many died trying. Then came that amazing day - a day few of us could have ever imagined - when the revolution taking place against Communist rule allowed Berliners to start tearing down that wall. All night long, they went after that wall with everything from sledge hammers to bare hands. And then there were 100,000 Berliners, celebrating in the square, chanting four incredible words over and over again, "The wall is gone! The wall is gone!"

Thursday, July 13, 2006

I may be sleeping, but a lot of the world isn't. They're busy making news while I'm asleep. The world's a little different from the time I closed my eyes till the time I woke up. Sometimes it's majorly different, and I want to know what's happened. I think most people do. That's probably why there aren't many evening newspapers anymore. Mine arrives pretty early each morning, and I like to at least check out the headlines. Of course, I like it better when it's good news - which quite often it isn't.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

Maybe it's a guy thing. Or maybe it's just a Ron thing. But I hate to waste time or waste effort. Here's what that looks like when I've just returned from the grocery store to restock our empty refrigerator and shelves. I look like a mule basically - with bags all over my body, carried on almost every appendage. I don't want to make any more trips to the car than absolutely necessary, OK? So I'm willing to try whatever calisthenics, to tolerate whatever overload will enable me to get everything in the house in one trip. This approach has been known to have its problems. Sometimes I drop a bag or two or one of them rips open; thus, making more work. And I've got this bad shoulder that may well be traceable to carrying too much too many times.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Mackinaw Island in Michigan is one of the special places in America. It's a romantic island. It's surrounded by three of the Great Lakes. There are no cars, just bikes, horses and carriages. For my wife and me, it's a very special place. It's where we honeymooned many years ago, and it's where we honeymooned again just a few months ago as a gift from our children. They gave us some nights on our honeymoon island to celebrate a milestone anniversary. When we were newlyweds, we couldn't afford to stay in a hotel on the island. We could barely afford a cheap motel on the mainland. This time we actually stayed on Mackinaw Island, and we had a great time. Being there actually took us back to the very beginnings of our life together, when there were no children, no grandchildren, and a lot less responsibility. It was good to get back to where it started - with one man and one woman in love.

Friday, July 7, 2006

I grew up as an only child. You say, "I can tell." Thank you very much. My parents took me to most of the places that they went, but I remember one time they left me home by myself. I was home alone. (We could probably make a movie about that.) Well, anyway, we lived in this third floor apartment on the south side of Chicago. It was getting very late and I was sitting near the back door waiting and they should have been home by now, and I was really worried. I can remember hearing sirens and I thought, "Oh, no!" My imagination was taking me all over the place. I was thinking all the bad things that might have happened to my parents. I was already there and then the sirens came. I was sure the sirens were for my mommy and my daddy, but they weren't. But the fear I had that night was so great, I still remember it, don't I?

Tuesday, June 27, 2006

We had stopped for gas next to an Interstate that takes you at 75 MPH across long miles of desert. That's where I saw the sign: "Dead End - 3 Miles Ahead." I thought, "I wonder if anyone ever said, 'I'm not sure that's true of that old dirt road. I think I'll drive that way and check it out for myself.'" We got back on the Interstate, and of course, I had to see where that other road went. Sure enough, that bumpy road ended three miles later in the middle of nothing in the desert - right next to a road that speeds you to a lot of great destinations.

Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Our sons had them when they were little - action figures of their TV heroes. Every new generation of kids has their action figures: GI Joe, Superman, Star Wars, X-Men. But recently I caught a story on a TV news show about the best action figure idea I've ever heard of. They were talking about a company, the name of which I didn't catch, who are making custom action figures dressed in contemporary combat dress. It's especially for the children of Americans serving in Iraq. Guess whose face is on the action figure? Your Dad!

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

We were in the living room of a Native American family who are among the few Jesus followers in their entire tribe, and Mom was telling us about how Jesus entered their family. Her Grandmother had been a priestess in their tribal religion until she discovered what she called "The Black Book," and discovered the love of Jesus Christ. She was the first Christian in their family, and the village leaders didn't like it at all. In fact, when people decided to follow Jesus in that tribe, they expelled them from the village. It happened so suddenly the family had no home. They moved into a tiny building outside the village, but Grandpa wanted to build a house big enough for his family. Well, every day his job took him across the fields to work, and every day he brought something home with him; a large stone to build a house with - the house the lady telling the story grew up in.

Monday, June 12, 2006

It's usually the most watched event of the Winter Olympics every four years: the women's figure skating competition. At the 2006 Games in Turin, Italy, a lot of America's hopes for a gold medal were riding on Sasha Cohen; especially after she managed a thin, first-place edge after the initial short program. Then came the decisive long skating program. Suddenly, all hopes of any medal seemed to disappear with a major fall early in her program. The TV commentators actually said, "Now it's going to a fight just be on the podium." With a major deficit in her score from her fall, Sasha Cohen could have easily lost heart. She didn't. She fought back with a strong and impressive showing in the rest of her performance. When the rest of the world's best had all skated, the young woman who had fallen - who seemed to have forfeited any hope of being a champion - stood on that podium with a coveted silver medal.

Thursday, June 8, 2006

John Parker had it made. After two attempts to escape being a slave to a Southern slave owner, he had finally gotten his freedom. He chose to live in Ripley, Ohio, right on the freedom side of the Ohio River. He got a house and a good job as a factory worker. Ultimately, he owned a foundry and he invented many processes that were used widely in the foundry industry. He was safe, secure and successful. But night after night, John Parker risked it all. Under cover of darkness, he rowed across the river to the Kentucky side - slave territory. If he was caught, he could lose his freedom. He could even lose his life. But in spite of the risks, John Parker went looking for runaway slaves. And he found them and rowed them across the river to freedom. It's believed that John Parker was responsible for at least 900 slaves going free.

Tuesday, June 6, 2006

This would come under the heading of, "You know it's going to be a bad day when..." My wife and I were stopped at a stoplight during the rush hour one morning. We were on a local street that intersects the busiest highway in the area at that point. Now there are two lanes, OK, but we were in the left one - left turn lane. The light turned green, I started turning left, and I noticed another car next to me on my right turning left from the right lane. No, no, not supposed to! That's illegal, and it's pretty dangerous at this intersection. Well suddenly, our friendly scofflaw sees this blinking light in his rear view mirror. He has just made that illegal turn right in front of a police officer! Duh! Needless to say, he was pulled over on the shoulder before he'd even cleared the intersection. He's not even out of the neighborhood yet and he's been caught!

Thursday, June 1, 2006

My wife and I were out for a Sunday afternoon drive and we saw a very strange contradiction. It was this church, and there were long stairs leading up to the entrance and one lone lady at the door. She was trying every door to get into that church, and they were all locked. She looked very frustrated. Now what was the contradiction? It was the name on the church, "Our Lady of Perpetual Help." Well, my wife said, "You know, this reminds me of a scene I saw when I was in Haiti." She said, "I was right near a church, and there was this very gaunt woman, probably almost starving to death and weeping at the door of this church. She looked like she was desperate to get in and every door was locked." That lady was literally beating her fists bloody on the door and there was no response.

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Our older son dreamed since first grade about playing his first high school football game, and the day finally came. And the first game was an "away" game. It was a freshman game, and let me tell you, at freshman games, the parental attendance was usually underwhelming! Well, my wife and I were huddled conspicuously in the bleachers, up there with a few others. And finally the team came in with their mix-and-match freshman uniforms. Of course, we're looking for only #76. We didn't take our eyes off of #76, our son. And he, on the other hand, oh, he's all business, man, looking appropriately all macho - staring straight ahead - game face. Oh, he wasn't about to be needing Mom and Dad, but he couldn't resist a glance. For just a moment, he glanced from under that helmet into the stands, and our eyes met. And then, he was quickly back at the field - no smile, no wave, except from us, but our son had to know we were there. Our presence was very noticeable. Our absence would have been, too.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

When you drive in the New York City area, lane switching becomes a well developed art form. Of course, the danger zone in switching lanes is your blind spot. That one area in your rear vision where you can't see in any of your mirrors - that's pretty critical. Actually, the words blind spot have taken on new meaning for my wife and me. She had some vision problems and she developed what the doctor believed to be a temporary blind spot. He injected some dye to see how much of her vision was blocked, and I was surprised as the doctor showed us the results. He said, "Now, here is the blind spot that we all have." I said, "I do?" Right around the optic nerve, there are no rods and cones to produce a visual image, so we all have a blind spot.

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Ellis Island - that was the first piece of America that millions of immigrants ever touched. It's a little island in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. When you visit the island, there's a long, granite wall with thousands of names of immigrants who passed through there. This was the point of entry for all the immigrants coming through New York. They would book passage and get the cheapest price they could often down below decks. Finally, the boat would reach America, they would step off the boat and enter this long, red brick building on Ellis Island. It's cavernous; it echoes on the inside. But this is where they went through the steps that eventually permitted them to move from the island and on to their real destination, which was New York City and the rest of America. The tour guide says the people carried all their belongings in a basket. That was okay. They knew the island wasn't where they would live, so out of all those thousands who came there, not one ever set up a house there. They weren't going to be there very long.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

The sign said, "Antique Auto Show." So, my wife and I decided that we'd take a few minutes and stop at this car dealership and look at the antique autos. Really, we were interested in seeing the ones that went back to the 50s and the 60s when we were young. There was this one sleek, black '66 Mustang and it had a flawless exterior, a really rich interior, and the hood was open so you could look at the horsepower underneath. And there sitting on the engine block was a thick book of photos. It wasn't the guy's children or grandchildren. It was his car, and at the beginning of this photo album there were "before" pictures of this car. Well, let me tell you, it was garbage when he started. The first pictures were of this rusted out wreck, this banged-up Mustang. That must have been what he bought. And as you look through the book step-by-step you could see the car was being slowly transformed. It took months and maybe years of the owner's patient attention to get this beautiful classic. When the owner saw that wreck, he saw more than a wreck. He saw something that others didn't see.

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Our local high school football team has a history of championships and the guys work very hard to get a starting position. One of the things they do is spend a lot of time in the weight room. Our two sons played for that team and, I'll tell you, you have to be in that weight room a lot. The coach is watching. Of course, the weight room is the best place to lift. For one thing, of course, the coach sees you there and he knows you're working hard and that's what coaches like.

You also have spotters there - those are the guys who stand by you while you're lifting to help lift that bar off you just in case you get in trouble because you've lifted more than you could handle. That's what Chris was missing that day. See, Chris had a weight bench in his basement and he didn't have anybody around, but he wanted to do his lifting, and he was trying to increase the amount that he could bench press all alone. It's not smart to be pushing it when there's no one there to help, and he lost it and all that weight came down on top of him. So, Chris is there struggling, and finally he was able to roll it off of him. Naturally, he was pretty lucky because he escaped with just a few bruises, but some guys have actually gotten badly hurt that way. If you're not careful, you could end up trapped under what you thought you could lift.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

My family calls it an idiosyncrasy or is it "idiotsyncrasy"? I'm not sure. But no matter when we get home whenever we've been on a trip, I must unpack. It is the first thing to do when you get home. Oh, it may be 2am, but there's Ron putting his clothes in the closet where they go; making sure his toothbrush is where it needs to be the next morning, putting my books back where they came from. Everyone else is zonked! They're in a coma, and here's Mr. Compulsive busily restoring order. See, I'm not home until I'm unpacked and finally I fall into bed and I go, "Ah, I'm finally home!" See, once everything is put away, I can finally start enjoying being home. Actually, we should unpack even sooner

Monday, May 15, 2006

Our son brought a playful little Shih Tzu puppy into our house years ago. She loved to play with bubbles. Yeah, she would chase those bubbles that we would blow on the floor, and it was crazy to watch. And she also loved bottles. You know, the plastic bottles? She would enjoy a good battle with any two-liter plastic soda pop bottle, and we'd throw it on the floor. She'd attack that thing! You could hear it all through the house! Here's this plastic bottle being thrown into the air, she forces it up against the wall, it thuds along the floor (oh, this is great when you're trying to sleep, believe me). Finally she would fight that thing until she was totally exhausted. And then you'd hear nothing. You'd go in and she was totally flopped on the kitchen floor. There she was, almost out cold. She had literally worked herself totally out of energy in combat with a dumb, plastic bottle.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

My wife is anything but a typical American TV watcher. First of all, she seldom watches it. And secondly, when she does, I often find her watching nature shows. I walked in one day, and she was watching a program on whales. Even though it did make me blubber a little bit, I learned a lot watching it. It was about how the killer whale is really not as vicious as you might think he is in spite of his name. They actually had film footage of a killer whale lying in the water, while smaller animals were playing with him and on him. The commentator said the killer whale is usually pretty gentle. He can afford to be. He knows no one can threaten him, because there is no one stronger.