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Wednesday, January 11, 2006

If you're looking for a great real estate deal, don't go looking in the metropolitan New York area. Housing in the metro New York area is just really expensive. When people from another part of the country start looking at home prices there, they usually get a paralyzing case of sticker shock. When our friend Rachel and her husband moved to the New York area to serve the Lord, they went through that cost-of-living trauma. Rachel was talking one day to my wife about this and it led her to tell about a minor, but particularly irritating, frustration she had with their house. It was about that pipe in the corner of the dining room! Rachel said, "I have wallpapered the room. I have tried everything to get that dumb pipe to blend in, but nothing works! It's ugly!" Then she paused for a moment and she said, "You know, I told God I'd live in a grass hut in Africa if He called me to, and I meant it! Why can't I live in a house with an ugly pipe in New Jersey?" Then Rachel answered her own question. "I know why." The diagnosis that followed might provide an x-ray of what's going on in you!

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

I used to think flying would be glamorous. When I was a kid, we'd take my Dad to the airport for an occasional business trip, and I used to think, "Man, that's exciting! I wonder if I'll ever do that?" I get to do plenty of that! Sometimes it's a two-hour flight to Chicago, a five-hour flight to the West Coast, and sometimes it's a marathon like 18 hours to Africa or Asia. Now I'm leaving something important and I'm going to something important at the other end. But for most people, the travel time in between is just dead time. Not for this kid. I ask for a window seat where I don't have to do any getting up or passing things. I make my little office nest there and I get tons of work done! For me, that time in between my two important places isn't just headphones, movies, plastic lunches, or reading about life jackets. In fact, there's no phone calls, no interruptions. It's some of my best time to write, create, prepare. Hey, the time in between is important, too!

Friday, January 6, 2006

If you consider yourself a religious person, boy, have I got good news for you! Recent research indicates that those who consider themselves religious tend to have lower blood pressure than the rest of the population, and they are less likely to be obese, or to have cancer, or to be hospitalized, and they have a 29% greater chance to live longer! And religious people tend to have lower rates of depression, less suicide, greater sexual satisfaction in their marriage, and overall a greater sense of well-being. What do you know, Jesus was right when He said, "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness" and "Blessed are the pure in heart" ( Matthew 5:6, 8). Yep, lots of good news if you're a religious person, and some very disturbing bad news.

Thursday, January 5, 2006

If you want to get into Manhattan from New Jersey, you have several choices. You can take a long bridge, one of two long tunnels, a ferry trip, or a long un-recommended swim. The Hudson River is really pretty wide when it reaches Manhattan, but it's not very powerful. If you could see the Hudson near its headwaters in upstate New York, you'd see it roaring along with a very strong current. Upstate its banks are confined and the force is greater. But by the time it reaches Manhattan, the Hudson is so spread out that its power seems almost gone. I know people like that.

Wednesday, January 4, 2006

My friend John has a sick little boy on his hands. His son was only about three and he was having some serious respiratory problems. The little guy often woke up in the middle of the night gurgling and finding it hard to breathe. That's scary at any age and even scarier at three. During that siege, John stepped up to serious "daddying." Unbeknownst to little David, he set up a camp just outside the boy's door. Whenever David would cry out, John was there in a moment to help. Night after night, those frightened cries came out of the dark. And night after night, a father was there by the side of his frightened son. Well, little David was no dummy. He finally figured out how his Dad was getting there so quickly. He was right outside the door. So David just got out of bed, went out in the hall, and snuggled up next to his father. That was the end of the fearful cries in the night. He had found the best place to be when you're scared.

Tuesday, January 3, 2006

When my sons were playing high school football, their job was to run their body into other guys' bodies. That's why my wife always made me sign the permission slip for them to play. Now, they were linemen; they blocked. Of course, one of their great rewards for all this body slamming was when they could stop or deflect an opposing lineman - thus opening up a hole through which their teammate could run with the ball. Usually our guys were too busy holding the line to know what was happening down field - like the man who had gone through the hole they made gaining big yardage or even scoring a touchdown. And the good ball carriers knew what they had to do: spot an opening and go through it as fast as they could!

Monday, January 2, 2006

It was before Christmas, and I went shopping for toys for my kids. Now you might not think there's anything unusual about that - unless you happen to know that all my kids are all grown up now. But that doesn't mean they can't have one little spark of childhood left in them. For example, I always buy my daughter a doll for Christmas; always have, always will. And we've got one son who was always a big fan of a certain Sesame Street character, and he still has a collection of everything Ernie. But recently a certain Ernie toy was one of the hottest Christmas items on the market. I wanted one for my son, the Ernie enthusiast, that is. I discovered the toy in September actually in a store - before it became an officially hot item. I held it in my hand - I could have bought it. But I said, "Naw, I can always get it later." Wrong. When "later" came, there were none to be found.

Friday, December 30, 2005

"I don't wanna go." When our boys were little, that was sometimes what they would tell me when we were out in the woods where it was totally dark - and a little scary - for them, of course, not me. But I would reach for their hand and their little hand would instinctively reach up my way when we hit a dark stretch, and they'd grab on tight. Now the strangest thing happened. Once they had their father's hand, their feet started moving again. They could go where they otherwise would never think about going.

Thursday, December 29, 2005

Remember that old country song, "country road take me home." I think that's my wife's national anthem. We vacationed recently in the Ozark Mountains where she grew up and man does she have memories. Most of them are down some country road, unpaved, rutted, rocky, dusty, with a standard rear wheel drive vehicle. We sometimes end up in some situations that I'm not sure we'll ever come back from. I've noticed something on those roads. Everyone else we meet is driving a pickup truck with four wheel drive. I feel a little out of place, but anybody who lives where there are steep roads, rocky roads, muddy roads, snowy roads, should have a four wheel drive vehicle because all four wheels are working on getting you over something or out of something so you can go where others can't. You can go virtually on all kinds of terrain in all kinds of weather. And that feels good!

Friday, December 23, 2005

It was Christmastime and two-year-old Timmy was sitting on his aunt's lap. He was ready to get down. His Aunt Gayle gave her usual requirement for letting him go, "You can't get down until you say the magic words." In case you've forgotten, the magic words are "pretty please with sugar and honey on the top." Except for this time. Timmy turned to his aunt and simply replied: "Unto you is born this day a Savior which is Christ the Lord."

Thursday, December 15, 2005

They are the busiest people I know at Christmastime - the men and women in those brown trucks that fly through our streets this time of year. The UPS people - along with countless Post Office carriers - are carrying so many packages to so many places in such a short time! They must sleep well (but not much) this time of year. As important as their service is, we don't make a big deal of the deliverer when he comes to the door. "Oh, delivery person, you are the greatest! What a guy! You are awesome, dude!" Or "dudette," as the case may be. No, we know he didn't make the gift. She didn't buy the gift. They only delivered the gift!

Monday, December 12, 2005

It was two weeks before Christmas. Our whole family was returning home from a Christmas party when a drunk driver decided that he liked our side of the road better than his side. In a split second, he swerved right in front of us. The next second, I was looking at a hood that was folded up almost to the windshield. A few hours in the emergency room showed that - miraculously - none of us had been seriously injured. Our car didn't do as well. It was totaled.

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Our children got together and gave us a special gift for a recent milestone wedding anniversary - a couple of nights in the beautiful place where we honeymooned years ago. Part of their gift was a picturesque, horse-drawn carriage ride through some of the area's beautiful scenery. At one point, our carriage was headed up a relatively steep hill and another carriage was starting down that hill, full of people. It had to be a real workout for the horses. Our driver pointed out something that I found intriguing. He said, "Notice that the driver is holding the brake on as they come down the hill. That's to keep the horses from bearing a load that's too heavy for them to bear. With the driver holding the brake, they still feel like they're on level ground."

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

My wife grew up on a small farm where her Mom and Dad and she and her sister were all the hands they could afford. It was a lot of hard work and it was a struggle to survive. So even though I'm a city boy, I care about the struggles that so many independent farmers face today. In many cases, it seems like a struggle to survive, especially with so many large, corporate-type farms coming on the scene. But I was heartened to read in a recent USA Today article a new idea that some are trying with a fair degree of success. Basically, these farmers have customers who pre-order what they would like to buy, and the farmer then plants it and sells it to them later. So if I wanted so much corn or so much beans, I'd order that and even do some pre-paying for it - which takes some of the pressure of upfront expenses for the farmer. In a sense, it's buying a share of the harvest before it comes in - and then enjoying the fruits of your investment when it does.

Thursday, October 20, 2005

He invited Jesus Christ into his house, and things were never the same again. That's the picture actually portrayed in a classic old Christian booklet called "My Heart, Christ's Home." As the story unfolds, the man whose life is symbolized by a house, begins to let Jesus move beyond the front parlor and into the various rooms. In each room, Jesus changes things. Like some of what's in the library that doesn't belong in a house where Jesus lives. Some of what's done in the recreation area. Ultimately, he even lets Jesus clean out the garbage in this closet that's been sealed shut with several locks. But the picture I remember most is the one that portrays the man having personal time with Jesus in his study every morning - until one day when he's running late. He races out the door thinking he'd be there as usual the next morning. Didn't happen. For some time, he just ran out the door in the morning without ever stopping in his study. Until one morning when he hurried in there to find something, and there to his shock and surprise, was Jesus, sitting in a high-backed chair. Awkwardly, the man asked, "Jesus, what are you doing here?" Jesus' reply goes straight to the heart: "I've been here every morning - waiting for you."

Monday, October 17, 2005

Two roller coasters. Only one seemed like a real option to me. I should point out that I don't do roller coasters much. "Because you're chicken," you say. No, because I'm too short. I just don't measure up to that little height chart they have at the entrance to the coaster. I have a friend who declines roller coaster invitations by saying, "I can't. I have an inner ear problem." I like that. I might use that. For whatever reason, my rides on roller coasters are few and far between. But at this particular amusement park I visited a few years ago, they had two roller coasters side by side and two lines to get the to them. Over one line was a sign that said, "Forward." Over the other line, a sign that said - you guessed it - "Backward." You can ride looking forward or looking backward. Like this is a choice?

Tuesday, October 11, 2005

They're a family of superheroes with super capablities that normal humans don't have. And they're the subject of an animated movie hit. They're called "The Incredibles." And because of the powers they have, they are incredible. Or they could be. But the movie shows them living a very un-super life; just going through the motions of everyday life, living in the same kind of mediocrity everyone else is. They're the "Incredibles," but they're sure not living like it.

Thursday, October 6, 2005

There's nothing I appreciate more than a good night's sleep, maybe because sleep is something I don't get a lot of. Frankly, if the bed is decent, I don't care too much about the surroundings. A night's sleep is a night's sleep and the whole time I'm asleep I don't know where I am anyway, right? So much for my philosophy of sleep. Apparently, some nights' sleep are a big deal to some people, especially if it means sleeping in the historic Lincoln bedroom in the White House. There's been a lot of, shall we say, discussion about major contributions to Presidential campaigns and those who have given a lot, being given the privilege to spend the night at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue; or as one senator called it, Motel 1600. I guess if any place to sleep is special, being in the White House, just down the hall and the President and the First Lady, that would be it. People come away from that experience, even rich and powerful people who have seen and done it all, really impressed by being in that historic, powerful place for just a night. I've never stayed at the White House, but wait until you hear where I just came from!

Wednesday, October 5, 2005

I had the cutest little guy join me on my hike. I was out in the country exploring the trail that wound along the creek. First I just saw this little flash of black and white fur toddling along through the grass, not far from me. He was heading in the same direction I was. I told you he was cute; he was all black except for a nice white stripe all the way down his back, a big bushy tail, a cute little almost kitten-like face. I had been joined by a skunk! Two problems: one little spray and nobody would get near me for the next week. Secondly, it was daytime and skunks are nocturnal animals. If they're out in the daytime it can mean they have rabies! So, what did I do? Go pet him because he was so cute? No! Try to scare him off? I'm not suicidal! I did the only thing a guy with any brains would do, I walked quickly in the other direction and I didn't have to bury my clothes!

Monday, October 3, 2005

We had been shopping for the place where God wants us to build the radio studio that we desperately needed. And we were looking at a possible location - this big barn of a room with a high ceiling and it was totally bare. Well, I saw a big, bare room, but not Kasey. No, no, no. He's a carpenter and he started talking about this wall here and that partition there; the control room in that corner where the doors would be, and how we could soundproof the floor. It was amazing! He was seeing all kinds of things in that room that I sure couldn't see! But, then, that's the great thing about carpenters!

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