Going Direct - #10055
July 25, 2025
Download MP3 (right click to save)
All right, what famous TV personality said these words: "I love trash." All right, Sesame Street fans, yep, Oscar the Grouch, who even lived in a trash can.
- You are here:
- Home
- A Word With You
Eternity Insurance - #10054
July 24, 2025
Download MP3 (right click to save)
It's always hard to lose someone you love. It's especially hard when it's a child. I had friends who lost their precious granddaughter, Amy. Two years old - went to sleep with a little cold and a little fever. By the end of the night, Amy was gone from a cause, well it was still a medical mystery. As I talked with the family at the visitation, of course there was deep grief, but there was also a little comfort from something beautiful that happened right before Amy went to sleep that night. Her mother began singing "Jesus Loves Me" to her and little Amy sang along with her. Her last words, "Jesus loves me, this I know." And then she was with Him.
Walking Hope - #10053
July 23, 2025
Download MP3 (right click to save)
In the fall I really got exercise in our yard. We had lots of trees in that yard, and lots of leaves. Our sons were gone, and I got to do just about all the raking. There was this one corner of the yard that was kind of nice to rake because it smelled nice. I'd be raking away and suddenly I'd smell the strong aroma of spearmint. Now, I don't chew gum and I don't wear spearmint scented deodorant usually. So, it had to be coming from what I was raking - and it was! That was my wife's herb garden, and when some of the spearmint plants got bruised by my rake that spearmint scent started to fill the air. My wife told me that's the way it is with lots of herbs, like with lemon balm, for example. If you take a little piece of that plant and you crush it between your fingers, the air will suddenly be sweetened by this scent of lemon. So I learned, crushing a plant releases its scent.
Why God Will Let You In - #10052
July 22, 2025
Download MP3 (right click to save)
If you're a frequent flyer, as I have been in the past, they give you frequent flyer miles that eventually add up to a free ticket. Well, they give their really frequent flyers a few fringe benefits. The benefits aren't quite what they used to be, but like sometimes you can do early boarding. When one of our leaders and I were flying a lot together, it helped if we could board early. Because we could kind of get set up for a lot of work to get done on the flight. Now, he didn't have all the miles I did, but the boarding agents were pretty nice to him, because he boarded with me. My ticket, well, it has this special stamp that would indicate my high-mileage status. And on one occasion, they actually offered early boarding to us guys that they see all the time. They took my ticket and then he was following right behind me. He said, "I'm with him. Is that OK?" Yep. We went together.
Why the Little People Are the Big People - #10051
July 21, 2025
Download MP3 (right click to save)
When I lived in the New York area, I occasionally spoke for the New York Giants, and the New York Jets, and the Yankees, and the Mets, and some of their visiting teams. Now, when people heard about that, guess what their first question usually was? Well, of course, they said, "Ron, what scripture verse did you speak on?"
Breathing The Air Your Child Needs - #10050
July 18, 2025
Download MP3 (right click to save)
If I'm ever on an airplane flight where the flight attendant becomes incapacitated, I think I might be able to do the safety instructions. I mean, I've heard them so many times. Actually, you know, they've now video-ized the presentation. It used to be they just kind of got up and did it. I like the part where that little yellow oxygen mask drops down from above your seat in the demonstration. In the video, everyone is wonderfully calm in this simulated oxygen problem. I'm sure that's very true-to-life. "Oh, look, my oxygen mask just fell down. That's nice." Well, the video shows a mother putting the mask on herself, and then on her little girl. The instructions go like this: "If the cabin pressure drops, get the oxygen to your face first, and then to your child's."
Unintimidated - #10049
July 17, 2025
Download MP3 (right click to save)
When I visited the Alamo I felt the emotion of a place that was made pretty special by sacrifice. It was February 1836 when that little Spanish mission went into the history books. You remember the story. The Mexican forces, thousands strong, were advancing to crush the little Texas independence movement. Sam Houston needed time to organize his troops in order to fight back, and he did get that time because of what happened at the Alamo, and he did win, and they did get their independence.
The Year That Everything Changed - #10048
July 16, 2025
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Some years ago our family was vacationing on the eastern end of Long Island near a little village called Sag Harbor. It was amazing how much that village changed, though, over a period of just 24 hours. One day it was a sleepy little town of tourists kind of strolling from store to store. The next day it was a chaotic beehive with snarled traffic and anxious people rushing from store to store. Do you know what made the difference? A hurricane warning! Yes, a powerful storm was moving up the East Coast and it was expected to hit that part of Long Island. So people were rushing everywhere to get prepared. Batteries and candles suddenly appeared by every cash register in every store. And they quickly disappeared. People were suddenly living differently when there was a major storm.
The Rooster In Your Heart - #10047
July 15, 2025
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Honestly, I had a tough time sleeping when I was in Singapore some years ago. It was my first time overseas. It was hot all the time there; it's sub-equatorial. And I found myself lying awake almost all night long. I was there with another guy. We were ministering together there, teaching in seminars. So, since we couldn't sleep, we ended up talking and talking, and the ceiling fan over our heads made about one revolution per minute, so it wasn't doing much good.
Spiritual Shopping - #10046
July 14, 2025
Download MP3 (right click to save)
A while ago, my sister-in-law introduced me to this tasty new addition to my usual breakfast menu. They're called English crumpets - low fat, great taste. Then I was hooked. In fact, I decided I had to go get myself more of them. I went to where I figured something in the English muffin/bagel category would be: the bread section, right? No, not crumpets. I finally tried something really radical. I asked someone who worked there. Yeah, a guy's last resort. He said, "They're in dairy." Dairy? Well, I guess these things are supposed to be refrigerated. And dairy is where I found them...at the end of a long search!
I'll Become What You Call Me - #10045
July 11, 2025
Download MP3 (right click to save)
My daughter was all excited about the sign she saw at the airport. It was actually over the door at a terminal, and it simply said, "Through these doors pass the greatest employees in the world." She said, "You know, Dad, that would make me feel like I was really doing a good job if I came under that every day." It gives you something you want to live up to. I hope you're posting the right kind of sign.
Good News for Our Grief - #10044
July 10, 2025
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Years ago when I went on my first international ministry trip, I went just about as far as you can go - 10,000 miles to Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand. I was going to be away for three weeks, which was the longest I had ever left my wife and our three young children. My wife mobilized the kids to put little love notes all over and all through my luggage. We had a nice meal together on the way to the airport and then some special hugs and kisses at the airport. But I did have to go. And I'm not kidding you, it was a sad moment. My wife was trying to look like she was fine. The children were obviously not looking fine. I managed to hold myself together until I rounded the bend in the concourse, then I started wiping tears from my eyes. It was hard, but one thing made it OK. It was only temporary. We would be reunited.
A Little More Time To Harvest - #10043
July 9, 2025
Download MP3 (right click to save)
There's a stretch of nights in the fall when the moon is absolutely incredible! It's usually in October - harvest time for farmers. And when it's full moon time, you can see this huge, brilliant, yellowish moon rising in the eastern sky. It just makes you stop and almost catch your breath. I think it was in the days before electricity that farmers started calling it a "harvest moon." With so much depending on the harvest and so little time to bring it in, every hour had to count. And the days never seemed quite long enough to get it all in. So a bright full moon was more than just a beautiful view...it meant something much more important. With that extra light, God was giving them a little more time to harvest!
The Pieces Without The Plan - #10042
July 8, 2025
Download MP3 (right click to save)
When my wife and I pulled up late to the Bed and Breakfast we were going to be staying at, I tried to be real quiet. Not a problem. That B & B was buzzing like a beehive. Inside there were ten women huddled around the dining room table, each one with a sewing machine right in front of her. I learned that the other guests - all women - were there that weekend for a Mystery Quilt weekend. And even though I felt like I had sort of crashed a grownup slumber party, I did ask a few questions like, "What pattern are you following?" They didn't know. See, it turns out that one of the women there, Millie, does these quilting weekends with ladies, and she has the pattern. It's a mystery quilt because each woman only has instructions for what to do with the next piece or pieces. The next day, one lady said to me, "I can't wait 'till I can see what all this is going to look like when it's all put together." Good thing she didn't leave early with her pile of pieces, huh? She would have never known what it all made.
When Jesus Prays for You - #10041
July 7, 2025
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Don't you love it when someone gets a little smile on their face and they say, "We were just talking about you." Your mind starts racing, and you think, "What were they saying about me?" When they say that to me, I usually ask, "Oh, do I get a chance to defend myself?" You know that people talk about you when you're not around. That's true for just about everybody, and you've heard how folks talk about other people when you're there. So you have every reason to believe that they talk about you, and it might not be your best stuff. I know someone who's been talking about you, and it's definitely for your benefit.
So Good To Be Clean - #10040
July 4, 2025
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Our son had just arrived in the southwestern United States to begin his work with Native Americans there. In fact, his supervisor in his non-profit work was a Native American. And our son was eager to show that he was coming with a servant spirit, you know. He had a tremendous opportunity to do just that. His supervisor needed his help in cleaning out a septic system. The job began with our son's hands having to work in that sewage. But the job got more and more involved and so did his body. Before he was finished, he was in that septic sewage up to his waist! Needless to say, he never felt more disgusting in his life. And then came the shower; that long, wonderful, heavenly shower! He said "Dad, I have never felt so dirty in all my life, and it never felt so good to be clean!"
The Count-Onables - #10039
July 3, 2025
Download MP3 (right click to save)
My friend, Brian, told me that he had spent most of the day in the bathroom. No, he wasn't sick, he didn't have the flu. He was installing marble. That's what he does for a living. And he told me that he was cutting slabs of marble to size, and his weapon for this job was a diamond saw - a saw with a diamond blade that cuts right through marble. He said, "You know, this saw is amazing. You can touch your finger to that blade and it won't cut you." And he went on to explain that a diamond blade is not the sharpest blade there is, it's just the hardest blade there is. It's so hard that it cuts through what sharp cannot.
Lost No More - #10038
July 2, 2025
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Our church's youth group had just been out whitewater rafting all day. I had been invited to wrap up the day with an inspirational talk. And when I arrived at the rafting facility they were using, I was expecting to see just the youth group. As it turned out, this recreational company had 1,500 people on the river that day. They were all from all these different groups! So, I wandered around looking lost until someone from our church found me. And that night we had a wonderful get-together under the trees.
Warm on the Outside, Cold on the Inside - #10037
July 1, 2025
Download MP3 (right click to save)
There are many ways to prepare food for dinner. You can bake it, boil it, fry it, simmer it, or as we've discovered in the age of radiated ravioli, you can nuke it. Yea, microwave, the ultimate symbol of the too-busy-to-cook generation! Actually, they do come in handy when your stomach is growling and your time is short. Microwave ovens cook some things better than others, I've discovered. I don't know if you've had the appetizing experience I've had on occasion. Your dinner comes out nice and warm on the outside, but cold on the inside.
The Love Triangle That Strengthens a Marriage - #10036
June 30, 2025
Download MP3 (right click to save)
The old cliché says, "Two's company, three's a crowd." That's really true when it comes to romance. Okay, guy meets girl, guy falls in love with girl, guy falls in love with another girl in addition to first girl. That's like putting a match in gasoline. That is a centuries-old formula for an explosion. It's the infamous love triangle!