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March 14, 2022

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Paul Harvey was probably one of the most distinctive voices in American radio. His lively newscasts and his unique delivery gave him a special niche in the lives of millions of listeners. But he did more than news. He is also known for the true stories that he told, often from American history. But he didn't let you know what the surprising subject of the story was until the end. There's a trademark phrase that accompanied Paul Harvey's great stories. He concluded it this way: "And that's the rest of the story."

March 11, 2022

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It's kind of hard to think of any good news when you just broke your hand, but there can be some. Yeah. My wife learned that when she was in an accident in our car with two of our children. They were rear-ended. Somebody slammed into the back of them, and the result for my wife was a broken hand and six weeks in a cast. Well, she was unable to use her working hand; her writing hand even for about a month and a half.

March 10, 2022

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Okay, we didn't have much of a car in the first place. It was less of a car by the end of the day. We hadn't been married very long, and our used car was pretty humble, but it was ours. We were in heavy traffic in downtown Chicago about five o'clock one afternoon, sitting in the middle of one of those Rush Hour blood clots they call a "traffic jam." I'd stopped for a red light not far from the Art Institute on Michigan Boulevard. I can still picture this. To our right, was a city bus that pretty much blocked my view of the traffic on the intersecting street. The light turned green. I drove out into the intersection. Bam! Suddenly we were hit very hard, stopped cold, and left with a crumpled hood with smoke coming from underneath. A delivery truck had run the red light and into us. Thankfully, we weren't hurt. Our little car was, though! It wouldn't move. So we just went to the curb and stood on the sidewalk, waiting for help to come, and we watched as one driver after another pulled up to this car of ours that was obviously wrecked, unoccupied, disabled, and they honked. Weird!

March 9, 2022

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It's probably one of the most memorable, most identifiable advertising campaigns in advertising history. And, you know what, it's hard to do that when what you're selling is something as boring as batteries. But Energizer did it. Right? Now, what are you thinking right now? You can probably imagine their rabbit in your mind right now: he's got sunglasses on, drumsticks in his hand, and a big bass drum in front of him. And he moves across the landscape, seemingly unstoppable, beating his drum all the way because he's powered by Energizer batteries, of course.

March 8, 2022

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Okay, it's an adult privilege to get nostalgic every once in a while, right? My wife and I would suddenly get this far-away look, and you know, drift back to some childhood incident. But frankly, I liked it when my wife was telling about her childhood on the farm in the Ozarks. I enjoyed hearing about it.

March 7, 2022

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So I'm in the backyard with our then six-year-old grandson when, out of the blue, he says, "Grandpa, I'm going to be married someday." Oh boy. I'm searching for something wise to say as grandfathers are supposed to do. My grandson saved me - with five little words, "But it's up to Jesus." That little conversation has replayed in my head and my heart a dozen times I think.

March 4, 2022

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When the famous violinist Paganini played a concert in one of the great halls of Europe, it was equivalent to the draw of like a modern rock concert. Well, the story is told of one such night in Paris. As Paganini appeared on the stage, there's this excited buzz in the audience, and there was expectant applause. But as the maestro began to play, a string broke on his exquisite violin. Well, any concern passed pretty quickly as he picked up the tune on his remaining three strings. Unbelievably, another string snapped, followed moments later by a third string. Now the buzz in the audience was more anxious, I mean, like disgruntled; it wasn't expectant anymore. But the old maestro just raised his hand - called for silence. And as the audience became quiet again, he made a simple announcement, "Ladies and gentlemen Paganini and one string." What followed was easily the most amazing musical performance the crowd had ever seen, or would ever see, as the maestro played a rich and flawless melody on one string.

March 3, 2022

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As we drove through Utah that day I kept "oohing" and "ahhing" at one magnificent view after another. Majestic mountains, and this rugged terrain, fabulous vistas - I loved it! Then my wife reminded me that I'd seen all this before. Oh, more accurately, I should have seen it before. See, I had traveled these same scenic highways on a bus with our Native American outreach team On Eagles' Wings a couple of years before. But much of the time, I had my head down, I was buried in my work or preparation or I was busy talking with one of the team members. In the process, I totally missed some of this country's greatest beauty.

March 2, 2022

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It was some weeks ago, but man it had been a week for bombshells. One of America's most revered military leaders, and then the head of the super-secret CIA, resigned because of an admitted affair. For all the secrets of his agency, his personal secret exploded into headlines around the world.

March 1, 2022

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You probably wouldn't think it's any big deal that you could turn over by yourself, or burp yourself, or feed yourself. Hey, but it's a big deal when your grandson starts doing it, and he's kind of new. Yeah, I remember when he was, and that first time he turned over...that was a milestone! In fact, Mom called and said, "I wish you could see him now. He's feeding himself Cheerios!" Yeah, that was another milestone. What? Well, yeah. You know, I guess I was dancing in the streets! I was so happy. Now, see, he had just been studying his hand for months. He would sit there going, ahhhh looking at his hand, flexing those fingers, eventually trying to grab available targets like noses and glasses. But now, boy, he had it together. He was sitting in a high chair with Cheerios on a tray and he was reaching to one of those O's, wrapping his fingers around it, and putting it in his mouth all by himself! And then he smiled and laughed real big. What a guy!

February 28, 2022

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As I was "remoting" my way across our TV channels, I came to a quick stop when I saw that one particular movie was on - "Chariots of Fire." You know, years ago, it won the Oscar for "Best Movie," but that's not why I stopped to watch it. It was because of how that movie impacted me the first time I saw it. It's the story of Eric Liddell, a famous Scottish Olympic runner. He had reached his dream of representing the United Kingdom as a 100-meter runner in the 1924 Olympics. Then, en route to the Games, he learned his event would be on Sunday - the day that Eric Liddell believed was reserved for God; a day on which his deep convictions would not allow him to participate.

February 25, 2022

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One of the highlights of my life was the opportunity to visit Israel. I actually tacked it on to a return trip from South Africa. I hired a private guide, and I went by myself to some sites where I could, well you know, like that old song says, "walk where Jesus walked." Now, I have to tell you, no site meant more to me than the place where many believers believe Jesus was crucified - "Skull Hill" it's called in the Bible. This particular hill lives up to that name with rock formations on the side of it that look very much like the features of a human skull. As I stood atop that hill, I imagined that awful scene that Good Friday. Suddenly I was distracted by the noise below me at the foot of the hill. It turns out that the municipal bus depot is down there. And there, in the shadow of this holy ground, are these plumes of bus exhaust, the chaos of passengers hurrying to make their connections, the total busyness of a city coming and going. It's like people are totally oblivious to what Jesus did for them on Skull Hill.

February 24, 2022

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He's got a black belt in three different martial arts. That's the highest level of achievement in a martial art. Of course, I told him I have a black belt, too. I wear it with my dark suit. He didn't seem to be impressed by that, but I decided I definitely wanted him on my side. He told me that his training gives him the ability to fight back and defend himself from any position he's in. Well, except one - face down on the ground. He said that is the one position in which he is totally powerless.

February 23, 2022

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Cindy got off to a great fast start spiritually. Well, in a way she did, because it took about two years of her coming to my Campus Life Club before she finally chose Christ as her Savior. But after that she really took off. In fact, she came over to my house not long after she made her commitment and said, "Ron, could you give me an argument to convince my big sister, Megan, that this is real?" What had happened was that Cindy came home talking about Jesus, and Megan said, "Oh, right! Sure, of course! Last week it was a drug, next week it will be a boyfriend. This week it's Jesus. You'll get over it, Cindy."

February 22, 2022

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They took good care of the little girl in the orphanage. But apparently there was never quite enough food, and the children were hungry most of the time. It's a country where there are a lot of orphans to take care of and not a lot of money to take care of them with. We heard recently about the couple who adopted this little four-year-old girl. That's who I was just talking about. We heard their story of how, in their first weeks of having that girl as a part of their family, she has, in their words, "been eating everything in sight." Eating, in fact, until she makes herself sick. It's pretty heartbreaking to think of how fearful she must be of never having enough to eat. Well, mom and dad had an idea. They make sure that she has a slice of bread she can hold onto whenever she wants to. And, you know what? That's helped a lot.

February 21, 2022

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We entered a new era when our daughter entered college, and we discovered there was one word sweeter than any other to a student away at college - not money, no, no - home. Now, there's a lot of jokes about kids getting in contact with home from college. You know the one about the young woman who wrote to her parents and said, "I haven't heard from you for a while. Please send money so I'll know you're okay." Yeah, right.

February 18, 2022

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The more I've learned about eagles, the more amazing I find them to be. They mate for life, they build nests that will last a lifetime, and they ride the storm instead of hiding from the storm. There's really only one enemy that is a serious danger to the eagle - a snake. That snake will attempt to climb wherever the eagle nest is and attack the inhabitants, especially the little eagles. But pity the poor snake that gets caught by Mama or Papa Eagle. They will show that serpent no mercy! They may pick it up with their beak and violently shake it to death. Or, better yet, they will pick it up in their talons, take off high into the air, and drop that snake to its death on the rocks below. They are not about to let that serpent have what he came for.

February 17, 2022

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There's just something about the Titanic, that ship that sank, but it seems like our fascination with it is unsinkable. But in the many moving stories of that horrible haunting night, there's one that just blows me away. One passenger - John Harper: A man whose life and choices during those three fateful hours still give me goosebumps.

February 16, 2022

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They're some of the best of the best in America's military. They're known as the Navy Seals. And when there's a mission that's almost impossible, they send the Seals behind enemy lines, or maybe it's a highly sensitive covert mission, against enormous odds. They're trained in just about any military skill you can think of. In fact, their training was the subject of a cover story in a national magazine a while back; especially that brutal final week that decides who will and will not be a Navy Seal.

February 15, 2022

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"Should I call her, dad?" My then teenage son used to say that. And like all boys his age, he was unsure of what kind of response he would get from a girl. "Should I call her?" Well, I'll tell you, it seems like just yesterday I was asking that question when I was a teenage boy. I'd stare at the phone for about 45 minutes, wondering if I dared to call. And, man, sometimes no matter how suave I tried to be, all of a sudden I'd get on that phone and I'd go, "Hello." It's amazing how intimidating a girl can be. There were a couple of girls, though, that I didn't even have to think twice about calling. I just picked up the phone and started talking naturally. But, you know, it was because they made me feel safe. It is amazing the power of a woman to make a man feel safe or unsafe.

                

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Hutchcraft Ministries
P.O. Box 400
Harrison, AR 72602-0400

(870) 741-3300
(877) 741-1200 (toll-free)
(870) 741-3400 (fax)

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