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If the flight attendant were ever to become incapacitated on a flight, well, I could give those safety instructions I think. I'd be able to step right up and take over! I know the routine by heart, I've heard it so many times over the years.
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Sometimes we tell people, "You really need to get out more." For my wife, that was especially true some years ago. Our ministry had been growing so fast she almost felt like a prisoner at the office. She hadn't been able to get out, shop, even in our own town.
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Why are refrigerator doors important? You probably say, "To keep the cold inside," or "to keep that little light inside from burning out." OK, that's true. But you might be forgetting one of the most valuable functions of a refrigerator door. Yep, it's a great place to display the artwork of your children or your grandchildren! Uh-huh! Oh, ours covered for years. Throughout our house and our offices, you could find pictures drawn by our grandchildren, crafts made by them. You may not think they're masterpieces. You may not think they're great works of art, but they're precious to us.
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Plastic money. Yep, a credit card - great convenience. But it could also be a great trap, right? I mean, just ask any of the millions of Americans who have credit card bills that are chasing them every month. Now, some people decide to take radical action to bring this spending part of their lives under control. They've actually cut up their credit cards! And for many people, that has represented a genuine turning point in their personal finances. They've finally declared their independence from this slave master called Credit. Yes, they've changed, but unfortunately, there's still one problem.
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When you've driven as much as I have over the years, you know when it's time to stop. I've been driving along at night, and suddenly I'm enveloped in this thick fog; usually in the mountains. Semis are pulled over to the side of the road, and they're professional drivers. They know well enough not to go on. It's definitely time to stop before I hit something. Same thing when I suddenly find myself in one of those driving rainstorms, or I've been in a snow storm. You know, "whiteout" they call it. Those times when you literally can't see a car length in front of you. It's like you're temporarily blind, and you'd better not keep pushing ahead.
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Well, the President of the United States - let's see, he's got wars to manage, a wild economy to handle. You know what? Every Thanksgiving he steps up to one of the most decisive responsibilities of his office. He pardons a turkey; well, actually, two turkeys. This is really serious business. Actually they even have a backup turkey (this is the truth) just in case Turkey #1 isn't able to serve as, well, what one writer called the ungobbled gobbler.
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There almost was no first Thanksgiving. There were almost no Pilgrims. Those Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth Rock got hit very hard their first winter. Many of them died, and many more could have died from starvation if it hadn't been for one man - an Indian brave called Squanto. As a young man, he'd been kidnapped and carried off to England to be a servant. While Squanto was there, he learned English and he learned about Christ. Because of the kindness of some of the people he met, he eventually made it back across the Atlantic to his people; except his people weren't there anymore.
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It had been an awful spring for tornadoes - record-setting in many ways. Again and again, our news coverage then was filled with those all-too-familiar images of a city or a neighborhood leveled and the death toll rising. One of them hit pretty close to where we are. It hit in Joplin, Missouri.
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When you speak in public settings as much as I do, you learn there are two people in that auditorium you really want on your side. One is the man in charge of the sound. Without him, no one can hear you. The other is the man in charge of the spotlight, because without him, no one can see you.
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Nobody ever said college guys are going to win the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval. Right? I mean, entering many of their dorm rooms is only for the very brave, and those with a strong stomach. Where is Mom when you really need her?
