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I have some fond remembrances of the dog we had when we lived in New Jersey. See, there were few things that could make Missy, our dog, go bonkers more than her original master, our youngest son, coming home for a visit. She would literally dance in the hall when he walked in. This one particular time I remember pretty well.
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Our youngest son was one week away from his sixteenth birthday, and we had surprised his older brother and sister. It was going to be tough to surprise this one for his sixteenth. So I picked him up from his friend's house and we went out to eat. I said, "Hey, you know what, we've got to go over to the next town." He asked why, and I said, "Well, I've got to check out this stable over there. We're thinking about having a Campus Life activity there and I need to find out what it will cost."
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When you think of a name that goes with magic, you'll probably think of Houdini. Harry Houdini was the master of illusions, of incredible escapes, which makes it almost ironic how he died. He defied all kinds of dangers in his life. Like the time they tied him in a straight jacket, hung him upside down from the eves of a tall building and he got out. Then there was the time he escaped from an air-tight tank filled with water.
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Over the years I've been accused of having a case of technophobia. Well, that's probably true. I remember the first time somebody got me a computer, which was very nice. That's how they got me into the computer age. I have to say it scared me to death. Now, look, I'm living in a world of computers, and so I grudgingly at that time said, "I've got to make friends with this computer by learning a little more about it. Some of my non-technophobic friends were explaining computer installation to me and one of them said, "Ron, I guess we'll have to install a dedicated line." Wait a minute! Wait, that's a word I understood - dedicated line. Sure! In fact, I understand it even better now thanks to, yep, computers.
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I had the opportunity some years ago to speak for some pilots organizations, and I've never piloted a plane. I'm always a passenger. But they wanted me to talk about peace and stress. And it was something I wrote a book about, so it worked out pretty well. In the process I met some guys who deal with FFA safety seminars. They told me some interesting things about what happens with some of the crashes that we might see in the news. They said that when a private pilot crashes, there's usually a study of that, and they start to compile case studies to help other pilots fly more safely.
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I was with two friends returning from some Native American ministry in the Southwest, and we had a rental car and a four-hour drive to the airport in Phoenix. So we really needed every minute to make our connection, which made the lurch in our car pretty annoying. See, every time the driver would get the speed up to about 60, the car would start shuttering and lurching. Now, there was a 75mph speed limit, and that's frustrating. We weren't sure we'd even make it with that "shake, rattle, and roll" mobile we had.
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Honestly, I don't mind waking up in the morning. What I really don't like is waking up in the early morning to a very cold house during the winter. Those first few minutes in the bathroom, no fun at all! Teenagers, you know, kind of tell you to kind of "chill". Well, I got that opportunity one morning not long ago. I chilled! I tried everything to get some heat. I pushed up the thermostat, I hit the emergency button on the furnace, and I hit the furnace. I pulled on some clothes to go outside and check the gauge on the fuel tank, which read one-eighth of a tank.
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My wife and I have some hummingbird feeders. Because those busy little guys, they're fascinating to watch! You know, they come as back porch visitors. You've probably seen them. Their wings go so fast you can hardly see the wings. They're virtually like God's little helicopters. They hover, they fly backwards, and then they fly away. I love to watch them. And do they like sugar! My wife mixes up this concoction that's basically sugar-water and they flock to it. Then they'll fly off in this burst of acrobatic energy, only to return a few minutes later for a refill.
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I'll tell you what kind of airline passenger makes an interesting neighbor; someone who has never flown before. Flight attendants refer to them as "white knuckle" fliers from the way they hang on. Well, my friend, John, was on his way to speak somewhere. And since it was just a one-day meeting, he was dressed in the suit that he was going to speak in. And he had the joy that day of sitting next to a lady who was on her rookie flight. She was as nervous, as they used to say, as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. Whenever there was a noise, like the landing gear retracting, she would say, "What was that?" And John would patiently explain.
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American's are pretty passionate about their sports. And, you know, like which one is the one that takes the most brains, the most brawn, the most talent. I actually think my two sons might vote for basketball as the most exciting sport of all. And basketball action is pretty physical. It's constantly changing, it's intense, it's unpredictable. There's this one point where it does slows down a little, much to the relief of the players probably. If a player is fouled by someone from the other team, he gets to shoot one or two free throws.
