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Tuesday, August 1, 2017

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Spring was planting time on the little farm my wife, Karen, grew up on. And in her early years, that was no small job. Her Granddad actually would hitch up Betsy and Jack-who I thought might have been her cousins but actually Betsy and Jack are mules-and they would start plowing that hard, Ozark ground. Karen would follow behind in her bare feet as Granddad and his team turned up that dirt, broke up those big dirt clods, and smoothed out that broken soil. Then came the seeding…and then the waiting. At that point, it was pretty much up to God-the weather, the warmth, the moisture, and the sunlight. Then, when the corn finally matured, Granddad swung into action again with the big work of harvesting what God had grown. It was really a neat balance of what a man could do and what only God could do.

Friday, July 28, 2017

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Back in the day, millions of Americans visited the emergency room once a week - well, on television. That was a blockbuster TV hit called "ER" and it very convincingly took its viewers into the tension and crisis environment of a hospital emergency room. They kind of made you feel like you were there. Of course, they're not the only medical personnel involved in a crisis care situation. I was reminded of that the other day on the interstate as this ambulance passed us. Of course, the back has those big red letters: "AMBULANCE." But this particular ambulance had sort of a subtitle - the one that raised my eyebrows and made me smile. The whole sign on the back said, "ambulance - the real emergency room." OK!

Monday, June 26, 2017

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Missy taught me about dogs. Missy was our Shih-tzu dog. Our son was given Missy when she was a puppy and he was in high school. And I was amazed at their relationship. When he came downstairs each morning, Missy came to life. Then, as soon as he left, she'd just kind of hunker down under this cabinet in the kitchen and kind of be bla-bla there all day long...until she heard that car pulling in the driveway late in the afternoon. I couldn't hear it pulling in, but Missy sure could! In an instant, she came alive! She shot out from under that cabinet and stationed herself at the back door with her tail in overdrive. When our son came through that door, Missy freaked out! Her whole day revolved around one big event-her master's return.

Wednesday, May 31, 2017

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So I saw two police cars blazing down the highway, lights and sirens going strong. I thought the chances were that they didn't decide to go wherever they were going. No, the dispatcher did. All day long, an officer cruises in his car, listening to the crackle of that police radio. Then suddenly he or she hears something like this, "Unit 3, disturbance at Franklin and North Avenue. Respond immediately." And he's off! Just because the dispatcher told him to.

Friday, April 28, 2017

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Ten more minutes and my wife would have never been born. The story that changed everything is hope for any of us who love someone who's making some very bad choices. My wife's grandfather, Bill, had given up on life. Trashing a profitable career for the alcohol and cocaine he could not resist. He was labeled with a prison record, he was penniless, he was hopeless and he was suicidal.

Thursday, April 27, 2017

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Ian is one of the more amazing people I've met. The people who knew him publicly, when they were with him privately it was a shock. He had been the leader of Youth for Christ's highly effective ministry in New Zealand. As you would converse with him, you would quickly learn that Ian had a stutter - which sometimes made it difficult just for him to get through a sentence. It was noticeable, but it wasn't important. I mean, Ian was a godly, magnetic person. But when you saw him in action before a crowd - as I did at a national youth convention with 3,000 teenagers - get ready for a shock. I mean, I felt bad, wonder-ing how he was going to communicate effectively to all these teenagers with a stutter like that. To my amazement, I discovered there suddenly was no stutter. His speech was perfect! He emceed, he preached flawlessly. That's what was so amazing about Ian - something happened to him when he had to speak well. And to you.

Monday, April 3, 2017

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I looked, I blinked, I looked again, and I still wasn't sure what I was seeing. We were driving next to a railroad track and I saw this vehicle moving along the railroad track, but it wasn't a train. It was a pickup truck. Now, he's moving right along the track like a train, but he's a truck? Let's see, trucks have tires, railroads have tracks. Tires don't ride on tracks. I see a problem here. Well, as I looked closer I realized what was going on. This was a maintenance truck for the railroad, specially modified to run on tracks. It was mounted with these special train wheels extending out from both the front and the back of the pickup. Kind of cool! So because he had been specially outfitted, he was able to go where he normally could never go!

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

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One summer we took some time out at a quiet little house in the country. My wife was a country girl who always loved the country. I'm a city boy who has learned to love the country. We had some really special days there. And at the end of the day, we would open all the windows in our room, climb into bed, and listen to the symphony - God's Philharmonic. The crickets and tree toads and tree frogs would combine their voices in this beautiful - and loud - moonlight serenade. Didn't hear that too much on the south side of Chicago. I feel peaceful just telling you about it again. My wife caught one of those tree frogs one day and showed it to City Boy here. I almost had to look twice. I was amazed at how tiny that frog was. I don't even know if he was like as big as a nickel. But as my wife said, "He sure can make noise. One of these guys is louder than several crickets at full volume!" So that night, I fell asleep to the big sounds of those very little guys.

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

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Boy, at Christmastime I think they're some of the busiest people there are – the men and women in those brown trucks that fly through our streets -- the UPS people. And countless Post Office carriers are carrying so many packages to so many places in such a short time! I'll bet they sleep well, but not a whole lot at that 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, hello delivery person, you are the greatest! What a guy! Tell me about the wife and the kids. Come in for dinner, you awesome dude (or "dudette")." No, we know he didn't make the gift. She didn't buy the gift. They only delivered the gift!

Monday, February 13, 2017

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For me, I guess it started with comic books, then the old black-and-white TV series. Then it graduated to the big screen as the subject of several blockbuster movies. "Look, up in the sky! It's a bird! It's a plane! (Yep, you said it didn't you?) It's Superman!" Now, one of the Hollywood stories of the Man of Steel in more recent years is called "Superman Returns." His return is from a five-year absence from earth, and during that time, reporter Lois Lane writes a major article called, "Why the World Doesn't Need Superman." She makes this statement: "The world doesn't need a savior, and neither do I." Upon his return to earth, Superman visits Lois Lane and tells her, "There's something I want to show you." He picks her up and takes her on a flying trip over a long stretch of the planet. He says, "Listen. Do you hear it?" She hears nothing. Superman then makes this dramatic statement to the skeptical reporter: "I hear everything. I know you wrote that the world doesn't need a Savior, but every day I hear people crying for one."

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