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Our son-in-law was visiting his grandfather in Florida, with a nice Florida view outside his bedroom window-grapefruit trees. It wasn't all a happy view though. Many of the grapefruit were actually rotting on the ground. His grandfather wasn't up to harvesting them anymore. So those grapefruit got all ready to be picked and no one came, and they dropped to the ground and died.
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It was Moving Day! If you've ever moved from one house to another, across the street or across the country, you know how much fun it can be. And if you think it's fun, you've never done it. Our daughter and son-in-law and their two boys had moved a lot of their belongings to a temporary house while major repairs were being done on their house. A few weeks after they hauled a lot of their life into their temporary home, they got to move it out again and back into their real home. We all pitched in and there were a lot of trips back and forth with armloads of boxes and bags, and loading everything into several family vehicles. Our then three-year-old grandson was watching all the work going on, and as he heard some of us discussing what was still left to do, he quickly volunteered his personal perspective. We hadn't yet asked him to do anything, but he still turned to walk away with these words on his lips: "I'm not available right now."
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When you've got a God like ours, even a parade can turn out to be a place for Him to amaze you. What I'm about to tell you is not Uncle Ronnie's Story Time. It's really a story about a God that you may really need right now. I was scheduled to speak at a Native camp in Canada, and our hosts wanted me to bring a few of the Native young people that God used so mightily on our reservation teams that summer. They've been so excited about being spiritual rescuers that they asked me, "Is there a reservation near the camp?" They wanted to continue the outreach of the summer. There was a reservation, or as they say in Canada, reserve. But we knew no one there who could help us. My wife and I got to the area a couple days early and we decided to take in a parade in the nearby town. We prayed about God directing us where to sit. Basically, we just wanted a shady spot. Our neighbors in the spot we chose turned out to be a Native family.
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John Parker had it made. After two attempts to escape being a slave to a Southern slave owner, he had finally gotten his freedom. He chose to live in Ripley, Ohio, right on the freedom side of the Ohio River. He got a house and he got a good job as a factory worker. In fact, ultimately, he owned a foundry and he invented many processes that were used widely in the foundry industry. He was safe, secure and successful. But night after night, John Parker risked it all. Under cover of darkness, he rowed across the river to the Kentucky side-slave territory. If he was caught, he could lose his freedom. He could even lose his life. But in spite of the risks, John Parker went looking for runaway slaves. And he found them and rowed them across the river to the freedom side. It's actually believed that John Parker was responsible for at least 900 slaves going free.
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It was during the Gulf War, shortly before the ground troops attacked Saddam Hussein's forces in Desert Storm. Everyone knew he had large stores of chemical weapons and that the Allied soldiers were in danger of those weapons being unleashed on them. I saw this interview on television back then. It was with an American soldier who talked about the training the troops were receiving in chemical warfare. Here's what she said, "You know, it's funny. They taught us about chemical warfare in basic training, but no one paid any attention. But now, well, everyone's really paying attention, taking notes, asking questions."
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Anne had ridden her mountain bike through a California wilderness park a lot of times before, but the ride this day would change her life. She was attacked by a mountain lion that hours earlier had killed another biker. As the cat literally held her in his jaws by the back of her neck, all she could do was pray. Humanly speaking, her friend Debbie was her only hope. Debbie jumped off her bike, grabbed Anne's leg, and screamed for help just kicking at the mountain lion. Thankfully, Debbie's screams finally brought the help of some men who had been biking with them. Debbie continued to hang on as the men pelted that lion with rocks. Suddenly the animal released his victim, and Anne's life was saved. Debbie just gave everything she had to keep the promise she had made to her friend in the middle of that struggle. She just screamed, "I'll never let go of you!"
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It was almost nighty-night time – which is always a challenge when a grandma is sitting on the babies – I mean, well, we call it babysitting I guess. My favorite grandma was babysitting our five and two-year old grandsons at the time and reading them a night-night story. That's when the thunderstorm decided to really start doing its thing. I mean big thunder! Big lightning! Big grandson eyes! I would have helped, but I was under the bed. Now, my wife is a very resourceful person. She said, "Hey, guys, did you know that every time you hear thunder, it's time for a thunder hug?" Well, they were eager to feel Grandma's hug right then. And a few other times that night. I even came out from under the bed for one. You know, the sky would roar and they'd come running saying, "It's time for a thunder hug!"
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Your fortieth birthday! I understand it's one of those milestone birthdays, especially for women who don't necessarily welcome it I guess. They dread hitting that forty mark. That's what I understand. Now, when my wife hit her fortieth, no big deal, man. She was cool. No trauma, no counseling, no plastic surgery, no sobbing. I just hope I can handle my fortieth birthday that well. (It's a good thing I'm not talking about integrity today.) Well, it was our son who threw the curve ball. Yeah, he was about 12, and a few weeks after Mom's big 4-0, he announced a calculation that he had, for some reason, just concocted. He said, "Hey Ma, did you know you've been alive for 14,686 days?" What! Forty years? She could handle that, but 14,686 days? That sounds prehistoric!
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If you think all American history is boring, you need to check out the greatest American adven¬ture ever – the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Just as America bought the Louisiana Purchase and suddenly owned much of the West, President Jefferson asked Meriwether Lewis to put together an expedition to explore this unknown territory. Imagine 30 men, going where no non-Native Americans had ever gone, see¬ing what no non-Native American had ever seen – like the Rocky Mountains, animals like antelope and prairie dogs, tribes that had never been contacted.
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Okay, word association test! Fruit salad. What did you think of? Well, it depends on whether or not you've been in the military. You see, if you haven't been in the military, you probably thought of some little pieces of apple, or melon in a bowl together. But if you've been in the military, maybe you think of something less edible than that kind of fruit salad. I heard from a Desert Storm veteran. I said, "What do you think of when I say "fruit salad"? He said, "Oh, ribbons and medals."
