Thursday, September 25, 2014

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Building a fire is just one of those things a man is supposed to know how to do. And frankly, I hate to have my fire fall apart in front of other people. So I can really empathize with my friend, Rich. It was winter, of course, and he set out to get a fire going in his fireplace. It was Sunday afternoon and we were at his place. He did all the right things. He rolled up the necessary amount of newspaper. He stacked logs with plenty of room for air circulation.

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

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A while back I had the privilege of being in South Florida over Easter weekend. And between the meetings I was speaking for, we took a short drive out on the Florida Keys. It was Good Friday afternoon, and I saw a sight there that really got my attention. We were just cruising along, and all of a sudden we saw this small group of people who were walking along the side of the road. What was unusual was the man in front. He was carrying a large, full-sized cross on his shoulders. Well, not exactly carrying. I actually did a double-take. I might have swerved the car a little bit. The cross was on wheels.

Thursday, August 14, 2014

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Well, as usual, during our summers with Native Americans, we had a memorable time with some of our ministry team on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona and New Mexico that particular year. We had a very busy time of reaching people. We did have one break, so we packed as many of us into a van as we could and drove to see this spectacular canyon.

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

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Most Americans weren't around on that D-Day 70 years ago. And even though we weren't, we should be very glad they succeeded when they hit those Normandy beaches. They stopped one of the most powerful threats to freedom in history – Hitler's Nazi Germany.

Steven Spielberg used his cinematic genius to help this generation get a little taste of what that victory cost. The movie "Saving Private Ryan" carried a pretty strong "R" rating because of the brutal D-Day violence it portrayed. I'll tell you this: Hollywood has no rating for how awful it really was.

Thursday, July 31, 2014

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Bart Simpson has been around now for 25 years. He still looks like a kid, but he's been around for 25 years on TV. Maybe you've managed to avoid the Simpson family. You've probably been doing more important things, and it's perfectly fine, maybe even good if you've avoided them. But just in case you've been occupied in other ways, the Simpsons are this cartoon family that soared to popularity through their primetime TV show. And their lovely son? Oh, man, as they came on, he was all over posters, shirts, and mugs. You can still find him all over the place.

Friday, June 6, 2014

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I wonder if someday I'm going to be banned from restaurants. I've been known to give the help a hard time. Now, believe me, that's not what I'm trying to do. And if you're a waiter or a waitress, don't write a nasty letter to me. I just figure that, well, it gets so hum-drum and boring waiting on people and customers treat you like you're part of the menu or like a vending machine. It's fun to inject some laughs into their day.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

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I meet a lot of single people in their twenties and thirties, and of course, a lot of them would like to be married. Either they haven't found the right person yet, or they found someone with like commitment phobia who hears wedding bells and runs the other way. Our mate selection process, as you may know very personally, is a little uncertain and sometimes messed up, actually.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

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I guess it started when the kids were growing up. You know, it says in the Dad's Job Description, "Must have quarters at all times!" Even now when I travel I still try to carry some quarters, and I also make sure I have enough ones and even fives. You never know when you're going to need a vending machine. Not need; actually want a vending machine. I'm in a hotel, I'm working late and I want a snack or I want a cold drink. So I go through the familiar ritual: put the dollar bill in, then the quarters, hit the selection button, and something good comes out. At least it had better! I mean, it's pretty annoying if you put your money in there and you don't get anything back. I probably wouldn't put any more money in that machine.

Friday, January 3, 2014

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There are some advantages to living where it's cold in the winter, especially if you're a child in school. You know, it's those two great words, "Snow Day!" I remember on one particular overnight snow when the guys were real small. We heard our sled calling us from the garage. I said, "Snow Day! Let's play!" So there's this hill near us, and when we got there half the town was there. So, we got on our sleigh; my oldest son and I were on it this one time. We started down the hill and we were almost to the bottom when I looked behind us. I didn't like what I saw. There was this big sled speeding straight at us. He didn't see us. I had time for one word, "Jump!" My son responded instantly. We both jumped off and I think we might have missed some injury by inches. I was really glad he didn't take time to ask, "Why, Daddy?"

Thursday, December 12, 2013

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There's a spot in upstate New York where our family always loved to go for vacation. And that began years before when some friends looked at my drooping eyelids and said, "You need a vacation." I've heard those words many times. So we went off to Baker's Cabins. Now, we've stayed there at several points over the years, and then they changed the name of that place to Water's Edge. Same place, different name. Now, we went there after they changed the name to Water's Edge, and it had been called that for a while, but I could never seem to remember that name. I always called it Baker's Cabins. Even though they hadn't used that name for several years, well that was the name that was stuck in my mind. See, once you know something by a certain name, it isn't easy to make that new name stick.