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Thursday, January 20, 2011

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If you're paying attention, a child will often tip you off very early as to what to expect from them later on in life. I've got movies of our daughter, and she was about five or six, seven years old, singing for us using a spoon - a big wooden spoon - as a microphone and standing on something in the living room as a stage. Well, over the years, God used her wonderfully in singing, and musically, and speaking. It was really no great shock; we saw the first hints of that when she was little. When our son was five, he was tying our house together with string very imaginatively. I'd walk in...I'd open the back door, and it would open the drawer of my dresser in the bedroom. He had everything tied together. At the age of 13 he was the technician of the house, who loved to figure out how things work; how to take them apart; how to put them together, I hope - how to solve problems. You know what? Grew up to be a great planner and a very creative technician in ministry. There's a pattern...a connective line from the past into the future in the life of every child; my child and God's child. In fact, that's true of you too.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

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My wife is really a gifted photographer. Honestly, she has missed some memorable photographs because of her husband. See, I was in too much of a hurry to stop. The scenario goes something like this, "Honey, look at that picture!" Well, I don't see what she sees. But there is one there, and it's usually some beautiful scene somewhere we're driving. And on several occasions I've said, "Hey, you know we'll be back this way a little later. Why don't we get it then?" Somehow the same picture isn't there later. The same objects are usually there, but the lighting, shadows, the mood; the magic moment has changed. I remember one time we were driving along in New England, and there was this cabin nestled back in the woods in this little valley, and a beautiful rainbow over that. And I said...Now, here was a smart guy, "Honey, listen, we'll be back in just a few minutes." Well, you know that picture wasn't there a few minutes later. It's amazing how there's this brief...I guess you'd call it a window during which you can capture the scene, and then it's gone. It might be the same players and the same setting, but the golden moment is gone.

Tuesday, January 4, 2010

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A lot of us were like broke most of the time we were in college. So, it was always nice to find some free Saturday night entertainment. And in downtown Chicago, there was a place called Bug House Square. Yeah, it's not the real name it was, but that was what it was affectionately known in the neighborhood at the time. See, Bug House Square was a small city park just north of downtown Chicago. And it was a place where anybody could get up and make a speech about anything - thus, the name. So, people who couldn't find a platform anywhere else, well, they could find one at Bug House Square. Some frustrated people got to deliver the message that they never got to deliver anywhere else. You know, it's frustrating to have a message and no platform to proclaim it from. And it's surprising sometimes where our platform turns out to be.

Monday, December 20, 2010

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Our boys used to approach Christmas as methodically as a military campaign. They painstakingly made their Christmas lists sometime about, like October? You know, you must get the jump on anybody who wants to buy you underwear or socks. Right? So, they listed what they wanted in priority order, with what they called "the big one" right on top, circled and surrounded with big stars. One year, our oldest son had the year's hottest toy on top. I knew I would have to break my pattern and do this particular shopping early. So right around Thanksgiving, I bought it before it became virtually "ungettable." But my son must have reminded me about that thing 20 times between then and the day he got it - that very happy Christmas Day. Of course, I just smiled.

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

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My friend Dave got tired of wearing glasses. But if he didn't, he was dangerous. After consulting with a specialist, he determined that he was a candidate for this new Lasik eye surgery. During the procedure, a laser beam was aimed at the parts of his eye that limited his vision and the light of that laser changed everything. Guess who doesn't need glasses anymore? All because of the power of focused light.

Friday, November 26, 2010

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They call it "Jubilee" and it appears to be unique to one place in the United States: Mobile Bay near Mobile, Alabama. They say it happens on a night after an overcast day with an east wind. And for some unexplained reason, the creatures at the bottom of the bay suddenly become starved for oxygen. As the tide rises, they're virtually beached in their search for some water that will meet their need for oxygen. Suddenly, somewhere between midnight and dawn, there they are, within your reach: crabs, shrimp, flounder, catfish. It's seafood for the taking! People who live along the bay know there's no time to get ready for this opportune moment; you always have to be ready. And there they are, with their baskets and lanterns and tubs always near the door. When it's Jubilee time, folks run out to the edge of the water to collect the bounty that is suddenly within their reach. It's enough to enjoy all year long sometimes. And when this incredible moment of opportunity suddenly comes rolling in, people all along the shore shout that exciting word that makes people drop everything - "Jubilee!"

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

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We love it when we hear those stories in the news about ordinary people who come upon someone in danger and risk their own lives to save them. And then there's the kind of story that came from Mount Everest. A British mountaineer became desperate for oxygen on his descent from that peak that is really a legendary mountain. Ultimately, he collapsed along a well-traveled route to the summit. He was dying. And more than forty climbers are thought to have seen him as he lay dying, and they passed him by. He died there of oxygen deficiency. He did not have to die.

Thursday, November 11, 2010

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Recently, a friend of mine had a ringside seat on a family of birds. They actually decided to nest under the roof on the porch. The fun part was watching the birth and development of those baby birds. My friend actually got to see them hatching out and then settling down into their nest. They all fit very nicely in there - at first. See, Mama kept filling their open mouths with more and more food, and the little birdies didn't stay little! They grew and the nest seemed to shrink. As it got more and more crowded, each baby did more and more wiggling around to kind of keep his position in the nest. Then they feathered out and they forgot about all of them sitting in the nest ever again! They began to perch on the edges of the nest until they were pushed off the edge by their siblings in a battle for whatever food Mama brought. One by one, as crowding pushed those little birds to the edge - and then over the edge - they were forced to either fly or die. They decided to fly. The last nester stayed in the nest for actually another full week, being fed as an only child by Mama Bird. Finally, Mama must have gotten disgusted with her nest-addicted child. She quit feeding him. First, there was a lot of squawking and fussing, and then even he abandoned the nest to finally touch the sky.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

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I had 18 hours in the city of Rome. That's how long it was between my flight connections to Africa. I decided not to waste that time sleeping in the airport when I could be seeing one of the world's great cities. And, my missionary friend, Dave, was kind enough to be my chauffeur and guide. With his help, I got a whirlwind tour that included the Coliseum, the Sistine Chapel, and some beautiful piazzas. But the highlight of my day in Rome was my visit to the Catacombs, the ancient caverns that wind beneath the streets of Rome. Dave's been there many times so he said he'd wait while I went in. Here were the caverns where some of the first Christians hid from the Roman soldiers who would take them to their execution for believing in Christ. Here they carved in the walls the ancient symbols of their faith - like the cross and the sign of the fish. Those symbols are still there as silent testimony to their faithfulness. And here in the walls, they buried countless loved ones who'd been torn to pieces by the lions in the Coliseum all because they would not renounce Christ for Caesar. As I emerged from those Catacombs, Dave said, "Well, what did you think?" All I could say was, "Our faith is very, very expensive."

Friday, October 29, 2010

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My fascination started at a historic old life-saving station on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It was there I learned about the heroism of the crews who once manned those life-saving stations all along the maritime Atlantic coast. Their heroism actually gave birth to what we know today as the United States Coast Guard. Their motto says it all: "So others may live." Some of that modern-day heroism was portrayed in a recent movie called "The Guardian." It's a story about that elite group of 280 men and women known as rescue swimmers - the first responders who jump from choppers into violent seas to rescue people who would otherwise die there. Now in the movie, a veteran rescuer shows a film of a burning ship from which he helped to rescue some desperate crewmen. He frames the essence of their mission in these sobering words: "They're looking for a miracle to save them. You have to find a way to be that miracle."

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