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Thursday, July 22, 2010

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Our grandson's been on a very limited diet - just mother's milk or baby formula for his first six months. But something's been happening in the last couple of weeks. He has suddenly become fascinated with what the rest of us are eating. Fascinated, you know, as in staring at the food on our plate, the fork going down to get that food, the fork coming up to put that food in our mouth, and our mouth as it's chewing that food. Then repeat the exercise as the fork goes down for another bite. You can tell by the longing look in his eyes, he's not content with that milk or formula anymore. He wants some of that good stuff. If he could talk, I think he might be saying, "Hey! I've been made for more than what I've been getting!"

Monday, July 5, 2010

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Jim was spending his first night as a college student. As he began to fall asleep in his dorm room, he was suddenly awakened by a frightening sound. A train whistle blew, and the train was coming right through his room. Well, at least that's how it sounded to this particular college student. It turned out that the railroad tracks were right next to his dorm. That's probably why they put lowly freshmen there, right? Well, Jim found it pretty challenging to slip into la-la land for the night when it sounded like a train was roaring through his room. I said, "But I'll bet you eventually got used to it, didn't you?" He told me, "Well, after a while, I didn't even notice the train anymore!"

Thursday, June 24, 2010

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Our friends Marv and Annie were with us at a convention in Chicago. They're from Denver; I was in my hometown. Annie's doctor had let her make the trip to Chicago even though she was eight months pregnant. At a reception our first night at the convention downtown, I jokingly told her, "Hey, if the baby decides to come tonight, just call our room. This is my city, girl. I'll take care of everything!" It didn't turn out to be a joke. The call came in the middle of the night, and minutes later we had a lady in hard labor in our back seat. I thought we would have time to get out to our obstetrician in the suburbs. Not a chance! I had no idea where hospitals were downtown. I finally found one, though - a veterans' hospital. No maternity ward! Well, eventually I found a hospital with great facilities - just in time. Today we all laugh about it. It's still not one of my proudest nights.

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

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Bob is one senior who was a tremendous blessing to our ministry. He had been the kind of volunteer who had been there for every kind of project you can imagine. His whole life - it seems like he's been a warrior for the Lord. But then, he had some illnesses and an accident that slowed him down - even to the point of walking with a cane and, well, looking honestly a little more stooped than usual. We asked him if he could help oversee an important remodeling project at our Headquarters. Before we could finish the tour of the area that needed work, Bob was spouting out ideas about how it could be done. Later I saw Bob in the hallway - walking tall, walking fast, without a cane, like a man half his age!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

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Ted is an ex-Marine. I guess once a Marine, always a Marine. Right? You know - Halls of Montezuma, Shores of Tripoli, Semper Fi. Since his days in the Corps, Ted's gone on to become very successful in business, but he keeps getting invited back to talk to Marine recruits as an inspirational speaker. And in the process, he tells them about a rescuer who came for him in the Marines and saved him - Jesus Christ. And I love what he tells them - "One thing about Marines - we always go back for our own, and that's why I'm here today. I'm going back for my own."

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

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It was one of the most compelling television documentaries I'd seen in a long time. It aired on the anniversary of the September 11th attacks on the twin towers of the World Trade Center. The stories of rescuers and of survivors, told first-person, took the viewer into what that day really felt like for the people who lived it. One story I just can't shake was told by a British young woman who worked in a brokerage firm high up in Tower Two. She recalled with remarkable composure the confusion in her office on whether or not to evacuate the building. She's alive today because she made the right decision. But many of her coworkers never made it out. She broke down for the first time as she talked about her good friend in the office. All she could say was, "I keep thinking, 'I should have asked him to go with me.' I can't get that out of my mind."

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

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He was five years old. His mommy wasn't feeling well, and so she was taking a nap. His little two-year-old sister wanted an ice cream cone, so he did what Mommy would do. He picked up the car keys Mommy had left on the kitchen table and took his little sister out to the car and put her in the back seat. Then he proceeded to climb into the driver's seat, turn on the car and somehow start driving. (This is a true story.) Then Mr. Five-Year-Old pulled out onto the main thoroughfare at the corner. Thankfully, a police officer saw the car going by apparently without a driver. That got his attention! He pursued the mystery car and managed to get the driver to pull over. Needless to say, there was one shocked policeman when he opened the door and saw a little boy at the wheel. I'd say it's a good thing he stopped him.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

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I was scheduled to speak at an Easter Sunrise Service not far from the home where we were staying. Since I was leaving before anyone else in the house, my hostess gave me verbal directions to the park; directions which really weren't all that complicated for most people. I shot out of the driveway in a big hurry to get where I was going. I turned in exactly the wrong direction. Later, our hostess told me; actually, she also told everyone at the service where she introduced me, that I was driving all around this complex of buildings near their home instead of heading down the road to my destination. Meanwhile, she was in her yard, waving her arms frantically, trying to get my attention as I, in my obsession with figuring out where I was going and getting there, blew right through a stop sign and kept right on driving in the wrong direction.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

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I was teaching at a national seminar on how to communicate an unchanging Christ in our rapidly changing culture. Well, at the end of a session, a pastor from Kentucky came up to tell me a story that he thought really illustrated some of what I had been saying. He said, "When I was a young man, we used to have some big tent revivals in my community. Each night an invitation was given for folks to come forward if they wanted to be, well as this country preacher said, 'borned again.'" The pastor went on to describe how some of the deacons would actually go out into the audience and go row-to-row to, shall we say, to "encourage" folks to make that choice. Near the back, one of the deacons came to a young man who gave him an honest and memorable response. The deacon said, "Son, do you want to be borned again?" To which the boy said, "No." The deacon pressed the point, "Why don't you want to be borned again?" The young man answered in all seriousness, "Cause I'm afraid this time I'd come out as a girl!"

Monday, March 22, 2010

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Jeremy was a young man who worked in our office every year after he got out of college, and then, a veteran of our On Eagles' Wings Native American team. But something was different this particular year for him - a woman! Yes, a woman in Jeremy's life! And, believe me, it is no secret. He started telling us all about her as soon as we saw him again. The romance had just developed in the weeks preceding, and there was nothing he would rather talk about. She lived quite a ways from where we are, and the more he talked about her, the more he wanted to be with her. At first I was kind of amused by this young love, until I remembered that was me not so many years ago, telling anyone who would listen about the woman I loved. And still do.

                

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Hutchcraft Ministries
P.O. Box 400
Harrison, AR 72602-0400

(870) 741-3300
(877) 741-1200 (toll-free)
(870) 741-3400 (fax)

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