Monday, September 4, 2006

I've stood at many a wedding altar as the minister before lots of brides and grooms, but this one was different. The beautiful bride, glowing in her elegant white dress, was our only daughter. Man, what a thrill it was to perform her wedding, and to watch her commit herself unconditionally to a wonderful young man. She is a great son picker. And, of course, I watched him commit himself to her. I had the privilege of watching that relationship grow over three and a half years to the point from her first discovery of him on a missions trip, and then her deepening love for him. Then all of the experiences they had together that build trust, the joy of their engagement, and the months of preparation for the wedding day. There were a lot of important stages that led up to that glorious moment, but something decisive happened that day at the altar. Everything else was important, but it was just preparation. And it all came down to a magic moment on a life-changing day for my daughter. Maybe there's a moment like that for you.

Tuesday, August 22, 2006

Our son-in-law was visiting his grandfather in Florida, with a nice Florida view outside his bedroom window - grapefruit trees. Now, it wasn't all a happy view. 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.

Wednesday, August 9, 2006

So why did the Colonists win the American Revolution? Well, it shouldn't be a surprise if you saw how the Red Coats fought. They fought battles in the old fashion European way - line up in straight rows, the front row shoots, then the next row rotates in while the others reload. Now, the Colonists on the other hand, didn't believe in lines. They just came in from everywhere. Saw those red uniforms all lined up in a rigid row and said, "Oh, nice targets!" Now, the Colonists looked like they were disorganized, but their new way of fighting won a battle.

Tuesday, August 8, 2006

The daughter of our friends was kind enough in her last semester of college to buy a dog. You know what that means? She's out of college now and the dog has moved in with our friends. They inherited Starbuck. It's not coffee - that's a black Labrador retriever, and our friends are learning some very interesting things about this dog. In fact, this dog is stuck like glue to them. My friend told me just the other day that everywhere he goes Starbuck goes, whether you want him to or not. And they'll go in the living room, Starbuck goes there. They'll go into the kitchen, Starbuck goes there. Starbuck doesn't much care where he goes, he just follows his master around, and my friend said sometimes you finally want to say to him, "Hey, listen leave me alone. Don't you have something to do?" He told me, then you look at those big ole eyes looking up at you and it's irresistible. When we got a dog I had the same experience. See, we understand the dog's value system now. The dog doesn't care where he is, he just wants to be where his master is.

Monday, August 7, 2006

It was one of those unforgettable, milestone moments for our family. Our firstborn child was holding her firstborn child. What a moment! And we got to join them in the delivery room only moments after the little guy's arrival. And I knew this presented a shocking development. My wife was a grandmother! Can you believe it? Me, living with a grandmother! Yes, I was living in denial. And now that she's been a grandmother more than once, I'm finally going to have to accept the disturbing reality. I - I am a grandfather!

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Mackinaw Island in Michigan is one of the special places in America. It's a romantic island. It's surrounded by three of the Great Lakes. There are no cars, just bikes, horses and carriages. For my wife and me, it's a very special place. It's where we honeymooned many years ago, and it's where we honeymooned again just a few months ago as a gift from our children. They gave us some nights on our honeymoon island to celebrate a milestone anniversary. When we were newlyweds, we couldn't afford to stay in a hotel on the island. We could barely afford a cheap motel on the mainland. This time we actually stayed on Mackinaw Island, and we had a great time. Being there actually took us back to the very beginnings of our life together, when there were no children, no grandchildren, and a lot less responsibility. It was good to get back to where it started - with one man and one woman in love.

Thursday, June 8, 2006

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 a good job as a factory worker. 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 freedom. It's believed that John Parker was responsible for at least 900 slaves going free.

Monday, April 10, 2006

When I say this man is a veteran test pilot, I mean he's easily old enough to be comfortably retired. Instead, he's still blasting through the skies at these mind-boggling speeds, testing some of America's most advanced aircraft. He told his amazing life story recently on a national television program. It's a story of a lifelong adventure in the skies and a long spiritual search here on earth that ended - well, with the pilot of the universe piloting his life. As he concluded his story, he told about an incident where he was sent up in a state-of-the-art aircraft to help a pilot in distress.

The fog was thick; the weather was dangerous for flying, and a rookie pilot was lost in that fog and unable to get through the weather in a plane that wasn't equipped for it. Well, Mr. Test Pilot flew close to that imperiled aircraft until he was actually positioned at its left wing. And then he radioed the desperate pilot and he simply said, "Look to your left." Then he said, "Now stick with me. Turn when I turn." Then in a plane so advanced that the veteran said that it can make a game out of bad weather, he led his frightened fellow-pilot to that glorious point where they broke through the fog and they saw the bright lights of that landing strip below. When they landed safely, the rookie got out of his plane, ran to his rescuer, and hugged him as if he had saved his life. He probably had.

Wednesday, February 8, 2006

It was Valentine's Day and it turned out to be a milestone day in my relationship with the girl I considered to be the best catch in our class. I knew she had been seriously dating someone else for quite a while, and I had to plan my moves very shrewdly, you see, or I'd scare her off. So, we had what we both called this "brother/sister" relationship. Oh, sure I wanted it to be more, but at least I could spend some time with her this way without scaring her off. Well, one day I'd had enough of this platonic relationship stuff. She was actually bringing a Valentine's cake up to some radio staff at our college and I happened to be there. We got into a pretty intense discussion there, standing by the water fountain, I remember. And finally I blurted out what I'd been feeling for a long time, "I'm sick and tired of just being your 'brother'. I want it to be much more!" There it was - all or nothing. And what happened? I married the girl! (This is the part where the audience cheers.)

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

It was enough to shut a girl up for years to come - when it comes to talking about her relationship with Jesus, that is. One day in high school, God laid it on my wife's heart - who, of course, wasn't my wife yet - to share Christ with one of her fellow band members. Roger was a drummer. In my experience, drummers are usually cut from a little different piece of cloth than everybody else, and Roger was no exception. He was a wild and crazy guy with a mouth to match. But one day my wife got up the courage to rise above her shyness and tell him about her Savior. Roger didn't exactly fall to his knees in the band room and repent. In fact, he said, "Well, if you're going to heaven, I want to go to the other place!"