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I woke up my kids early that morning to get the view from the top of the mountain. We were vacationing in Maine, and I was told that Cadillac Mountain, which was not too far from there, was the place to go - to be able to see the sunrise as early as you can see it. So, I thought that it was a good thing for our family to do.
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My car started this morning. You say, "Big deal." Well, it is; it starts every morning no matter how cold it is or how wet it is. That's especially good when you realize the old girl's got, you know, something like 150,000 miles on her. I don't have nearly that many miles on me, and I'm having increasing trouble starting in the morning myself. Actually, all our cars have been like that since we began in the ministry many years ago, and they keep working. And I don't credit the automobile company with it; I credit the manufacturer - no, the manufacturer.
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On the Sunday before Easter, my pastor was talking about the donkey Jesus rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. And my mind wandered (that's never the pastor's fault) to a horse that I met one day in Texas.
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One time Andy told me about the worst Christmas he ever had. Oh, he'd always had a hard time waiting for Christmas morning. I think most kids do. He felt that Christmas Eve was the longest night of the year just waiting. But there were a lot of long nights before then. And he was a little unsure of that Santa Claus business, and didn't quite have all that figured out.
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At first I thought some apocalyptic event had hit our town. Schools were all empty, wasn't a school bus in sight, lots of people suddenly disappeared. Not to worry. It was just Spring Break.
Of course, for many of America's young people, Spring Break is code for "party like there's no tomorrow, baby." Well, after downing lots of booze and sometimes drugs...your internal censors just go off duty. So a lot of folks come back from break with little memory of some big mistakes. Partying that lasts for a night; regrets and scars that can last a lifetime. Going for "break" and coming back broken.
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So, our whole family had to go for blood tests. It was time to check everyone's cholesterol levels, we were told. Now, as our son's blood was being drawn, he suddenly said, "I'm feeling a little weak." Well, that's unusual, because this son was probably the strongest member of the family.
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After Whitney Houston's sudden death, the world has fixated on replaying her iconic and now more poignant performances of her signature songs. And what stuck in my mind is the video they have shown of one of her first performances and the video of one of her last.
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I know you shouldn't yell, especially on a Sunday, but I did. On a Sunday a few months ago during the Super Bowl.
But, hey, my New York Giants were playing for the championship. And they needed my help, right, my encouragement, and my suggestions of course. How could they hear me if I didn't yell? I know it's, okay, just earth stuff, but it was fun to watch them win; especially since I have a special attachment to the Giants that goes back to our years in the New York area, when I used to speak for some of their pre-game chapels.
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"So are you planning to go on a cruise sometime soon?" It was the guy checking me out at the drugstore, and he was pointing to the newspaper I was buying and sort of asked that with a wry smile. Because on the front page was this haunting picture of that capsized Italian cruise ship that went aground a few months ago.
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I won't be going to a Lady Gaga concert soon, but tons of people have and will. To some, that headline-generating singer is just another cultural side show. But at least for now, the entertainer known for her bizarre outfits and her wild performances is an A-list celebrity and a cultural icon.
And it's all too easy to forget she's a person. Like all of us, a person with a story. She's starting to tell some of that story. As I read part of it yesterday, I honestly felt sad. For all of her stratospheric success in the spotlight, there's apparently a lot of hurt offstage.
