Download MP3 (right click to save)
Sometimes you've got to wonder whoever thought up cell phone cameras? Oh, they're nice. You know, if something suddenly pops up that you want to capture. But how many times have I been looking goofy or just plain ol' ugly and some smart aleck quietly "permanent-tizes" that moment with his cute little camera? Is there somewhere where we are safe from the lens that never forgets?
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Teenagers are chronic procrastinators. It really shows up when you're trying to get them to register for a camp or a retreat, which I've done plenty of. Oh, they're planning to go, but you wouldn't know it by their registration. They'll wait until they hear the bus to start signing up. That happened at a retreat we had. There was this deadline, but many of the kids we most wanted to go, particularly for spiritual reasons, missed the deadline. Oh, we still had room. So did we take their registrations late? You bet we did. But you know, deadlines are often flexible, and it seems like you can usually get an extension. But don't count on that extension when it really, really counts.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
I was a little psycho about grades in school. Maybe it's a firstborn thing. I don't know. But from early grade school, I always wanted to get really good grades. I worked hard, made sure I was on good terms with the teacher, and I usually made the honor roll. When my wife and I were going to college together, I used to drive her nuts with my concern over getting a "B." I'm sorry, I know you hate me. But, you know, I told you I was psycho. It's a problem. Now, you probably hated guys like me, but just consider it a condition and cut me some slack, OK? I'm probably not the only person in the world who has this "gotta get a good grade" thing!
Download MP3 (right click to save)
These days when parents are expecting a baby, they put some care usually into picking a name. And one of the places they go is to these books where you find hundreds and hundreds of names and what is the meaning of that child's name. Now, my parents, I don't know if they didn't have books like that or they didn't care. But, well, when they were on the way to the hospital, I guess they had a name picked out for a girl. They didn't think about a boy, but I was. So, as they're going, they go, "What if we have a boy? What should we name him?" And they passed - now, listen, I hate to tell you this, because you're going to use it against me someday. I know you are - here we go, Ronnie's Used Car Lot. Okay, go ahead, laugh. Get that over with. So they named me after a used car salesman (don't say it!). And some of you who listen all the time go, "The way you talk, I believe it. I understand it was predestination that you should be named after a used car salesman." Well, listen. Picking a name? Put some thought into it please. I'll tell you this, there was one name that God came up with, and it just so happens it became the most powerful word in the world.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Now, I've been to a few professional football games in my life. You know, people get angry at those things. It's usually aimed at the other team or their own players who messed up. But, you know, there was a time when the words that made us blush were reserved for the referees; the replacement referees, that is.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
When there's a primetime news special on TV, you expect it to be about some major breaking world event, or a disaster, or some sensational social issue. A while back I was surprised to see a CBS news special that was just on the subject of loneliness. It was called "On Lonely Street." They were quoted there as saying, "Social scientists are seeing an epidemic of loneliness.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
It's always kind of exciting to go to the mailbox. It's depressing however, when most of it is addressed to Occupant, Resident, or it comes with some computer label that calls me Don Hutchcraft. Or it butchers my last name, which is a very "butcherable" name, by the way.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
Scotty had just come strolling in my office. He didn't have an appointment, didn't check with my assistant. He really didn't need an appointment. See, he was about 18 months old. Yeah, he just kind of pushed the door open and there he was, and he came in talking and almost never stopped. His mother was visiting our office, and she said, "He's got a great vocabulary." And she was right! He was at that fascinating stage where his vocabulary was exploding!
Download MP3 (right click to save)
I have a ton of respect for lifeguards at the ocean. I mean, first of all, I wish I could swim like they do; they make what I do look like dog paddling for sure. But I have seen them in action. I remember being at the New Jersey shore and watching five lifeguards go to work on a rescue to bring in three children. And I think I have a new appreciation for these guys and girls having talked to my friend, Jim, because he used to be one on the other side of the country; he was a Pacific Ocean lifeguard. He described to me the different kinds of rescues that there are.
Download MP3 (right click to save)
It's the issue that can decide who's the senator or congressman in many states. It can decide who the governor is in some states. The battle lines are drawn around the issue of abortion.
