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July 21, 2020

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Junior high band concerts - oh, that's the test of a parent's love. Yep, we got to support our kids by being at seven years of their junior high concerts. It's nice to see those young teenagers making a nice effort. It's not necessarily a memorable musical experience. Wouldn't it be interesting, let's say, to hear those young musicians trying to play a major Beethoven symphony? What if you've never heard any of his great compositions? All you've heard is that Beethoven was a musical genius. Then you hear the junior high band play a Beethoven symphony. And what do you have to say about Beethoven? "Did you say this guy was a genius? I just heard Beethoven! It was awful!" You didn't hear Beethoven. All you heard was some people doing a bad job playing his music.

July 16, 2020

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What could be more degrading than to be listed as property - owned by another human being - listed along with his corn and his cotton and his tools? But that's what you were if you were a slave for the first 150 years of America's history. It's no wonder many of those slaves risked their lives to try to be free. I saw a TV documentary on the people who risked their lives to help those slaves be free; the courageous men and women of that long escape route known as the Underground Railroad. Of course it wasn't a railroad and it wasn't underground, but it was a series of people and places that assisted runaway slaves to finally live liberated lives. Some of those African Americans who were rescued had just four words on their tombstones, words that powerfully told their whole life story: "Born slave, died free."

July 14, 2020

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My parents didn't put much thought into what they named me. They decided on the way to the hospital when they saw "Ronnie's Used Car Lot" along the way. Come on! "So could I interest you in a little '95 Chevy with low mileage?" It was just driven by a little old lady...never mind. Well, my wife and I, and then our children, have put a little more thought into the names of our kids. Sometimes we pick names that reflect something about the child's heritage. We buy those books that tell you the meanings of thousands of names. We'd pick one that says something. You know? For example, our daughter's name means "consecrated to God," which she really is. Sometimes a person's name is more than just a name; it's actually a statement!

July 10, 2020

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For my wife, it was sort of a symbol of the day she was born - daffodils. Growing up in the South, she was always able to have some fresh-picked daffodils for her birthday. But then we got married and then we found ourselves living pretty much in the North, where daffodils don't grow that early in the year. So every year, as my honey's birthday approached, I had fun trying to find some florist that somehow had some daffodils for sale, and I did. And once again, my gal had daffodils for her birthday. But even though they were very beautiful, the sad secret is they didn't last long...just like most of the flowers in the florist shop. They started to die as soon as they got cut from their stem.

July 6, 2020

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When you're the parent of a little kid, you know that one of your great challenges could be getting that little one to sleep at night. When you are the little child, you know why it's hard to get to sleep at night. First, there's that prayer. You know, the one where your Mommy has you pray, "Now I lay me down to sleep; I pray the Lord my soul to keep." OK, that's good so far. Then, "If I should die before I wake..." Wait a minute! Hold it! Not going to sleep! Who in the world put that line in that prayer? Then there's another reason little kids have a hard time getting to sleep. The monsters, you know the ones in the closet. Oh, I know we had them in my room, how about yours? See, parents never really seem to get it. But all of us kids knew that once the lights all went out, there was a really scary monster waiting in that closet. So, you lie there with your eyes wide open, afraid of what the monster might do if you fall asleep.

July 2, 2020

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I heard a while back about a novelty company that made a lot of money on people having birthdays that they might not be real excited about. You know, like those milestone birthdays: 40, 50, 60. I'll stop there. Of course, if you're sad about how many birthdays this is, consider the alternative. That means you've stopped having birthdays, and that's not good. This company actually produces a whole line of birthday products called "Over the Hill." Maybe you've seen them. There are these black balloons with these words on them, black banners, cards; all kinds of dark little reminders that tap into the very things you don't want this birthday to mean. A friend of mine was facing the classic Baby Boomer crossroads of turning 60 and was talking about it to an older man that he knew. And that man said something that made me laugh several times since then. He said, "Hey, how can I be over the hill when I've never even made it to the top yet?"

June 25, 2020

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Why is it so hard to get us guys to go to the doctor? Or especially to the dentist? Oh, wait! "I think I want to make an appointment to see my dentist. How soon can I go see him again?" No, that doesn't happen. If you're a dentist listening, this is my problem; it is not your problem. You're doing a very valuable service, and I've paid a price for putting off those appointments. But it's amazing how we tend to avoid appointments that may be unpleasant. We'll put them off as long as we can. Right? And in most cases you can do what I do. You can put it off, you can cancel, even meetings you don't want to have. That is in most cases.

June 23, 2020

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Tim Tebow's been a rather fascinating young man on the American sports scene. I remember some years ago he was playing football, and it was the Broncos/Patriots playoff game. And it actually hurt to watch that. There were no last-quarter or last-minute miracles. Tim was quarterbacking and his team lost and they lost bad. Final score...45-10! They weren't just beaten, they were crushed.

June 19, 2020

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Our friend - we'll call her Diane - shocked her family years ago when she announced at the age of 17 that she was pregnant. Even with some folks urging her to have an abortion, she made the choice to have that child - a son. When her son was seven, Diane met a guy we'll call Gary, and she knew they were falling in love. So, with some fear and trembling, she told him about her son. Gary said, "Let's go meet him." And Diane's boy took to Gary immediately. Diane and Gary got married, and the boy grew up with a wonderful relationship with Gary. But something happened when he turned 17 - this unexplainable rebellion that ultimately made him decide to go live with his biological father. A few months later, he returned to the home he'd grown up in. He'd made a powerful discovery in those intervening months. He said to Gary, "You're the one I walk like, you're the one I talk like, and I do things the way you taught me. You are my father!"

June 15, 2020

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I was getting pretty bored with our family fishing vacation in Minnesota. So my dad decided to take little nine-year-old Ronnie to see Paul Bunyan, the legendary giant lumberjack. Actually, it's this huge Paul Bunyan, sitting on a chair with his big ax and Babe the Blue Ox nearby. And there was this little log cabin at his feet. My dad went over to the ticket booth and came back with my ticket, which I eagerly gave to the ticket taker so I could go in and see big old Paul. As I walked in, I almost became the youngest heart attack victim in Minnesota history. Paul Bunyan's big old voice boomed out across the grounds and said, "Hello, Ronnie." I was blown away! How could I know that this was all a conspiracy? The ticket booth guy gets the kid's name, relays it to the little man with a microphone in Paul's log cabin, who then uses that information to welcome some unsuspecting little guy like me. All I knew was that that big guy knew my name!

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