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I kept telling my wife that I expected Tarzan or George of the Jungle to come swinging through our house at any moment. She had set up a corner of the house as her own personal little jungle to accommodate the new guests in our house-our orchids. She found some sources for orchids that were pretty reasonable, and she really enjoyed collecting them. They were very stately and lovely flowers.
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I was speaking for an Easter Sunrise Service in the Ozarks, and I saw something that seemed strangely out of place. In front of this church, there's a 10' section of a brick wall with a sign in front of it that says, "Berlin Wall." I was thousands of miles from Berlin, but here was a chunk of what used to be the most famous, and maybe the most infamous wall in the world. Many of us remember how the Berlin Wall represented for decades the Cold War division of our world into Communist and free. The Communists built it on the border between East Berlin and free West Berlin. In spite of that wall, many people still risked everything to scale it and escape to freedom. A few made it. Many died trying.
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Kobe Bryant decided to set off some fireworks for his final game in the NBA. Sixty points carried his team to an unlikely and dramatic victory! That's a pretty good way to wrap up 20 seasons and five championship rings! Kobe Bryant finished well, and he went out in a blaze of glory.
But so is my friend Kenny. Not on a basketball court. It was in his hospice room. The doctors said he didn't have much more time; walking as Psalm 23:4, our word for today from the Word of God says, "through the valley of the shadow of death." It actually begins that Psalm by saying, "The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. Yes, though I walk through the shadow of death I will fear no evil for You are with me."
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The Department of Homeland Security is a fairly new idea in American government. Of course, we live in pretty dangerous times and we need an agency that coordinates our efforts to keep our country safe from growingly hostile forces that could hurt us. But "homeland security" is hardly a new idea. It's been the job of every parent since children were invented. It's a sacred assignment – guarding our family from the things that could hurt them, and the job's never been more difficult.
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Lori Piestewa was the first woman killed in the Iraq war. She was a Native American and a single mom with two children. She died in an Iraqi ambush, and her good friend Jessica Lynch was wounded, captured and rescued. You might remember that. She was determined to help fulfill Lori Piestewa's dream – to have a house for her parents and her children. Jessica Lynch contacted the TV program, "Extreme Makeover," to see if they could make it happen. Their popular program showed them doing amazing makeovers of people's homes in a very short time; re-creating them into houses that were far beyond anything the owner's ever dreamed. They did it again for a war hero's family, moving them from their deteriorating trailer home into a wonderful new home. Given the good TV ratings of the show, apparently a lot of people loved to watch those amazing transformations.
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Marty McFly met a strange scientist with a machine that promised interesting results – the ability to go back in time. And he did. He went, as the title of the movie about it said, "Back to the Future." He had a most amazing experience getting to know his mother and father when they were teenagers – an experience some of us might find very interesting. His dad, George McFly, was a milquetoast, bossed-around kind of guy, afraid to stand up to anybody. Marty always knew him to be that kind of a guy, until he was transported back to the night that would determine the course of the rest of his Dad's life – and his Mom's. One decision – whether or not George McFly will stand up to the bully who is attacking his girlfriend – who is to become Marty's mother – is the turning point of George's life. And Marty is there to help his Dad make the right and courageous choice. It totally changes the course of George McFly's life. He steps up, defends his girl, and neutralizes the bully who wanted her. So instead of the life Marty has known with a pretty unsuccessful, wimpy dad, he returns to his life with a strong and successful dad because of that choice. A very different life because of one decision that changed the future.
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I enjoy reading my newspaper. My kids enjoyed crashing through my newspaper to sit on my lap. Nowadays, it's getting harder to bother your father while he's checking out the news. You'd have to jump on his iPhone.
Anyway, I could relate when I heard about this little guy who kept interrupting his dad while he was reading his voluminous Sunday paper. For a while, Dad was able to buy a little time by saying "pretty soon, Son." But eventually, Son wasn't buying it.
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I guess after you've lived 94 years, you have a right to forget some things. And a lot of elderly people do. And some of us not so elderly. My wife's grandfather was 94 and had reached the point of not even recognizing some of his family. It's a small family-just one son and two granddaughters, including my wife. My wife called her Granddad one day and she spoke loudly so he could hear, and she said, "Hi, Granddad. I love you." And she identified who was calling. There was no response for a moment-then almost irritated; he said "Who is this?" And she identified herself again, and she said, "You know, you have one son who had two daughters. I'm the oldest daughter. I love you, Granddad." Well, this time he just chuckled. He had no idea who this strange woman was saying she loved him. I just love my wife's response, "Well, Granddad, the most important thing is this-Jesus loves you." To which Granddad responded-"Now Him I know!" I love it!
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If I wanted a picture that screams "Resurrection!", "Life!", "Easter!" - I'd go to Death Valley. Well, this year at least, because all of a sudden it began to look like "Life Valley."
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Our son, over the years, was a dedicated baseball card collector. I mean dedicated. He was even dealing for baseball cards on his honeymoon! Hello. But it was worth it. He met a man who was selling his entire collection. So our son bought it for about $300 and when he started going through those cards, he started to get really excited - not that those cards were any match for his beautiful bride, of course. But he began to find single cards that were worth more than the price he had paid for the entire collection! Later, when he needed some money for equipment for a Christian band, he sold a lot of those cards - for 10 times the amount that man had sold it to him for! That man had no idea how much what he had was worth! So he let it go like it wasn't worth, really, much at all!
