Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Download MP3 (right click to save)

When I meet people who went to elementary or high school with my wife, they tell me she was shy. I didn't know her then, but I have found that very hard to accept. From the time I met her at a Christian college, she was vivacious, she was outgoing and she was confident. I've asked her about this seeming contradiction. She actually says that both descriptions are right. In her secondary school years, she lived in the country with parents who gave her a lot of love and courtesy and spiritual wealth, but who didn't have much of what our world calls wealth. So, she lived in a home without the conveniences that many of her friends in town would consider basic. She didn't have money to spend on clothes or makeup, so she felt a little self-conscious in a campus world that was so much about the way you dress and the "stuff" you have. But when she got to a Christian college, suddenly everything changed. Here's what she said: "For the first time in my life, the playing field was level."

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Download MP3 (right click to save)

Today he's a respected Christian professional in our community. But legend has it that he had a strong streak of mischief in him when he was a boy, and maybe even now. An older friend from their church told me that when this man was four, his pastor came up to him at a football game and sat down next to him. And the pastor said, "Well, Mark, what have you been doing with yourself lately?" To which Mark replied with a smile, "Would you believe praying?" To which his pastor replied, "No, Mark, I wouldn't believe it." Smart pastor.

Monday, March 2, 2009

Download MP3 (right click to save)

Our friend Barbara is incredibly creative - including creating jewelry. The other day she told us about how she made a beautiful gold ring. Actually the ring is designed in wax. When she has the ring design that she wants carved in the wax, she pours plaster-of-Paris around that molded wax ring. Then she puts it in an oven. Well, of course, the intense heat melts the wax away until there's no wax left, just a vacuum, shaped like the ring she wants. Then she puts this in a centrifuge, and that spins gold into the vacuum where the wax used to be. Gold rushes in where it was once just wax. And out comes something very beautiful and much more valuable.

Friday, February 27, 2009

Download MP3 (right click to save)

Every time the economy or corporate profits take another dip in their roller coaster ride, you start hearing corporations saying that word again - downsizing. Many companies have and probably will come to the conclusion that one way to increase their profitability is to decrease the number of employees they have. So they downsize to be more successful.

Friday, February 20, 2009

Download MP3 (right click to save)

A friend of mine has served on his local school board for many years. And the more demands that have been placed on schools in recent years, the more complicated the work of school boards and school officials has become. The other day one of those frustrations surfaced in our conversation. My friend said, "You know, our state keeps passing on mandates to us for things our school system has to do, but lots of times they give us the mandate without any money. They decide what we have to do, and we have to figure out how to pay for it."

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Download MP3 (right click to save)

When Lee Stroebel writes a book, he brings to it all the skills and the disciplines that he learned as a journalist. Lee was a respected reporter and, by the way, an atheist. Today, he is a powerful representative of Jesus Christ and a leader in reaching people for Him. While preparing for a recent book, Lee interviewed a wide variety of noted people to get their perspective on Christ. One was a man who was a gifted evangelist in the 1940s, a man whose ministry paralleled Billy Graham's; a man who was known by millions and actually expected to have a ministry like Billy Graham has had. But after he attended a liberal seminary to get more education, he shocked the Christian world by abandoning his faith. His media career in Canada gave him a lot of notoriety, and he often used that platform to express his unbelief.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Download MP3 (right click to save)

If you've flown commercially, you know you have to go through a security checkpoint before you can get to your gate. And for those security personnel who man those metal detectors and X-ray machines, there is this four-letter word that they won't tolerate. Of course it's the word "bomb." I remember hearing some people behind me in the metal detector line once talking about bombs, and I gently suggested they not say that word around airport people. You can see signs everywhere warning you not to even joke about bombs. And the slightest hint of the possibility of a bomb has been known to literally shut down an airport for hours - I've been there. That's fine with me if they want to check that out. Nobody in an airport wants to hear the word "bomb" because of what that word represents. That's something that could destroy everything.

Monday, November 3, 2008

Download MP3 (right click to save)

It's hard to imagine a movie that got rave reviews when there are about 45 minutes during which there was just one man on the screen, and he didn't even talk that whole time! But Tom Hanks pulled it off in his blockbuster movie, "Cast Away." It's the story of the lone survivor of a Federal Express plane crash who ends up totally alone on an island. Well alone, that is, except for his one friend - a volleyball he names Wilson. Tom Hanks' character is on that island, marooned and alone, for four years. He's the castaway.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Download MP3 (right click to save)

Sometimes I'll throw out a word to an audience of teenagers, and I'll ask them to draw a picture that represents that word for them. Later they'll describe their picture. Now what if I did that with you and the word was peace. How do you draw peace?

That was the challenge, actually, for artists in one community where there was an art contest. The painters were asked to enter a painting that represented peace. There was one that spectators were sure would win. It was this beautiful pastoral scene, a rolling green meadow, punctuated with these colorful flowers, there was a deep blue sky with little puffy white clouds, and a boy walking through the field with a fishing pole. Well, that came in second. First place went to a painting that portrayed a storm! The sky was dark, it was angry, the ocean was slamming into the cliffs, and lightning was flashing in the sky. At first look the spectators said, "What does this have to do with peace?" Then they looked again...

Thursday, September 11, 2008

Download MP3 (right click to save)

Any time I'm planning to be in New York City, I make sure I have some loose change and some small bills; I know I'll need it for tips. Maybe for a parking lot attendant, a cab driver, maybe a waitress. Actually, tipping is a way of life in America. Here's what the dictionary says it is: "A small percent of money given directly to someone for performing a service." A tip is a small thank you, nothing major, loose change stuff. And that's appropriate as a response to a small service but not to a total sacrifice.