Tuesday, September 23, 2003

Every once in a while, my wife and I get to choose what we do with an evening. That's kind of rare because of our ministry responsibilities and being involved with the needs of a lot of people. But the other night was one of those nights to choose - we could be with some friends, someone suggested going to a movie. We decided just to stay home and talk. There are really three problems with a movie theater: the junk on the floor (I think it's called cinemuk), the junk that's often on the screen, and the fact that we can't talk with each other. Now a lot of couples are together more than we are - watching TV, going to social events, following the kids' schedules. And those things are all okay, but if that's all the time a couple has together, they may be missing what really keeps a relationship alive, including the ultimate relationship.

Friday, September 19, 2003

If you eat out occasionally, you know that the servers can range from helpful to rude to attentive to invisible. I guess customers can, too. But some of the women on our staff were really impressed the other night with the way their waiter went out of his way to take care of them. It was a Mexican restaurant, and every time their salsa was about half gone, he would notice and he'd quickly bring more; same with the chips. And when they asked for a special dressing for the chips, he made sure they had plenty all night. And later, when they tried to put their leftovers in the plastic container, he said, "Please, no. I'll do it. That's my job." He insisted on putting the containers in a bag for them! They were really impressed with his service. And then he brought the check with his name stamped on it - and they were blown away. It just said, "Thank you. Jesus."

Thursday, August 14, 2003

One football team owner calls it "the single most impressive symbol of being a champion in all of sports." Well, he's talking about the National Football League's Super Bowl ring. The rings on the most recent Super Bowl champions are worth $5,000 each! Can you imagine losing something that valuable and irreplaceable? Former Raiders champion Gene Upshaw can. Oh, yeah, to keep his Super Bowl ring safe at home, he put it inside a bank that looked like a Pepsi can. Problem: he forgot to tell his housekeepers. They mistook the bank for an empty pop can and tossed it out, ring and all.

Monday, August 11, 2003

Our Christian Guidance Director reminded me the other day of how I felt about junior high school lunches. He was talking about it in our Team devotions. Few of us remember those 7th or 8th grade cafeteria lunches with great fondness. Friday wasn't bad -- that was french fry day. But most of the other days -- who knows what some of that stuff was! We'd complain about the food, we'd trash the food sometimes, and sometimes we even had a food fight with it! There were many days I wasn't too excited about what was on my plate. There still are.

Wednesday, August 6, 2003

There's this one experiment I remember from my grade school science class -- no, not dissecting a brontosaurus. Our science teacher had this little hand-crank generator wired to a light bulb. And we'd turn that little crank, and it managed to generate just enough juice to light the light bulb. That baby generator was fine for the limited demands of Mr. Light Bulb, but I would hate to try and run my whole house on it! Bye-bye stove, bye-bye microwave, refrigerator, computer, lighting, and heat. No way that puny power supply could handle all the demands!

Monday, August 4, 2003

I travel a lot. Of course, sometimes I drive, and time matters a lot. So over the years, I've learned a fundamental secret of making great time on the open road. No, not speeding - just driving steady. Over and over, I've watched what I call a "spurter" come roaring up behind me, doing everything but pushing me into the right lane. He's obviously well into the State Trooper Zone as far as his speed's concerned. So I move over, he roars past, but I catch up with him a few miles later -- without ever changing my speed. See, he's settled back into the right lane, just cruising along. (Maybe you've passed this guy, too.) He speeds in binges, he floors it one minute and then he's just tapping the accelerator a few minutes later. I usually make excellent time driving places, and I've talked to other marathon drivers who are used to getting places fast. And we pretty much agree. How do you trim hours off a long trip? A steady foot. The fast way to get somewhere is not with big spurts, but with a consistent, steady speed.

Tuesday, June 17, 2003

They have always been a major deciding factor in military victory or military defeat. It's just that most of us don't realize it. But the critical importance of the logistics forces became very apparent when Coalition forces invaded Iraq in "Operation Iraqi Freedom." As they moved at lightning speed across Iraq, the combat supply lines were quickly stretched across 200 miles of unforgiving desert. USA Today said, "To re-arm, feed and fuel the advancing forces, military logisticians have built one of the longest, most sophisticated supply lines ever fielded in war." They are the people who deliver what the military calls the "beans, bullets and black oil." In Iraq, for example, the 90,000 troops inside the country drank an average of 400,000 gallons of water a day. And just to give you an idea of the massive fuel deliveries needed, one Abrams tank gets less than a mile to a gallon and it needs 300 gallons of gas every eight hours. USA Today reported that "for every soldier or Marine firing a weapon at the enemy, there are at least nine helping make this fight possible." Is it any wonder a retired four-star general called them "the unsung heroes"?

Well,

Monday, May 26, 2003

Last time I heard this term, it was describing how the French royalty was dealt with during the French Revolution - it was that ominous word "decapitation." It took on new meaning at the beginning of the Coalition's "Operation Iraqi Freedom" against the regime of Saddam Hussein. Decapitation was used to describe a strategy of trying to eliminate the leaders of the regime in order to bring down the regime. It's a strategy that's actually used more commonly than you think.

Friday, March 14, 2003

Americans have seen a lot of emotional scenes, watching families say goodbye as their soldiers and sailors ship out for duty in the world's danger spots. Not long after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, thousands of military personnel boarded ships bound for unannounced destinations. Imagine - your ship has set sail, but you don't know where you're going. The news reported that some of those ships left with sealed orders. When their ship reached a certain point, their commander was authorized to open those orders and find out just exactly where they were all going. And as people needed to know, they were informed by the commander. "Need to know," they call it.

Well,

Wednesday, January 22, 2003

I have had the wonderful privilege of being in just about all of the United States. But one of the last that I had the opportunity to visit was one of the most beautiful - Alaska. When I went there the first time, I was impressed with this motto they have on their license plates. It seemed pretty appropriate. "Alaska - The Last Frontier." I can see why they say that. There are hundreds and thousands of miles of unpopulated expanse, abundant wildlife like bears and moose and eagles, great untamed areas, even some untamed people! There's a wildness that does seem to make it the last frontier.