Monday, January 5, 2004

It was one of those primitive science experiments that a lot of boys try. OK, it's a sunny winter day. You lay out a board out on the ground - this is what I did anyway. Now you can leave it there all day with the sun beating down on it. It won't even get warm. Now comes the exciting part of the experiment. You take a piece of glass and you focus the sun's rays on one spot on that board. Same sun, same board - very different result. Eventually, that board starts to get hot - and you've got smoke - maybe even fire going there. Amazing, huh?

Friday, January 2, 2004

Somewhere on cable or late night TV, you might run into my old hero. He's a masked man who rides on a white horse, who shoots silver bullets and always brings in the bad guys. Every episode ends with someone asking, "Who was that Masked Man?" And as the exciting William Tell Overture crescendos in the background, someone will say, "It's the Lone Ranger!" I'm getting all emotional here. Now there was one other thing about the Lone Ranger. He had a faithful sidekick, that Indian man in buckskins, Tonto. He's the one who got famous calling the Lone Ranger "Kemo Sabe." I never did know what that meant. Maybe the Lone Ranger didn't know either. Maybe that's a good thing. But there is one thing about the Lone Ranger that always seemed a little hard to understanding - even the Lone Ranger wasn't alone.

Wednesday, December 31, 2003

When a police officer shows up for his shift, he has no idea where he's going to end up that day. That's not really up to him. His car is connected to headquarters by way of radio - and on the other end sits that person who will tell him where he's going next - the dispatcher. An officer can be cruising along peacefully one minute and the next minute racing full speed to the scene of a crime. Police officers don't decide where they're going to go next, they go wherever the dispatcher sends them. It's that voice from headquarters who sends an officer to where he or she needs to be next.

Tuesday, November 18, 2003

Hurricane Isabel was roaring up the East Coast, bringing with her 100 mile-an-hour winds, flooding deluges of rain, and a trail of destruction. As the storm moved from North Carolina toward Virginia and Washington D.C., something unprecedented happened at one of America's most hallowed sights. At Arlington National Cemetery, the final resting place of many of the nation's honored dead, there stands the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, guarded proudly by military sentinels, day and night. For some seventy years, the guards have been there, marching with impressive precision, their rifle on their shoulder. But with a violent storm headed that way, the guards were given the unprecedented option of leaving their post long enough to seek shelter. They refused.

Tuesday, September 16, 2003

Some people really have the gift of sleeping. Yep. One of our young friends, Michael, recently stayed with us for several months. He definitely has the gift of sleeping - but not the gift of waking up. It became my job to wake him up every morning to get to work. Did somebody say "Mission Impossible"? It seemed like no matter what I tried, I couldn't get him to wake up - and if I could to get him to wake up, I couldn't get him to stay awake. No alarm clock we tried could do the job, no calling his name, no calling him very loudly, no shaking him violently. Somehow he always managed to stay asleep or go back to sleep ... until the pan. Yeah, see, one morning I marched upstairs, into his room, and right over his head, banging a metal pan with a metal spoon with everything I had. I had neighbors a block away waking up! And Michael woke up, and got up - and stayed up!

Monday, September 15, 2003

Some of our best family memories are from some of our camping vacations. See, we got real close - I mean, literally - sleeping together in our little tent. We enjoyed beautiful scenery, great outdoor-cooked meals, a peaceful environment, living by the sun. Of course, there were a few downsides - like those very dark nights in very dark campgrounds.

I can remember our boys' ambivalence to walk to the bathroom on nights like those. They had the need to use the facilities and that was undeniable, but the dark path and the dark woods ... well, they were scary, especially knowing there were bears in those woods. But one thing would unparalyze them - when they reached up in the dark and found my hand. Once they were holding their father's hand, they could keep walking into the darkness.

Wednesday, August 20, 2003

Over the years, one of my favorite TV shows was "Mission: Impossible." If you were a fan like me, you can hear that driving "Mission: Impossible" theme in your head right now, huh? Well, Hollywood liked the idea enough they made a movie out of it - and then a sequel! The Mission Impossible Team was always given this assignment that seemed like a "no way" assignment - but they pulled it off every time. Every time. There is, however, one mission that is truly impossible.

Tuesday, August 19, 2003

It used to be that if you had a message to get through to someone, you left that message on their voice mail to get their attention. Then fax machines came along and a fax was a more dynamic way to communicate your message and have it noticed. Then along came e-mail and introduced an even more dynamic way to get through. Now it's not uncommon for e-mailers to check their computer several times a day - eagerly wanting to know, "Has someone tried to reach me? What did they have to say?" And many e-mailers hope to hear that little voice from their computer that raises their expectations. It says, "You've got mail."

Monday, August 18, 2003

There's a lot of talk these days about Biblical prophecies being fulfilled and about the signs that precede Christ's return. But when you're little, all this talk about how things are going to end can have an interesting effect. One friend of ours told me recently about how his little boy told him, "Daddy, I sure hope Jesus comes real soon." His Dad asked him why, and the little boy responded, "Well, I'm really looking forward to sitting on Jesus' lap, and I'll be seven pretty soon. And if Jesus doesn't come soon, I might be too old to sit on His lap!" Dad was glad to be able to give his son the good news - "Son, you are never too old for Jesus' lap."

Thursday, August 7, 2003

There are few words that strike more fear into hearts in Middle America than the word "tornado" - and rightly so. Twisters can hit so suddenly and do such awful damage. That was proven again when some deadly tornadoes tore through Oklahoma in 1999 - one of them was so strong that it was almost classified an F-6 - which would have created a whole new category of tornado. In light of the power of those storms, the story I saw on the evening news was amazing. After hearing one of those tornado warnings for the tornadoes in Oklahoma, a mother and her adult daughter went into a room in their house for safety. It's called a safe room or a strong room, and it's built with concrete that's reinforced with metal. And it's built to withstand even a hit by a tornado. Well, sure enough, the tornado hit that house and there was virtually nothing left - except for one room. The safe room. And when it was all clear, the mother and daughter walked out unscathed in a neighborhood where virtually everything else had been blown away.