August 22, 2025

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I was watching on TV the anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, and my mind raced back to this unforgettable personal visit I had to the site of what was a very deadly tragedy. My guide for my visit to the memorial made it really special and very moving, because he's a state trooper. He was one of the rescuers that day. His recollections of the joy of rescues and the heartbreak of lives lost I'm not going to ever forget.

August 21, 2025

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I approached our local McDonald's manager with an idea for using his restaurant one night. I asked him if he would let our Campus Life group have it for a candlelight dinner at McDonald's. He said, "Well, that sounds creative, but we can't close and just shut the public out. But we can allow you to come in."

August 20, 2025

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This is going to come as a surprise to my friends who know how technically challenged I am when it comes to building things, but over the years, my sons and I have built several houses together. Don't expect to see a pickup truck that says "Hutchcraft and Sons" on the side. No, and don't look for us in the Yellow Pages. Actually, our houses haven't fared too well. It wasn't because we didn't work hard on them - we did. And it wasn't because they didn't look good; actually they were pretty good. And it wasn't because they weren't big; we did some pretty good sized ones. But every house we built literally collapsed within hours of the time we finished building them. It might have had something to do with the material we built our houses from - sand on a beach next to the ocean.

August 19, 2025

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There's this disease that hits college campuses in the spring every year. It's called "senior panic." You arrive at college as a freshman with this sneaking suspicion that you might just meet the person you're going to marry while you're there. And as you go through college, that suspicion becomes an expectation.

August 18, 2025

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"My name is Idiot." She's only four years old, but when police in Hot Springs, Arkansas responded to a report of child abuse, that's what she told them. The marks of abuse were all over her body. There were bruises everywhere, she had a black eye, she had scars on her back. Those will heal. But what about the names she's been called? So many times that she actually thinks "Idiot" is her name.

August 15, 2025

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Five thousand miles in one month! That's not too bad if you're in an airplane, but that's how far I drove at least one summer and we've had many long trips like that. We just about ran the wheels off of our van driving from one conference, or speaking assignment, or college trip to another. Let's see, if I averaged 50 miles per hour, that means I drove for 100 hours. Oh, man!

August 14, 2025

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Two roller coasters. Only one seemed like a real option to me. I should point out that I really don't ride roller coasters much. "Because you're chicken," you say. No, because I'm too short. I just don't measure up to that little height chart that they have at the entrance to the coaster. Actually, I have a friend who declines roller coaster invitations by saying, "I can't. I have an inner ear problem." I like that. I may have to remember that one. For whatever reason, my rides on roller coasters are few and far between. But at this particular amusement park that I visited a few years ago, they had two roller coasters side by side and two lines to get to them. Over one line was a sign that said, "Forward." Over the other line, a sign that said - yeah, you guessed it - "Backward." You can ride looking forward or looking backward. Like this is a choice?

August 13, 2025

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When you live in the New York area, locking up your house is just second nature. In fact, it's wise to make sure that every door and every window is locked. Unfortunately, all those precautions can work against you if you forget or lose your house key. Yes, this is the voice of experience. Not only are all those nasty people locked out, you are now locked out! I've been there and done that. I can remember making a complete circuit of the house, desperately trying every window and every door. And the good news was that sometimes I actually found something was unlocked. I'd take even a window that I had to be a contortionist to get through! Anything to find a way to get in!

August 12, 2025

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My friend Don was a wonderful family doctor. But some of the greatest moments of his life were spent, not in a doctor's office, but on the river - preferably a river with some very challenging white water. He's a veteran kayaker and river rafter - with some fascinating tips for us folks who don't have his experience. He told me that, as a teenager, during his first days on the river, he was amazed to see canoes and kayaks just 'hanging out' in the middle of these raging rapids. Then he learned the secret of this amazing feat. There are quiet eddies behind some of the big rocks in the rapids. And those canoeists and kayakers had found a place to rest in the very turbulent waters - behind a big rock.

August 11, 2025

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We were zipping down the Interstate, and we saw this long cloud of thick blue smoke ahead of us. When we got close, we saw that it was belching out of the smokestack of this big old semi, and the smoke was so heavy you could hardly see as you passed it. In fact, it was a very good time to hold your breath. Now, as we passed him, I looked through the smoke into the cab, and I saw two men inside and they were just kind of laughing and they seemed oblivious to the smoke and the smell that they were spreading down the Interstate.

August 8, 2025

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Sylvester Stallone's been in the ring for a lot of rounds. Even though he, a few years ago, hit the big 6-0 birthday, he was still doing Rocky - Rocky 6. It was called, "Rocky's final round." Sylvester Stallone is one of the millions of Baby Boomers who have hit a challenge for which some have not been prepared - aging. I was intrigued with what Stallone had to say about people he knows. He said, "You see billionaires who have everything, yet inside they're still the same lonely, insecure people." You think you've got it all figured out, but when you turn 60 or, you know, whatever age seems to make you feel like you're getting older, there's this little hole inside you. You realize you're always going to be somewhat half full...or are we.

August 7, 2025

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Now, we had not had a major airplane crash in New York City for a long time. So, we were all pretty riveted at that particular time by the scene of the crash of Avianca Flight 52 on Long Island near JFK Airport. More people survived the crash than died in it, thankfully, but it was still a terrible tragedy. There was no fire, because they were apparently out of fuel, and that was a major reason for the crash.

August 6, 2025

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We were adding onto our little house, and we were getting some help from good old Chuck. He's been a part of adding to our house; actually, he did most of the work. A wonderful Christian brother, skilled builder and handyman. He's like an everyday genius...which I am not. Now the days were pretty long and we'd be leaving the house earlier than Chuck got there and we'd return home after dark. So, I didn't get to see him much. But every day that front porch was noticeably farther along than it was when we left that morning. I actually did get to talk to Chuck on the phone one day, and I told him, in a way, he reminded me of the Lord. He was interested in how that happened. I said, "Well, I don't actually see him, but I see the difference he's made!"

August 5, 2025

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Our kids rode many miles in the old back seat of our car. And they had their share of turf battles over who was taking up more than his share of the seat. Pretty customary with three kids in the back seat when you drive quite a ways. They also spent some time sleeping there. In fact, I remember when our youngest was a baby. He would just doze off in his little infant seat right next to his brother who was two years older. We'd turn around and we'd see the little guy asleep and we'd say, "Oh, bless his heart."

August 4, 2025

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Our son had just moved to an Indian reservation to work among the young people there, and for a short time he stayed rent-free at the home of a Native American family. Well, sort of rent-free. One day the man of the house asked our son to help him with a little plumbing problem. Our suburban boy said, "Plumbing? Sure. Where can I find the plunger?" He was informed that no plunger would be needed, so apparently it's going to be easier than he thought. Right? Wrong. His host took him out in the backyard and introduced him to a septic pond where his job was to try to clean out a stopped-up pipe. In order to find it, our son had to reach into the gross stuff up to his shoulder. Yuk! He said when he was finished, he had one thing and only one thing on his mind - a shower. He called and he pretty much summarized his experience, "I have never felt so dirty in my life, and it's never felt so good to be clean."

August 1, 2025

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I can still remember my wife's excited phone call that day. She said, "Honey! The baby just turned over!" Hey! He was three months old; it was a big deal. It's hard to believe there was a time you couldn't turn yourself over. Can you imagine a time when you couldn't walk by yourself? You couldn't feed yourself?

July 31, 2025

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If you'd seen the front lawn of our office, you wouldn't have been able to tell that there had been a change inside. The only evidence of that was that there was an uncustomary pile of shattered sheetrock in this big lump in the yard. The changes were on the second floor immediately above that pile where two small offices had just become one large office. A man from our staff went in, and went after that temporary wall that divided the people in that room, and ripped it out in no time. I'll tell you, it felt pretty different in there with that wall gone! Wish they were all that easy to tear down.

July 30, 2025

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Okay, laugh if you will, but when I was in high school, I sang in the chorus. I did! Today, I'm just a backup singer; when I sing, people back up. But back in high school, we had some good times learning our parts, mastering our songs, and performing our concerts. Sometimes, if I was late for our chorus class, I could hear them warming up as I approached the chorus room. And this one warm-up was particularly monotonous: "mi, mi, mi, mi, mi, mi, mi, mi, mi." Don't change stations. I'm done. I'm not going to do any more singing. But...

July 29, 2025

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My friend, Larry, was a pilot. And awhile back he was asked by a client to fly their corporate, cabin class plane from one metropolitan area airport to another. That flight should take about 15 minutes, and he thought, "Well, I could do that." His only commitment was several hours later to lead prayer meeting at his church that night, so he felt like there was plenty of time to get that job done.

July 28, 2025

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I'd done my whole adult life with my Karen, the only woman I ever needed. Suddenly, I had to figure out how to do the rest of my life without her. That Sunday night, we sat in the bleachers at our local football stadium and we watched our grandson graduate from high school as valedictorian and he gave a faith-filled valedictory message. Monday afternoon, she was gone. Wrapped in this huddle of sobs with our three adult children, I just choked out the words, "It hurts so bad." It really does.

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