If an American soldier gets wounded in combat these days, his chances for recovery just got a whole lot better than they have ever been because of the beads. It's actually a new technology that is being used to treat combat wounds. These dissolvable beads are applied to the wound and they go deeper than any previous cleansing agents have ever gone. In fact, they can even penetrate bone. One of the doctors who helped develop this new treatment made this interesting observation about the battle to head off infection in a soldier's wound. He said, "The wound is the battle; the infection is the war."
I have a friend who fixes bodies - auto bodies, that is. And the sign in front of his body shop always has a provocative bit of philosophy to make you think or make you smile. I have to make it a note to tell my friend about a radio commercial I heard recently, actually advertising an auto body shop in another area. It just struck me as being a clever motto for somebody in that business. It just said, "We meet by accident."
Okay, let's use our imagination. I'm going to buy a new car, and I'm going to pay for it with cash in full. That's lots of imagination we're talking here. I pay Mr. Dealer $20,000 for the new car, and he tells me it will be there in two weeks. Those two weeks crawl by like a turtle, but finally the day comes when I can show up for my hot new wheels. I shake hands with the dealer, and he says, "Hey, I'll be right back!" A few minutes later he comes out, carrying a big box. He sees my bewildered expression. He says, "Here it is. Go ahead. Open the box." I do, and inside I find inside two new hubcaps, a new carburetor, and a new steering wheel. This dealer and I have a problem!
During our college years, my wife spent part of a summer as a counselor at a Bible camp that was buried deep in the mountains. I mean like deep in the mountains - deep enough in the mountains that the rattlesnakes are plentiful. One day as she was hiking with her girls through the woods, they all heard what they thought was just a branch or a stick breaking. Until they realized that one of the girls had been struck in the leg by a rattlesnake. Now my wife is someone you want to have around when there's a crisis; she's got a very cool head. She ran to the nearby camp and immediately went for the box in the infirmary that said Snake Bite Kit on it. But her heart sank when she opened it; the life-saving kit was empty. Thankfully, they were able to get that girl to a hospital in time to save her life, no thanks to that empty snake bite kit!
It seems as if every summer there are raging fires in the American West that destroy hundreds of thousands of acres of timberland, and sometimes homes, businesses, and sadly, even lives. When a major fire broke out near an Indian reservation that our Native team had ministered on only a few months ago, I paid pretty special attention. Sadly, that fire spread to parts of the reservation, consuming the timber that is a major part of their already impoverished economy; along with homes and property outside the reservation. It is going to take a long time to recover. The cause of that very costly fire made the whole thing even sadder. It was started by a government firefighter who was hoping there would be a small fire that would give him some work.
My dad was a great man, and I still miss him, even though he's been gone for a lot of years now. I'll often think about his laugh, his favorite sayings, his great personality, his fun sense of humor, his unconditional love and support for me. Because he's buried in a place where I don't often get to go, it's been quite a while since I've been able to visit his grave. But I did not too long ago. And I was impressed with the simplicity of what, besides the dates of his birth and death, is engraved on his gravestone. It just says, "John Hutchcraft, husband and father."
"Good morning, Mr. Phelps." If you were a fan of the classic TV series, "Mission Impossible," you know those words always began a riveting adventure. Jim Phelps, the head of the Mission Impossible Force, would listen to a tape, outlining this assignment that seemed, well, impossible. Key word - seemed. And even in more modern times when it's not a tape anymore, and when it's Tom Cruise who's doing Mission Impossible, it's still the same idea. You begin building a team of specialists, you concoct this elaborate, perfectly-timed plan to do what couldn't be done, and every time they got it done.
One of our staff came back from his vacation and reported on how exciting it had been for him and his family to see the sights of Washington, D.C. I asked him if he had ever been to the nation's Capitol before, and he said, "No. None of them had ever seen it." He went on to explain, "You know I'm sort of a hometown kind of guy." And that's true. He actually has lived most of his life within a relatively short distance of home base. My friend said, "I sort of had to stretch to do this, but I'm really glad we did."
Our friends bought a new horse lately. Her name is Peanut. Now, what kind of horse does that suggest to your imagination? Maybe a cute little Shetland Pony? Nope. Try again. Peanut is the biggest horse in their pasture. If you've ever seen those big Clydesdale horses in commercials, you'll have some idea of the size of this big mama. She's part Belgian, part Morgan, which means she is so big my body's probably not big enough to ride her. And she's named Peanut. Something is wrong in this picture.
OK, I'll confess. I can drive by the candy store. I can drive by the ice cream shop. I can pass up the pizza place, but it's very hard for me to not stop at the bakery. Yes, bakeries are my weakness, and it's a good thing I don't work in one - I'd weigh 500 pounds. Now most bakeries have this discount stuff in a corner; it's the day old baked goods. Oh it's cheaper, but there's a reason. There's a big difference between day-old and fresh baked. That line at the bakery early in the morning; that's not for yesterday's goodies, let me tell you. Those folks are there to get the doughnuts or the bread that just came out of the oven. And I might be right at the head of the line.
It's a special thrill for a follower of Jesus Christ to be able to walk where Jesus walked. That's why, for many of us, a visit to the Holy Land is a special memory or a special dream. Years ago, one of America's premier preachers - his name was Dr. Robert G. Lee - paid his first visit to Israel. Every place was special, but when his tour group went to Golgotha, the place where many believe Jesus was crucified, he couldn't contain himself. He suddenly started running ahead of the group to get there. The guide had to run to catch up with him, and he asked him breathlessly, "Sir, have you been here before?" Dr. Lee paused and then he answered, "Yes, I have been here before. Almost 2,000 years ago."
