Thursday, March 27, 2003

During the 2002 professional football season, Donovan McNabb quarterbacked his team, the Philadelphia Eagles, to an exciting playoff season. In fact, they played for the NFC championship and missed being in the Super Bowl by just one victory. Unfortunately, McNabb was injured for the Eagles' first playoff game - which meant he didn't dress for the game but he was on the sidelines with his team. A friend told me that fans and sportcasters were commenting on the man in the McNabb jersey, sitting on the Eagles' bench as the game kicked off. And they questioned why Donovan wasn't out there, standing with his team, encouraging his team. But the guy wasn't leaving the bench. Apparently, security men even came up and talked with him. Of course, it's always nice to say you talked to your star quarterback. It was in the second quarter that it finally dawned on somebody - the guy in Donovan McNabb's jersey wasn't Donovan McNabb! Somehow, this guy who looked a lot like the real Donovan - who wore a jersey like his - had slipped onto the field and blended into a team of men who were real players!

Well,

Friday, March 21, 2003

Trivia time. What GE-sponsored TV show did Ronald Reagan host before he became President? You're probably way too young to know the answer, right? OK. Wait a minute, wait a minute ... that older fellow in the back. What did you say? Yes, a program called "Death Valley Days." That's right! It was all about that hot and hostile stretch of California known as Death Valley - and the stories of what people faced in that place that all too often lived up to its name.

Well,

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,

Friday, March 7, 2003

I don't know how it happened, but my wife and I somehow ended up with the smartest and cutest granddaughter in North America. Great - now I'm going to hear from grandparents all over the continent, contesting what I just said. But, look, I'm just being a granddad, right? Our little darlin' when she was just a few weeks old, oh man, she was really checking out her world. Now, of course, she was only beginning to understand what her fingers are for and how they work. But even then it was obvious what she wanted to do with those fingers. Initially, she was just feeling our fingers when we held her. But then she started reaching up with her infant coordination and reaching higher because she loved to touch the face of the person who's holding her!

Well,

Wednesday, February 12, 2003

Our son and daughter-in-law live and work on an Indian reservation. And as they've tried to do the work of Christ in pretty challenging conditions, they've lived in humble places, a long drive from the nearest town of any size. Recently, God did something really exciting for them - He provided a little home for them in a place where really those are nearly impossible to come by. Because they moved - and because they're involved in a lot of youth ministry in that house - they quickly needed a place to put their rapidly multiplying trash. Our son called for a dumpster, but that takes a little while on the reservation. In the meantime, they just had to pile it outside - where the reservation dogs usually tore it up and scattered it all around. Well, we recently got a call from a very happy son. He explained his joy with four simple words - "We got a dumpster!"

Thursday, February 6, 2003

Tom is an acquaintance of mine who just became a daddy. Now, he didn't go to the local hospital for his baby - he and his wife went all the way to China. She's a little girl - and since families are restricted to one child in China, little girls can have a pretty rough time. This one did. She was found by a doctor, abandoned on a doorstep in the middle of a cold night. She was taken to an orphanage where they named her "Precious Treasure" in Chinese. It's almost ironic in light of her being abandoned, isn't it? It took several months, but Tom and his wife were eventually able to arrange the adoption of this precious treasure. She's got a mom and dad now who love her very much - who will never forget the first moment they took her from the folks at the orphanage and held her in their arms. Believe me, she's not an orphan anymore.

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.

Monday, January 20, 2003

The first time I ever landed in New York City, it was at LaGuardia Airport. And as I chatted with the folks who met my plane, they told me something I wasn't sure I wanted to know. They said, "You know, Ron, your plane just landed on the garbage of New York City." Excuse me? Well, they explained to me that LaGuardia Airport is built on landfill that extends out into Jamaica Bay. Landfill - as in the garbage of New York. Well, so far none of those runways has sunk into the bay. It's pretty amazing what engineers can do with our garbage, huh?

Friday, January 17, 2003

Every fall, the TV networks start hyping their new shows. And usually, they have a couple that feature a well-known star. You can be sure that those headline shows and those headline stars won't be on at 2:00 in the afternoon or 1:00 in the morning. No way. They will air sometime in the heart of the evening, like 8:00 or 9:00 - prime time! You know you've made it when you've got a show on prime time, you know. Even though a lot of what's on in those hours doesn't seem very prime to a lot of us, to the networks this is their best. Stick the reruns and the less popular shows in the off-hours when not as many people are watching, right? But prime time, hey, that's reserved for the best.

Thursday, January 16, 2003

Our friends John and Marie have a lovely family area in their home that they call the Great Room. And it really is a great room - big fireplace, lots of comfortable couch and chairs, tastefully decorated. It's just one of those rooms that people are drawn into like a magnet, and you don't want to leave. And on the wall near the fireplace, there's a beautiful painting. That's new. See, it hasn't always been there ... until the wall cracked. Now, they tell me it was some kind of water damage, but it has left this really ugly hole in the wall. Hey, but who would know? It's all covered up with this lovely painting!