We're speeding down the Interstate when suddenly we come upon this RV, pulling a small car behind him. It looked like the little car was actually pushing this big recreational vehicle, but, of course, I knew that couldn't be. The car's license plate was clearly visible - it said, "Me also." That didn't make any sense until I managed to get a glimpse of the license plate on the RV that was pulling that car. It said, "I'm happy." Cute.
In his Chronicles of Narnia, C. S. Lewis created a magical land called Narnia where the animals talked - and which he used to illustrate allegorically some important Biblical truths. The Christ-figure in the Chronicles is a majestic lion named Aslan. And, there's a little girl named Lucy, who's one of the children who discovers Narnia. Now, in the Narnia book, Prince Caspian, Lewis relates a reunion between Lucy and Aslan, whom she has not seen for some time. And, it's a tender reunion. What follows is a short, but very insightful, conversation. Lewis says that Lucy "gazed up into that large, wise face. 'Welcome, child,' he said. 'Aslan,' said Lucy, 'you're bigger.' 'That is because you are older, little one,' answered he. 'Oh, not because you are?' 'I am not. But every year you grow, you will find me bigger.'"
I'm glad they didn't tell me until it was over. It was my first time landing at LaGuardia Airport in New York City - an airport whose runways jut right out into Jamaica Bay. When I arrived, my friends told me that I had just landed on the garbage of New York City. Now, that is a very exciting thought. It turns out that much of the airport was actually built on landfill - yes, it was made from Big Apple garbage. That's not bad for piles of trash.
Our friends recently got a new horse - number five of the little herd they have in their barn and pasture. This one is the biggest of the lot - half Morgan, half Belgian, for those to whom that means anything. As soon as she was let out of her corral for the first time, it was interesting to watch the social interaction in the Pasture Club. The smallest horse - a strong-minded Arabian horse came up real close to the new girl on the block, pushing to see who would be in charge. The answer: a swift kick in the hindquarters. The next couple of hours was an equine soap opera as each horse asserted their claim to their turf and maneuvered for dominance - and to be sure who was the herd boss in this new arrangement.
Anniversaries can throw another log on the old romantic fire. Our kids watch the video of their wedding. They didn't have video in those primitive days when my wife and I were married, but we do have an audio tape of our wedding. And it's great to revisit the day that our marriage began and to hear what we promised each other, and to remember the passion of our first love.
City Boy here is a lot of fun to watch when he's trying to be Farm Boy. My wife and I were helping out in someone's barn the other night when it happened - the large shadow of something flying over our heads. I hadn't seen the creatures yet - all I could see was this massive shadow on the wall. I knew my responsibility as a man - that's right, run for help. Well, no, there was actually no reason to run. When we looked up we saw what was casting those huge, unsettling shadows - some little moths, flying around the little light overhead. The shadow was scary - the reality behind the shadow wasn't very scary at all.
The idea of building a Headquarters as a base for our ministry's mission sounded exciting - and very overwhelming. It took amazing financial miracles and the help of people who know so much more than I do. I did some building with Tinker Toys and Lincoln Logs when I was little, but that experience did not prepare me adequately for the first real building project of my life. An architect drew the blueprint for what we needed the Headquarters to be, and that was great. But there I stood with this very big and detailed drawing - having no idea of where to start with what was on that paper. Thank God for the contractor that He brought into our lives! He knew what to do!
My friend Nathan was on the 61st floor of Tower Two that September day when a hijacked jetliner flew into the World Trade Center. I interviewed him recently for our youth broadcast, RealTime, and I was deeply moved by the story Nathan told. He was coming out of the restroom when he remembers seeing a piece of burning paper float by the window. That was his first hint of the horror that was to follow. As people began to realize they might be in danger, they did what my friend did - they headed for the stairwell. Nathan's account took me into those stairwells, ultimately jammed with screaming people -- through the terror of first the smoke starting to fill the stairwell and then the quake when a plane hit their building.
Our friend finally made it to the soot-covered lobby - and that's where he saw the faces he says he'll never forget. He told me, "I started seeing some of the rescue workers for the first time heading toward the stairwells and directing us out. You can still remember the looks on some of those people's faces - looking just as scared as I was, I'm sure. They are some of the people that helped save my life - and never made it out themselves."
If you're a photographer, you love seagulls. They soar so gracefully, almost like they're posing for the camera. They're beautiful - when they're alone. When they're together, they are not so beautiful. One gets on a perch, another comes to knock him off. One gets some food, others attack him for it. Scientists put a red band on the leg of one seagull to find out what happened, and he was pecked to death by the other gulls because he had something they didn't. Now contrast that with those Canada Geese some of us see migrating in the Spring and the Fall. They do everything together. Studies show that those geese almost always travel together, usually in those familiar V-formations. They rotate who's in front so one bird doesn't wear out. Now, if one Canada goose is injured and can't go on, another goose will stay with him until he's ready to join another flock - they're never left alone. The scientists even believe that the honking that we hear is actually the geese cheerleading for each other - "Honk! You can make it!" "Honk! Mexico or bust!"
Dr. Christiaan Barnard died recently - a doctor who made medical history. He performed the first successful heart transplant in human history. Since then, the procedure has become much more advanced as a way to extend the life of someone with a failing heart. I've got friends whose lives were radically changed by a heart transplant - an operation from which they recovered in surprisingly short time. I mean, it's pretty amazing to think that a surgeon can literally put a new heart in someone. Of course, heart transplants have been going on since long before Dr. Barnard's historic surgery.
