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Well, somehow I ended up speaking for the FAA Pilot Safety program. Now, you really wouldn't want to fly in a plane that I taught anyone to fly; I don't know nothing about it. But I think they invited me because of a book I wrote called "Peaceful Living In a Stressful World." Stress is a real issue to pilots, so they kind of sneaked me in for one of the programs.
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The occasion was a silver anniversary buffet for our 25th class reunion from college. Of course I was much younger than any of those mid-life folks that I graduated with. What happened to them? But anyway, the location was our alma mater, Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. That was a great training place; it was founded and named after the outstanding evangelist of the 19th century, D. L. Moody.
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We were shooting some video footage of a group of teenagers and they were kind of surprised when they saw the result on a TV screen. We were seated in a little cluster on the floor discussing various youth issues, and what surprised them was the fact that when they saw it on the screen they realized we had focused close-up on each individual as they were commenting. Of course, they went, "Oh, no! Look at me!" See, they thought it was going to be this big group shot. We didn't want the viewers to be distracted by anyone else, so most of the time we would zoom our telephoto lens in a real tight close-up, so you would only see one person. The telephoto effect actually makes a big difference.
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Funny things happen when church youth groups go on summer missions trips. Suddenly these comfortable American kids are facing a totally unfamiliar situation, maybe for the first time in their lives!
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I had a funny conversation with the owner of a local restaurant one day. The restaurant was close to our office, so I was there pretty frequently. I usually ran in and grabbed the quickest thing I could and ran out. Well, I was at the cash register and there were two or three others waiting to pay when Tony, the owner, said, "What do you do anyway?" Well, I wanted an opportunity there, and I thought this might be the first chance I've had to really let him know that I know Christ.
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Back when my sons were young, they were watching Saturday morning television. One morning I walked by the living room and they were watching Superman. I'll tell you, I got hooked! It brought back memories.
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If someone is a champion in sports, we tend to make them an automatic hero. Now, not every champion lives like a hero or necessarily deserves to be one. But Wilma Rudolph? Oh, she was more than a champion. She really belonged in the hero category. See, she began her life with a bout of polio.
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I guess it was just the way the light reflected off the building, but it set the stage for one of the more unusual boxing matches I've ever seen. It was night, and there was one large floodlight that illuminated the front of the chapel in this conference center where we were. There were two teenage guys standing out in front of the chapel. One stood in just the right place to cast a giant shadow of himself on that building. It looked like some monster up against the building. The shadow must have been at least like five times the size of the fellow, and of course you know what the other guy was doing. He was boxing with a giant shadow. It didn't look like he was in his weight class, that's for sure. Well, needless to say, you can never win if you're just boxing with a shadow.
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There was this plant in my office that had seen some good days and some bad days. It had really seen some pretty bad days for a while, and it looked like it was about to be a memory and there was going to be a little empty spot in the corner of my office. But one of our staff very lovingly took a knife to that plant. That doesn't sound very nice, but the plant was on its last legs and so she went and pruned out some of the dead or dying branches.
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Beware of the third generation! Yeah! That's an intriguing phenomenon that often takes place in a family business. The first generation starts it with nothing but a dream. They work long hours, they sacrifice, and they keep their vision alive. Then, the second generation starts to take over the business, and well, they may improve it a little; they might expand it a little bit, but they basically tend to maintain the vision of the founding generation.
