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Thursday, February 10, 2011

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I don't know if you're like me, but have you ever wondered where children learn all the psychology they seem to know? They use it pretty effectively to get their way. Oh, we adults have to take courses in child psychology. They don't take courses in adult psychology, but they do pretty well. Kids learn very early how to maneuver, and motivate, and manipulate to get what they want. They use division. You know, like divide and conquer - kinda get Mom and Dad played against each other. They use guilt sometimes to do it; sometimes, they even use, yeah, deception.

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

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When our kids were living at home I couldn't believe people actually paid to go to the circus. We had a circus right there! It was free - a three-ring circus. Now the most exciting issue was usually, "What am I going to wear today?" And then that cry by various experiments with different combinations until some outfit finally looks right. Does that sound familiar? Of course it's always punctuated by these discussions of who's wearing whose shirt, or whose pants, or whatever. Actually, whether you go to school or to work, what to wear is kind of a challenging choice. Unless of course you're one of the lucky ones; you just wear a uniform. You don't have any decision to make; somebody else made it for you. You have to consider the weather, and what season it is, and what mood you're in, and what people you're going to see, and do the colors match, which is hopeless for me. Well, in the process, you might overlook the one item you have to wear to school or to work every day.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

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Now, I'm not in the business of advertising any particular ice cream spot, but let's face it, it's kind of fun to go to Baskin Robbins. You know, they have all those flavors they advertise. Now, you can write to me and tell me that maybe you like another place better, but listen, I know you like to go where there's a lot of flavors. And you know what? It takes me an hour to decide sometimes which one I want. Well, not really, but seems like an hour to the person whose waiting on me. But the variety is a lot of fun. Now, can you imagine an ice cream store that offered only vanilla? Yeah, uh-huh...boring! After a while you get tired of the same old flavor. Can you imagine a person who said, "I only eat vanilla. I never tried anything else." I'd say to them, "Man, look at the list! You're missing so many flavors. You can have ice cream so many different ways." How boring to think that all ice cream has to be the one flavor you like.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

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There's nothing more discouraging for the family chef than these three words, "I'm not hungry." Maybe you've faced those words. You know, kids have impatient stomachs. Of course, only kids. We don't, right, adults? But kids have impatient stomachs, so they eat whenever the urge hits and whatever the urge tells them to eat. And, of course, I'm sure our kids were like yours. They would usually go to the refrigerator and get some carrots or a tossed salad. Right? Some broccoli, some high fiber cereal? No! Our kids did not! Don't worry, neither do yours. Oh yeah, they'd go after junk food. Most kids today are junk food junkies, and they fill up on it. So, my wife would give us this beautiful spread of pot roast, and potatoes, and fresh vegetables, home baked bread. And the troops, "I'm not hungry." They're too full to eat. How discouraging when they're full of junk food. Now junk food may be okay, but not when it spoils your appetite for real food.

Friday, January 28, 2011

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Did you ever notice that children are great score keepers, almost before they can count. Oh yeah, they're really adept at measuring how they're being treated compared to the other kids in the family. Maybe you've noticed that. Now, our oldest - our daughter, was followed by a brother two years younger. And when they were little, I was introduced to this score keeping aptitude by little brother's four word statement, "How come my sister?" He'd then go and talk about some inequity he had noticed. It was always followed by little brother's presentation of some perceived injustice. His sister apparently got something good that he didn't get. Or he got something bad that she didn't get. "How come my sister?" It sure did make me think twice when I was buying gifts to bring back from a trip, and a lot of other choices I made. Actually, our son was verbalizing a concern that bothers a lot of us long after we're grown up.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

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I was speaking in a city out west, and went back to my hotel room and I flipped on the evening news. And I saw the most incredible police chase I think I've ever seen recorded on a camera. It just so happened that after a burglar robbed a local savings and loan that the news helicopter happened to catch sight of him. And as the police were pursuing him, the helicopter was overhead filming this. It was almost like a TV show, but it wasn't fiction; it was really happening.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

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We have one of our staff who has a pretty regular assignment. That is, show up at the post office every morning. Yeah. Yeah, the one who goes there is a pretty familiar figure. They know about what time to expect our person to come in, and they know it's important. See, the orders are, "Don't stop at the office. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Go straight to our post office box." See, that daily trip to the post office is really our lifeline. She checks the box and there we find the contributions that really keep us going, very important communications, maybe answers we're looking for. And I'll tell you what, if she's sick, we'll send somebody else over there the first thing in the morning. We are dependent on that daily pickup.

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

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When we finally graduate from childhood to grownuphood, we trade in some simple games for some complicated games. You know, once you get bigger, you have to learn all the rules of football, and baseball, and basketball. And they can get pretty complicated. But I remember some of those uncomplicated games I played with I was little, like dive bomber. Yeah, simple rules. All you had to do was come in with your arm extended and knock the hat off the other guys head. That was pretty simple rules. Oh yeah, and try not to knock off the head with the hat. And then we played keep away. That was pretty simple. Keep throwing the ball back and forth and keep it away from the guy in the middle. That was easy. And dodge ball, Did you ever play dodge ball? You know, we'd play dodge ball when a bunch of us guys would get together and we had a good sized ball. And the object of the game was very simple. When another guy tried to throw that ball at you, you just tried to dodge it. In fact, we boys got pretty good at dodging. In fact, some of us still are.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

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If you're paying attention, a child will often tip you off very early as to what to expect from them later on in life. I've got movies of our daughter, and she was about five or six, seven years old, singing for us using a spoon - a big wooden spoon - as a microphone and standing on something in the living room as a stage. Well, over the years, God used her wonderfully in singing, and musically, and speaking. It was really no great shock; we saw the first hints of that when she was little. When our son was five, he was tying our house together with string very imaginatively. I'd walk in...I'd open the back door, and it would open the drawer of my dresser in the bedroom. He had everything tied together. At the age of 13 he was the technician of the house, who loved to figure out how things work; how to take them apart; how to put them together, I hope - how to solve problems. You know what? Grew up to be a great planner and a very creative technician in ministry. There's a pattern...a connective line from the past into the future in the life of every child; my child and God's child. In fact, that's true of you too.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

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I imagine it's been a little while since you've asked somebody, "How's your liver today?" I never thought about it until my wife got sick. She had hepatitis, and for many months I learned how vital the liver is; never thought about it before. It's the filtration plant of your body. We've got all kinds of toxic materials pumping into us every day in medicines that we take, and foods that we eat, and our liver keeps those poisons from getting into our blood stream. Now, liver disease like hepatitis or cirrhosis can cripple you or even kill you if the poison can't be filtered. See, it's deadly if the poisons don't get filtered and they get into your blood stream. And there is one toxin that is on the loose, and it has a long history of being a killer.

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