Friday, December 22, 2006

Our family opens our Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve, and I've got to tell you, it's usually one amazing outpouring of love. There is not a member of our family who just runs out to some mall and says, "Oh boy, I gotta get something for her or for him." No, there seems to be this almost scientific process where they say about each person they're buying for, "Now what do I know about what this person? What do they really need? What do they really like?" I think we've even got a couple of sons who evaluate their gift-giving success on the basis of how touched the recipient is - you know, the tear test. And there are always some neat, touching moments.

Everybody really seems to like giving a gift more than receiving it. And though none of us has a lot of money to spend, folks seem to sacrifice, if necessary, to buy or make a gift that's really a gift of love. Now here's a way I could ruin this beautiful scene. My wife or one of the kids gives me the gift that they've carefully thought about and maybe sacrificially paid for. And I get up, walk over to that family member, pull out my wallet and say, "So what do I owe you?" They would say, "Nothing." And I would just keep pushing, "Look, I want to pay for this gift, man. Here, take this money!" They'd be pretty hurt; they'd be pretty ticked. I'm trying to buy what they already paid for as a gift.

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

It was our grandson's two-year Christmas, and he was so much fun to watch. One day during the season, his mother unpacked the family Nativity Set for her and her boy to set up, and he loved it. I mean, they put up the manger, and Mary and Joseph, and the angels, and the shepherds. They put out everyone except the one figure they couldn't find - Baby Jesus. Well, our grandson was pretty concerned about this missing person, so Mommy told him that Daddy would look for Baby Jesus when he got home from the office. Hours after that, our grandson heard Daddy coming up the back steps. He ran to the door and greeted his father with an impassioned two-word question, "Where's Jesus?"

Monday, December 18, 2006

Right after Thanksgiving, I made my annual pilgrimage to the Christmas corner of our garage, and I brought out Christmas. We've been accumulating ornaments and decorations for many years now, and it's always a big deal for the family when they make their annual re-entry - all those decorations. The house is alive with Christmas now - for a while. But before very long, I will reverse the exercise, repack everything in their aging boxes, and put them back in storage for another year.

Friday, December 15, 2006

We attended a concert, only to learn that it was being taped for later use as a TV program. The host introduced two other men who were going to sing with him, the accompaniment track started up, and they launched into the song, cameras were rolling. I'm not sure what the problem was, but they weren't all singing the same song, and that's a problem! Oops! The host stopped the song, looked up at the control booth, and he said, "Guys, let's start that one over." You'll never see that on TV. Then he said to the audience, "Good thing this is taped, not live." He was right. I've done plenty of live radio, and I want you to know, live is unforgiving. You blow it, you blew it!

Monday, December 11, 2006

Our friend, Vicki, is one very happy woman. For many years now, she has carried a heavy load of nagging credit card debt. If you've ever been in debt for a while, you know how it always weighs you down like this heavy burden on your back. Well, Vicki recently came into some money through an inheritance, and you know what she did with it! She had a party - a check writing party! All those debts are paid, and you can tell she feels like she just got out of prison!

Monday, November 20, 2006

Today's children have barely even heard of the disease, but when I was a kid, it was every parent's greatest fear for their child - that crippling, sometimes deadly, disease called polio. I can distinctly remember how my mother didn't even want me to be in big crowds because of how polio seemed to spread so quickly. But then along came the vaccine. We all got our shots and we were immune to polio. Since then, there are a lot more shots like that for everything from smallpox, to tetanus, to the flu. And they all work basically on the same principle: in essence, you get a little of the virus injected into your system so that your body will build up an immunity to what could otherwise cripple you or kill you. That kind of immunization can save your life. But, on the other hand, immunization can be really dangerous - even deadly.

Friday, November 17, 2006

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was not only the creator of Sherlock Holmes, but apparently, he was a creative practical joker, too. The story is told of one horrendous - although clever - practical joke that he played one time. He just wrote a short, unsigned telegram - all in fun - to 12 of the best known men in England. The anonymous message was the same - only six words - six scary words, "All is discovered. Flee at once." As the story goes, within 24 hours not one of those men could be found.

Friday, October 6, 2006

It was the house Grandma and Granddad built with a little help from their granddaughter, who also happens to be my wife. That was over 40 years ago. Grandma and Granddad are gone, and the house has been in the hands of renters for a number of years. And the landlord, my wife's dad, lived hours away. His age and his health prevented him from keeping up with what was happening to the house and to the land around it, too. When he deeded that house to my wife and her sister, they weren't real pleased with what had happened over the years. The house was run down; the carpet was infested with bugs; various encroachments had slowly whittled away about three acres of the property, and fences had been moved. That's a long list. And nobody in the family had to do anything to accumulate this mess. All we had to do was do nothing.

Monday, September 25, 2006

Occasionally I see that bumper sticker that says, "I brake for antique shops." I'm not a bumper sticker guy, but we could qualify for that one. I guess it depends on who's driving - my wife or me. If it's my wife, we're a lot more likely to break for an antique shop. But my wife is not so much into collecting old stuff, it's about finding items that she had as a girl growing up on a farm that had few modern conveniences. And she's got an eye for what's real and what's just a reproduction: Depression Glass, pottery, butter churns, even old violins. Take the famous Stradivarius violin - there are relatively few originals. There are a lot of copies.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

It was a great honor to be one of the 10,000 participants at Billy Graham's Amsterdam 2000 conference for evangelists. It's pretty unforgettable to look out over an audience with Christ's ambassadors from 209 countries! The most international gathering in the history of this planet - and it was in Jesus' Name! One Great Commission challenge I just could not get out of my mind that week: almost half the world is under 25 - three billion young people! That's why I was literally moved to tears by the way this historic conference ended.