Your Relationships

The View From Down Below - #5634

Thursday, August 14, 2008

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When our Native American outreach team went to Alaska, our only means of getting to remote Eskimo villages was by missionary aircraft. Oh, man, our pilots were the best! Many days we had to fly through low cloud ceilings and low visibility. On a day like that, our pilots were checking every hour on the weather at our end and at our destination. There was finally a break where we could fly, but it all looked pretty dismal when we took off. The pilot of the plane I was in was instrument-rated, which enabled him to go to a higher altitude. The pilot of the plane accompanying us wasn't able to take the high road. So, my pilot kept in radio contact with the other pilot, but believe me, our planeload and the other planeload were seeing two totally different views. From where the other plane was flying, it was dark, it was dismal, and it was very overcast. But we were above all that. We were enjoying a beautiful, sunny day with all those clouds beneath us.

The Beauty of the Band - #5604

Thursday, July 3, 2008

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I had spoken in a church that has two morning services, and I went into that little room off the sanctuary where you meet to pray with the church leaders. But the people who were there when I went in weren't praying, they were playing - their trombones, that is. Actually, they were warming up to play in the brass section of the church's worship band. Now, there were some very interesting sounds coming from that room, in fact. I was almost afraid to go in, but I did. And I got involved in a conversation with the men behind the music. One of them had just made a minor goof in what he was practicing. Of course, how would I know - Mr. Music Dork? But that led to George telling me why he would much rather play with a band than play a solo. He said, "You know, it's so much easier when the band is there to support you." When I asked him what he meant by "support you," he said, "Well, the rest of the band sort of carries you along, and they cover up your mistakes!"

The Sunrise, Sunset Strategy - #5587

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

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When our daughter got married there was one song I told her I did not want to hear at the wedding. Remember that, "Where is that little girl I carried, where is that little boy at play?" Mercifully - I'm not going to sing it for you, but you know the song. I'll tell you, the time really did fly, like the song says, "Sunrise, sunset, swiftly pass the years." I'll tell you, that is a song that taps into some very deep feelings about the mystery of life, and I don't think I could have handled it at my daughter's wedding. It really points out how that parade of Saturdays and Tuesdays and Thursdays just sort of seem to flow together into years - so yesterday my daughter is a bouncy little girl cuddling on my lap. And then she's a poised bride on the arm of her new husband. But that song also captures the real practical essence of this massive entity we call "my life" - it really boils down to those bite-size chunks called days. It's almost as if we die each night when we hit the bed and get resurrected each new morning to a fresh new day.

In Search of the Anchor - #5586

Monday, June 9, 2008

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It started on a family vacation in Southern California. The kids were asking about earthquakes which were not a part of our regular growing up years in New Jersey. We started this whimsical little exercise where I would yell, "Earthquake drill!" Now, invariably our older son would run over to his older sister and he would hug her. I would ask innocently, "What are you doing?" to which he would reply, "Dad, you told us to hang on to something heavy!" Oooh, she wasn't, but I'll tell you, that boy was lucky he lived to have a sixth birthday! Actually, when things are shaking, it's really a pretty good idea - hang on to something heavy!

The Temporary Difference - #5583

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

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My administrative assistant decided to bring her two young nephews into the office one lunch hour. She wanted them to meet the people she works with and vice versa. Daniel was probably about five, and I'm sure he left wondering who that weird guy is that his aunt works with. When I met Daniel he flashed a big smile that revealed some missing teeth. I asked him what happened and he said, "I lost those teeth." Now, I don't know what possesses me at times like that, but I told Daniel I was sorry he lost them and I wanted to help him find them, after which, I got down on the floor and proceeded to crawl around looking for them. Mercifully, he told me I didn't have to keep looking; Daniel said he didn't mind losing those teeth. He said, "I got permanent ones coming!"

Pulling the Plug On the Scoreboard - #5568

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

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It was a great day for me when I went bowling and found out that they now had automatic score keeping. I never could figure it out, especially on the more complicated stuff, when you just had to add it up on these cards. Now, we never went bowling often, but, when we did we used to fumble around trying to figure out how to score the game. There are some folks who say, "Let's just have fun and in this sport (whatever it is), forget about the score!" Well, we're not among those folks. In fact, no matter what the sport, most athletes wouldn't be too interested if no points were kept for goals, or runs, or touchdowns, or whatever. But I have to wonder if the people who just enjoy the game without keeping score have a little less stress in their lives.

Missing Your Destiny - #5526

Monday, March 17, 2008

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I'm a city boy. Where I grew up, kids were about the only things that grew. We didn't even have grass in the backyard of the apartment building where I lived - just dirt. So I've had a lot to learn from the farm girl I married, as well as my many friends who are or were farmers. I was traveling in the heartland with one of our leaders recently - a man who spent years in farming, and he taught me a pretty memorable lesson as we were driving down a country road just past a cornfield. He was explaining how a farmer harvests his corn and how the end row may get knocked down when he turns the corner from one row to another. That leaves some corn stalks knocked down, lying horizontal and broken. And they're often in the shade of a stalk that’s still standing near it. But don't count that stalk out just yet! The pollen from the overshadowing corn stalk filters down onto that broken corn. And amazingly, that plant that has everything going against it starts developing another crop and eventually you'll be able to pick corn off that old boy!

Copying Daddy - #5516

Monday, March 3, 2008

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Our daughter was always a curious little thing, and she asked endless questions, especially when it was time to go to sleep at night. And she liked to look into things that she found, even trying them at times. Most of those little explorations were harmless. Not the day she got into a drawer in the bathroom and pulled out some stuff she saw Daddy using to get ready in the morning. Deodorant - no problem. Toothbrush, toothpaste - no problem. My razor - problem. She'd seen her father run that razor up and down his cheeks, so she decided to do what she saw Daddy do. Bad idea! Scratches and cuts on her face. No permanent damage, but not something she did twice.

When The Weather Says No - #5513

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

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Because I travel so much, I probably watch the Weather Channel as much as anything on TV. Not long ago, I just sat back in amazement as I watched them track this monster low pressure system moving across the country. By the time it reached the Eastern United States, that low pressure system stretched on the Weather Channel map from the Maritime Provinces in Canada all the way to Mexico! It was massive! And everywhere it went, it left flooding rains, heavy snows, or even violent weather. In Minnesota, for example, this low pressure system registered the lowest barometric pressure ever recorded. All across the eastern half of the country, the news reported massive power outages, cancellations, and delays. For millions of Americans, whatever they had planned, it just didn't happen.

How To Keep Order in Your Universe - #5512

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

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People were confused about it for centuries. They looked at the sun rising and setting every day and they reached a seemingly obvious conclusion: the earth is the center of everything and the sun revolves around the earth, right? If you say "right," you need to go back to third grade science Actually, if you think the sun revolves around the earth, well, you agree with about one out of five Americans in a recent survey. You know, it's a good thing to get right—what's in the center and what revolves around it.

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