Several years ago I attended a seminar and heard a guy, Mike, tell the story about going to a movie. The movie began and the projector wasn’t correctly focused so that the images on the screen were distorted. After a minute or so and the problem was not corrected, a fellow stood up and turned back toward the projectionist and yelled FOCUS!” Continue reading
Filed under Discipleship, Focus, Life
This week Norma Jean and I made a quick trip to Sellersburg, Indiana, to attend the funeral of my Uncle, James Key. He was 91. He was a part of what Tom Brokaw dubbed “The Greatest Generation.”
Brokaw’s book, “The Greatest Generation” was a moving tribute filled with inspirational stories of those who served our country during World War II. He wrote about common people. Famous people. Men and Women. Heroes and Heroines. Those who served in uniform and out of uniform.
My Uncle James could have been one of the chapters in Brokaw’s book. He served abroad in the U.S. Army during the War. My cousin, Ryan, told stories of Uncle James narrowly escaping enemy fire. Continue reading
Former Yankee great and baseball Hall of Famer, Yogi Berra, turned 90 on Tuesday. Berra was known, not only for his All Star career, but his “Yogi-isms,” funny quips about life and baseball.
His family, friends, and fans gathered to celebrate his remarkable life and career, and to recall some of his famous “Yogi-isms”
Several years ago, Sports Broadcaster, Brent Musburger, told a story that one Fall day Yogi was burning leaves in his yard. Suddenly the wind picked up, and it was getting harder to get the fire line under control. The flames got a bit more aggressive and headed toward a storage shed on the property. So he ran in to call the fire department for help.
Filed under Life
“When things are at their blackest,” wrote Robert Lynn Asprin, “I say to myself, ‘Cheer up, things could be worse.’ And sure enough, they get worse.”
Joyce Carol Oates, looked at life this way: “Keep a light, hopeful heart. But expect the worst.”
The writer, O’Henry penned, “Life is made up of sobs, sniffles and smiles, with sniffles predominating.”
“We are born crying, live complaining and die disappointed,” wrote Thomas Fuller in 1732. Continue reading
Last night I woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep. So I got up, ate a piece of toast and drank a glass of warm milk. (I read somewhere on the internet where that would help you sleep. So it must be true!)
After checking my email, which you’re not supposed to do, I decided to read for a while. I picked up a book and came across two great quotes, one by John Piper and the other by C. S. Lewis.
Piper wrote, “The greatest hindrance to worship is not that we are a pleasure-seeking people, but that we are willing to settle for such pitiful pleasures.” Continue reading
Filed under Life
One morning in April of 1888 Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, woke up to read his own obituary.
His brother, Ludvig, had died. But a newspaper reporter mistakenly thought it was Alfred and carelessly reported the death of the wrong brother! Anyone would be disturbed under those circumstances to read their own obituary. However, the headline was even more disconcerting to Nobel. It read: Continue reading
In an old “Peanuts” cartoon, Lucy is talking to her baby brother, Linus. The scenario unfolds like this.
Lucy: ’I’ll tell you something I’ve never told anyone before.’
She points to a hill in the distance and says, ’Someday, I’m going over that hill and find happiness and fulfilment. For me all the answers to life lie beyond those clouds and over the grassy slopes of those hills.’
Linus: (Removes his thumb from his mouth, points toward the hill, Maybe there’s another little kid on the other side of the hill who is looking this way and thinks that all the answers lie on this side of the hill. Continue reading
Filed under Great Bible Verses, Life
Sunday evening on the way to worship service, I noticed a light mist on my car’s windshield. We had a skiff of snow early Sunday morning. So, I wondered out loud, “Is that a spray from the cars in front of me?” Or is that sleet?”
On the way home, we found out. Continue reading
Filed under Life
I’ve tried and failed. Several times. So why try again?
I’m too old now. If I was younger, I might. But, I’m past my prime.
And besides, I can’t do it myself. And I doubt anyone would want to help me.
These three excuses have kept more people from trying, more people from succeeding, and more people from a richly rewarding life than we can ever imagine.
Yet, it doesn’t have to be that way. Just ask Diana Nyad. Continue reading
Larry’s boyhood dream was to fly. After graduating from high school he joined the air force. But poor eyesight disqualified him from flying. When he was discharged, he had to be content just to watch the Jets fly over his Long Beach CA neighborhood. Then one day the 33-year-old truck driver got a “bright idea!” Continue reading
Filed under Life
