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I’m a guy and guys like bargains. When God wired men, He constructed them with a very short wire between volition and “deal.” In fact someone must have figured that out when they designed the big box warehouse stores.
Quantity saves money. Who needs the fancy wrapping, pretty decorations or ambiance? Set all of that aside and just show me how much I save on a whole case.
That same wonderful perspective on how to live life necessitates plenty of storage. What household doesn’t work better with a three month supply of toilet paper, several cases of garbage bags, and commercial sized bottles of catsup? This gives every man a reason to sleep soundly knowing that he has taken good care of his family. Yes, I know that those savings have to be spread over a two year period of time, but don’t bother me with petty details.
Meat is the same way. Why buy a single cellophane wrapped piece of meat at exorbitant rates? Wouldn’t a dollar less per pound make more sense? For example buy a half of a pig and that kind of savings is very attractive. Buy a whole pig and the savings start to imprint dollar signs in my eyes.
A friend and I both saw this investment and savings deal at the same time. We placed our order. He was on a trip so I drove to the shop and picked up both hogs. I thought that I had brought enough coolers for the transportation. I was wrong!
My biggest coolers were dwarfed with the piles of meat. Creative packing and a quick ride home before the meat thawed was a priority. I wasn’t going to lose any of this meat if I could help it. Afterall, that would cut into the margin of savings from the quantity order.
Once I arrived at home I was chagrined to see that our freezer was already packed solid. Yipes, I was rearranging, stacking and consolidating as much as was possible. My pig was finally put safely away and most of my buddy’s pig was stored too. Yes, i said “most” since there was still plenty in my coolers.
I made a trip to my office with a cooler full of meat. My office freezer had just enough room for a temporary storage. It was a lot of work and a close call for storage. But, the two of us made a great deal!
Listening was my task today. The phone was pressed gently on my ear. Many miles separated my friend and I. But, the telephone gave us a shared-moment together.
For years we have had a great connection in ministry together. MJ has the ability to oversee a myriad of responsibilities and still keep a smile on her face. She coordinated platform talent from all over the country, programmed events that served tens of thousands of people, and yet she always kept a level head about her and gave honor to the Lord.
She brushed shoulders with some of the nation’s most talented people. They called her by name. Compliments for her skills were constantly flowing from those who work with the nation’s best. Yet, she is as humble and modest as they come.
In the standard ebb and flow of ministry God in His wisdom raises ministries for a season and then reduces them to a quiet place behind the scenes. With each step of shrinkage there is another round of “Good-byes.” Those farewells are so difficult. Lives in ministry are more than intertwined because of history.
Fellowship among Christians is a matter of souls bonded together. There is already a connection from our faith. When unity and comradery are prevelent there is a cheer among workers who love what they do, enjoy those with whom they share it, and define what true friendship is at its core.
Words cannot describe it. Thoughts cannot contain it. Expression is always inadequate to release it.
MJ has had to say farewell to so many over the years. Those ties that bind human souls together with everlasting bonds feel the strain that comes from roads that separate. More very good people are leaving the ministry that she is in this week.
My role in this national ministry has changed over the years. I haven’t been as active as in years past. But, at least for one last time I was able to join in an event this year and contribute. It brought back great memories and even more special fellowship.
For two days I was reunited with good friends. Our connection runs deep. We have prayed fervently together, served ardently together, forded the deep waters of faith together, stood speechless at God-moments together, marvelled in bewilderment together, laughed outrageously together and cheered each other on loudly together. Farewell, good people. It has been the greatest honor to serve with all of you.
It is easy for me to trade a day relaxing at home for a day hiking around in the field. Michigan days that welcome a comfortable outdoors adventure aren’t in great quantity so when the weather is inviting we Michiganders have to take advantage of it. Fresh air, beautiful scenery, and unforgettable excitement is a hard combination to beat.
I invited my wife to join me for an adventure of wildlife photography in the woods. She asked a lot about the details. I did my best to describe what we would experience. I fill her life with lots of adventure!
The most imortant part of our discussion was what kind of shoes to wear. I told her to wear her best running shoes. She looked at me quizically. Then, I told her that if some of the wild boar started to chase us we would have to run really fast. Yes, I got slugged in the shoulder.
To calm her fears I told her that as long as she could out run me, I would stand and fight off the wild beasts. I would be her knight in shining armor and protect her. She laughed!
After a very enjoyable three hour drive, we arrived at my friend’s ranch. His son greeted us with a smile and offered to let us use their 4×4 ATV for the camera safari. That was an excellent treat. We wouldn’t have to walk!
We jumped into the ATV cab and roared around the ranch. Whitetail deer were the first to be captured on digital memory disks. Then, it was a herd of wild Russian boar. We stopped a safe distance of 60 yards away. Since we were in the cab, we were safe from any aggressive activity.
Down the dirt road we stopped to watch a deer roam toward us. When we got to 70 yards I stopped and got out of the cab to get some good photos. I asked my wife to watch the pigs that were behind us and warn me if they got too close.
Yipes! I was so embroiled with the deer that I forgot about the pigs. When I looked behind me they were within a rock’s-throw away and getting closer! I shouted at my wife to get back into the cab. We slammed the doors shut, laughing nervously as those 165 pounds of all muscle surrounded our ATV with menacing glares and flashing razor sharp tusks.
I had been looking forward to my trip to Cleveland, Ohio. This appointment had been on my calendar for months. On the long drive home, I was so glad that I had had the privilege.
By calling and by trade I am a public speaker. In my world I am more specifically called a preacher. Invitations to come and speak fill my yearly calendar on top of what I already do as the President of Michigan Theological Seminary.
This kind of schedule is like moonlighting. I have a day job to run a graduate school. Then, I keep on working through the evening and just about every weekend.
Some people think that preachers have it easy. To the uninitiated they think that we work one hour a week and take tons of time off. I’ll admit that some do live their lives that way. But, I’ll also be quick to add that there are a lot more who work harder than most human beings would ever come close to experiencing.
On an average effective speakers spend one hour to prepare for every minute that they speak. A thirty minute message will be the product of thirty hours of preparation. Audiences know who has put in the time and who has been slacking.
When I stepped up on to the platform to speak to 4,000 men who had gathered in Cleveland, I was glad that I had prepared well. These men had a high level of expectation and I was eager to deliver. Their appetite to be instructed was voracious.
In the subsequent time after speaking to the men I met many of them for short and quick greetings. Strong sincere handshakes were common place. They spoke words of appreciation while our hands were clasped.
All I could do was thank them and redirect the attention to the Lord. It was again the mystery and miracle of preaching. God faceciously calls it ”foolishness” in the Word. That simply means that the effect of preaching defies human understanding. There’s nothing worse than hearing a boring sermon. I am determined to contribute to that category as little as possible.
The human side of the preacher is exhausted when the preaching is done. If athletes leave it all on the field, then effective preachers leave all on the platform. But I am honored to be called to do it. I love every part of it.
Our youngest son recently graduated from college. Life is now laid out completely before him. There are new horizons to explore and adventures of faith to be lived. God’s great blessings await him.
What’s first on the agenda of life? He has been looking forward to buying his first car. I commend him because he has been saving feverishly with that great objective in mind.
The enthusiasm of a young man who is learning the ins and outs of one of the most expensive purchases of his life is a fun episode in life to witness. He is still single so his prefered choice for wheels is more “hot” than “practical”. It’s used but he took all of the right steps to get the car professionally evaluated.
We have used the same car repair shop for years. The mechanics are top notch and are always very helpful. My son had the prospective car delivered to them for their inspection. They gave the big thumbs up. That made me smile. So did their invoice: Free of charge. Free is a very good price!
Next, we also have a friend in the used vehicle business. He specializes in used motorcycles but has a great mind and instincts for vehicles in general. Our schedules allowed us to rendezvous at his place at the same time. That was my initial opportunity to look over the slick machine for the first time. I liked it!
Men and their machines is a dynamic combination that has never been able to be fully explained. That’s why there are nearly countless magazines that specialize in describing them and the experience of driving them and restoring them and racing them and souping them up. Men “love” whatever wheels that they are riding. It is part of their identity.
Silly? No, I don’t know if I would ever conclude that. It is mysterious. Furthermore, I’ll admit that nebulous concept of that affection is part of the attraction. Most of us men can’t assess it, but we know that it is real, so we just embrace it.
My son is outgoing, energetic and fun. So, his sporty coupe is just like that. I am steady, determined and practical. My pick-up truck is just like that.
For us men our ride is a reflection of who we are. It mirrors our personality. The world knows us by the roar of our engine. Is that complicated? Then just think of it as pure fun!
Today I am declaring the beginning of Bruce’s Laws of the Interstellar Community. The first law is that clutter is Inevitable. No matter what measures we take, humans produce clutter as certainly as they produce CO2 when they exhale.
There are three venues to observe this law in action. They are counter space, floor space and desktop space. For some reason all three of these flat areas attract stuff.
Like an ever shrinking land mass being swallowed by ever encroaching flood waters, clutter is relentless. Something is always taking up space. Where does all of this stuff come from?
My small desk top is constantly filling up with one stack of stuff after the next. I’ll blame the post office for that. Every day more and more unsolicited mail arrives in our mailbox.
We use a family mailbox sorter in the kitchen. I pick up the mail and sort it out at home according to the recipient. It’s just a temporary organized state. If my family doesn’t clear out their mail slots, eventually the mail sorter looks like a pile of paper, magazines and newspaper.
In a vain attempt to siphon off the massive amount of material, I stand right over the garbage can and toss circulars away without bothering to distribute them. It is one of those moments when I consciously think “Liberal” and show no mercy on mail pieces calling for attention.
I have two desks in my home office. One is for business. That desk has piles of bills, letters and information that constantly needs to be sorted, consolidated and answered. It’s always filled with clutter.
My second desk is my study desk. It has piles of information, articles to be filed, sermons to be filed and books to be reshelved. If I slack off for even one day, it’ll take two to just catch up with these two clutter magnets that I officially call desks.
Like an occasional thunder storm clears the humid air over the Midwest, I occasionally jump into a cleaning mode and reclaim the flat areas of my office. I stand back and marvel at the empty desktop space, the vacant floor space and the empty shelf space. But, then, the mail comes, the bills come, the studying comes and a dam of clutter again bursts into my home without mercy.
It’s a law of the interstellar community! We can’t stop it. Clutter is inevitable!
This morning I was in an important meeting. My cell phone started to ring in the middle of a presentation. I had forgotten to turn it off. Have you ever had one of those embarrassing cell phone moments?
Quickly I turned the phone to vibrate, noticed that the call was from my wife and then I made a mental note to call her back once my meeting was done. My attention never fully returned to the meeting. My phone was vibrating regularly. First, it was emails, then text messaging and then phone calls again. I was very suspicious that something was up.
At the conclusion of the meeting I was catching up with voice messages, text messages and emails. Fear and concern were crowding into my heart. I couldn’t believe what I was reading and hearing.
My very close friend, Mike had had a heart attack. No one could tell me how serious it was. I called my office and had my Executive Assistant do the immediate research. By the time I returned to my office I was determined to get a diagnosis, prognosis and location of my friend, who is closer than a brother.
Mike reached out to me years ago. It began a friendship that is as amazing as anyone could ever hope to have. There isn’t anything that I wouldn’t do for him. If I was ever up against it he is one that I would call.
When the pressure of my job has me seeking support, I call Mike. There are heavy times in leadership when I need a wise ear. Mike provides that for me.
Our families love each other too. We have had great laughs, deep talks, fervent prayers and optimistic hopes. Trust, loyalty and honor are integral to our devotion to each other. Just as Jonathan was a dear friend to David, Mike is that kind of valued friend to me.
My truck carried me to where I needed to go. Mike’s wife Suzie was at the hospital. Hugs were generous all around. Tears subsided when the great news that the Doctors gave. There was very little if any damage. Mike got to the hospital on time. The medical team did their amazing work.
Again there were ample hugs to go around. On my way back to my office, I felt so grateful that God had spared my friend. Thank you, God!
The other day I was reminiscing over my summer trip to South Africa. Several friends had asked me to describe my favorite highlights. It was easy to rehearse every day of my safari in sequence.
No one in the group that night was familiar with the fauna of that great land. So, many of the names of the animals that I described were not familiar to my listeners. Blesbok, Red Hartebeest, Tsessebe, Steenbok, Springbok, Bushbuck, Water buck, Eland and Gemsbok were foreign names to their ears.
Some names rang a note of familiarity to them: Zebra, Kudo, Wildebeest, Giraffe, Elephant, Impala and Cape Buffalo. But, the name that brought smiles to everyone was the Warthog. Pumba in the Lion King is a Warthog. His character is comical and adorable.
There were two warthogs on the ranch that are pets. They are lovingly protected by our hostess. Once when the warthogs were just piglets, one of them fell into the swimming pool. With laughter in her voice our hostess then told us that she screamed at her husband to rescue her pet warthog. He jumped in the pool while fully dressed and saved its life.
Our host then quickly pointed out that the piglet returned its gratitude by digging up the lawn, rooting around for grubs. Now that the piglets were over 9 months old, they dig up the landscape almost as fast as the hosts can have it professionally repaired.
Each of the warthogs is about two thirds of their mature body weight, weighing in at about 30 pounds. But, remember that that is 30 pounds of muscle. They like to use their weight and butt the guest’s legs.
I put my foot up when one took a little run against my leg. He collided with the soul of my boot and kept pushing. At first it was cute. But, it was tenacious and my leg started to tire. I trotted away and let it butt into the leg of my colleagues.
Out in the field I never was able to bring my camera around to get a good photo of one of the wild critters. They were so fast and were dodging in and out of the scrub brush so that I couldn’t focus on them. All I saw were four short fast legs pushing a huge head. The best that I could do was laugh at God’s unique creation and call out “Warthog!”
At least five people must have reminded me about my appointment. I was to take my picture for the church pictorial directory. It became so comical that I was trying to find a humorous way to take advantage of the situation. After all, if you have to avoid laughing just to be polite what kind of boring life would that be?
Like most days in my calendar, what was a fairly open day a month ago has turned into a crowded and full day. Scanning over my appointments I thought that if I could show up early for the photo sitting then I could scamper back to my office for my evening appointments.
So, I showed up 20 minutes early to a room with a half a dozen people sitting in front of me. None of them were smiling at the time. I asked is they were all in trouble. That got them laughing!
After the laughter they pointed me across the room to the registration table. They handed me a form to fill out. The first line asked for the name of the head of the home. I asked if that’s where I fill in my wife’s name.
The place erupted in teasing and giggles. It seemed like a good time to slip in a request. That’s when I asked if I could sneak in ahead of the line. I laid out the strategy for the registration people to distract the people who were already in line and then I would slip in the door behind the crowd.
Don’t get me wrong. I was willing to pay a reasonable and efficient bribe. I was reaching into my pocket for some change when the registration people sent me away with a dismissive wave and lots of smiles.
Once in the photo shoot room the photographer complemented my wife on how beautiful she was. Then, he looked at me and told me that he really liked my cowboy boots. That’s when I told him that I was a professional assassin and could use any normal object in the room to dispatch him. That’s when he told me to smile.
The next room was the sweat box. That’s where the “free” picture for the directory is chosen. But, any family portraits could then be selected for purchase with ”limited-time” package deals. Oops! Time was slipping by. I escaped with my money but I left a generous smile.
On Friday I spent a day with some special friends, all who are Christian leaders. They were gathered to honor a colleague at his inauguration as the new president of a wonderful university. His remarkable reputation and life as a Christian leader is impeccable.
Besides the chance to honor him, many colleagues who also serve in the post as president of other fine institutions had a chance to fellowship. One of my friends and I caught each others eye. He serves as the president of my Alma mater in Texas.
At the request of the President of the United States, he joined George W. Bush in Beijing. He represented us all at that invitation. I was eager to hear the highlights from his trip.
He told me that George W and Laura were amazingly encouraging. They expressed great interest and appreciation for the work of preparing men and women to lead the lives of others in their spiritual pilgrimage. That was their polite obligation of statesmanship.
Their hospitable act of courtesy made what the President did later very memorable. During the subsequent ceremony, Dubya and Laura were sitting in the front row. Two rows back was my friend. Duties required the President and Mrs. Bush to depart early. A staff member came to retrieve them.
After President Bush stood to leave, he turned around, reached across two rows of chairs to extend his hand to my friend. He again expressed his deep appreciation for the very special work of seminary leadership. This kind of extra effort reveals a person’s heart.
When I heard that report, I was so pleased with the soul of our nation’s Commander-in-Chief. I have always respected him and even do more so now. Those inside stories that speak of his values and care for people barely gets addressed. Their frequency however have not been rare.
Yet, political pundits, self-acclaimed announcers and angry people carelessly vilify him for nearly everything that goes wrong. There is a very unpleasant assumption that whoever can point out someone else’s wrongs has some how earned the honor of being right. Being critical never has accomplished anything let alone the privilege to be declared righteous.
We can disagree with one another and even do so with sharp distinctions. That is a right in this country. But how we treat one another still seems best to do so according to the Golden Rule.
