Archive for the ‘Commentary’ Category

On Valentines day we gave each of our grandchildren little notebooks to be used as journals. We also gave them brief instructions on how to use them.  The older children immediately sat down and began recording their thoughts for the day.  Since my youngest granddaughter, four year old Jadyn, cannot yet write, I was worried that she might feel left out.  My fears were put to rest when she sat down, took out her pencil, and whispered as she began to write, “Dear diarrhea!” The entire house erupted in laughter, including the uncontrollable giggles of Jadyn.  But when the laughter dies, I hope that each of my grandchildren experience the many benefits of keeping a regular journal.

Here are just a few of those benefits:

After watching the news over the past several days,  I turned to my wife Diane last night and said, “The world is watching the church in action.” Thousands of believers who were themselves suffering personal loss are serving the poor in Haiti.  Many have been there for years making a difference even before the earthquake struck. The efforts of these who are God’s feet on the ground can’t be hidden. You couldn’t miss the faces of hundreds of college students and high school groups from churches across America who were in Haiti before the disaster with a mission to help the beautiful people of this impoverished country.  Hundreds if not thousands of them are among those who perished.

Okay, be forewarned! This is not for the delicate or faint of heart. Yesterday, I ran 8 miles.  That’s farther than I have ever run before. The sun was shining for the first time in over a week.  And it was warm!  A few days before I had biked 20 miles in 30 degree weather and almost froze to death.  My left ear broke off when I removed my helmet. But today temperatures were in the high fifties.  Two deer stood at no more than 10 yards and watched with big eyes and long lashes.  I could almost hear them whispering, “That guy only has one ear.”

“The blind side,” a movie based on a true story, moved me deeply on several levels.   Every believer who has ever criticized, boycotted or written a letter to protest a movie, needs to write one more letter.  This one to say thank you to the creators and producers of this film.  Thank you for an inspiring movie.  Thank you for a portrayal of  Christians most of us would have to actually work to live UP to.  No smalchy goop, just an honest film about fallible people who acted out their faith.  Stay for the credits at the end.  Those pictures of the actual people who lived this story had me searching for my sleeve. (I didn’t have a Kleenex)  Please see this film, encourage the people who made it and leave a comment that let’s me know what you think.

I am usually way behind the technology curve. I still have a rotary phone. I thought “blog” was Minnesotan for “big Log” You know, “bring the blogs down here and leave the smlogs up there.” Fortunately or unfortunately, my friend Randy Elrod came back, got me and dragged me kidding and screaming over the textans and the blogs and smlogs all the way to twitter. I have wrestled with this new social media tool for awhile now. At first I despised it. Should a man really twitter? I grew very tired of getting updates of people walking and sitting and sneezing and going to bed. I saw so many pictures of other peoples food that I started to gain weight. Not a lot of weight, just a twitter. I have gone from despiser to believer. Recent events in Iran have shown that this is a powerful tool………. WHEN USED PROPERLY. It can be a powerful tool for you as well…… WHEN USED PROPERLY.