Author: Jon Gauger

As she peered out the hospital window, angry skies warned Dory it was time to leave her husband with the doctors and head home.  Not easily done. He’d had a heart attack five days earlier. Climbing into her four-door Chevy, she cruised down to the ferry that would float her across the lake from Mountain Home to Gamaliel—hopefully before the worst of the Arkansas storm hit. At about 6:30, she turned into her driveway, hurried inside and changed into her nightgown, and then put a piece of meat in the frying pan and set it on the stove.  At 6:55pm,…

Had some thoughts last night that startled me out of that half-asleep stage.   Get this—I was shopping at a store—in heaven. The clerk was friendly enough.  But nevertheless, I was puzzled by the experience. “What can we get you, sir?”  asked the guy behind the counter. “A box of Kleenex” I replied.   “A what?” “Box of Kleenex.  You know, tissues.” “Whatever for?” “What for?” I stammered incredulously.  “For blowing my nose when I get a cold.” “Not gonna happen. Didn’t you read the Book?  There’s no sickness up here.  No suffering.”  “Well what if I…you know….cry at something sad. Not…

There are two kinds of grandparents.  There are those who live by the “show up, sugar them up and send them home” philosophy.   Then there are others—like me—who find every parting sad.  I'm never glad to see the grandkids go.  Never.  Does that make me sappy?  Probably.  So there we were, putting on our shoes and getting ready to leave after a nice visit with four of our little buddies.  That familiar wave of melancholy was washing over.  Yet the silver lining was the fact that later in the week, we’d be watching the grandkids while their parents traveled out…

To visit Bureau County, Illinois is to unplug. You unplug from the roar of incessant traffic.  Instead you find yourself on roads where you are as likely to encounter a deer as another vehicle. You unplug from a terrain of cement and asphalt, trading that in for farmland and grass and stands of ancient trees. You unplug from the density of urban living.  There are more people living in my Chicago suburb than in all the towns that make up Bureau County combined.  You unplug from the cocooned way of life that cautions us against waving to strangers or being…

One of the cool things with which God has blessed me is the opportunity to narrate audio books.  The most recent project is a book by Ed Silvoso titled, Prayer Evangelism.  While in “normal life,” I really love to read (a passion my wife, Diana and I share) forgive me for admitting that after six or seven hours in a studio, reading in front of a microphone is more like a job than a pleasure.  But narrating page 39 of Prayer Evangelism, I was slammed, smacked, and convicted.  So much so, that I took out my phone and took a…

Walked into the Apple store the other day.  Wanted to take advantage of their special $29 battery replacement offer, as my iPhone is several years old.  So we dropped it off and perused mall stores selling products considerably beyond our income or station in life (among them a Tesla in which I dreamily sat). When we came back to claim the phone, I was informed Apple refused to replace the battery because the phone had been exposed to water—which is true. About a year ago, I wrote of this disaster in The Thursday Thought.  But in the kindness of Jesus,…

Did you ever destroy a musical performance? I have.  Once when our family traveled as the Gauger Brass, we provided music for more than a thousand people at a banquet in Dayton, Ohio.  I was tasked with giving the pitch for a certain song which started with acapella vocals—simple.  But the note I played was one half-step off.  When the instruments started playing their accompaniment, it all sounded rather hideous.  Concert demolished! A friend recalls attending a performance of Handle’s Messiah where one of the soloists—a baritone—began the evening with a polite smile on his face. Yet as the lengthy…

I have a problem. Maybe you’ve got the same one.  It has to do with our worship.  Can we talk? Most of us really love to sing. Love to wave our hands in worship.  But we seem to have little capacity for something that Scripture says is a big deal: trembling in the presence of our holy God. That part of worship has largely evaded us. In our Java-with-Jesus culture, God is increasingly portrayed merely as a benevolent friend.  But He is much more than that. Hebrews 12:29 reminds us our God is “a consuming fire.” We are told in…

“As snowmen go, it was borderline pathetic.”  Right then, I knew there was more to this story.  There always is with my friend, Jack. He immediately launched into a description of a snow creature that bore no resemblance whatsoever to the fabled Frosty.   “The middle section was lopsided. The head was too small.  The pinecone nose looked goofy.”  Jack shook his head with a chuckle. And what exactly was the occasion for this snowy silliness?  “We had an overnight visit from our nine-year old granddaughter, so we wanted her to have a little fun.”  The Windy City having lived up…

Honestly, I was not trying to photobomb anyone.  The doors to the Metra train whooshed apart, and I padded down the steps into a dense crowd. I’ve ridden the train for three decades now, so I instantly knew upon exiting that something was going on. It was somebody’s big moment.  Worthy of a photo or two.  Or three.  Flashes were firing and phones were clicking and there was laughter and a palpable excitement.  Me, I was just trying to walk toward my car and get home. I didn’t want to pry, so I snaked my way through the crowd and…