It was hard to miss, even walking at the brisk pace I try to maintain on my early morning walks. There on the side of the road was a magnificent butterfly. Black and spotted and iridescent, I saw majesty in every flex of its silken wings. My friend Chris, an outdoor guy with considerable experience, told me I was staring at an Eastern Black Swallowtail. I had more time to study this creature than I should have. Because when it attempted to fly, it fluttered and stuttered—but went nowhere. Yet the thing kept trying to get airborne anyway. Try after…
Cereal Killer
Feasting on a breakfast of presweetened cereal—the kind kids like me love best—I bumped into a curious bit of philosophy. The back of the cereal box offered advice for your “Biggest Week Ever.” The box suggested we should be kind, be confident, be adventurous, and a few other “nice” things. One could hardly argue with the list. Nothing wrong with being a dreamer, as was also suggested. Curiously missing from the list, though, were virtues like honesty. Or perseverance. Or integrity. Since the audience here is young children, why not introduce them to respect as a value worthy of pursuit?Previous…
Of Hornets and Heroes
The beefy hornet dove at me again and again. I’d had enough, so I grabbed the fly swatter and, with a well-timed swing, sent him on to his reward. I wondered where he came from and how big was his hive. The next day I met the family. Several hundred of them buzzed in and out of a nest bigger than a football. The problem is, the hive was not far from our bathhouse out at the campground. Time for action! A search and destroy mission was set for dusk Saturday night, led by special ops team Mike and Gary….
No Power
267,000 households without electricity. That’s a whole lot of fridges and freezers on the fritz. That’s a whole lot of air conditioners that aren’t conditioning! But that’s the state of things after a swath of storms cut through northeastern Illinois Monday night. Gratefully, our home remains spared, though we have friends who needed help. So I took a generator to their house, fired the thing up, and plugged in a refrigerator and deep freezer. All was well until I saw a text the next morning: “Generator runs—but no power.” Huh? I drove over right away, and sure enough, ol’ Bessie…
Missing Masks
Candy wrappers. Beer cans. McDonald’s packaging. This kind of litter is seen everywhere in my daily quest for 10,000 steps. But lately, I’ve noticed there’s a new trash in town: face masks. Regardless of our opinions about their effectiveness, most of us would at least agree that those who wear them perceive them to be of great value. Which makes me ask, why are there so many on the ground? How could something potentially life-saving just tumble out of your pocket? Now, I myself have been guilty of stuffing one into my pants, only to have it flutter to the…
Come Back
They asked me to shoot pictures at the birthday party. And shoot pictures I did: posed groups, informal shots, family groupings, silly moments—some 462 photos in all. The heat and humidity were so smothering, it's a wonder the lens didn't fog over. Or melt shut. Between shutter clicks, I recognized one of the relatives. We’ll call her Sarah. Years ago, reliable sources told us Sarah and her husband had taken their kids to a Bible-believing church where they got involved in Awana. But the kids were now in high school. So was the family still actively attending? I took her…
Wanted–An Encourager
Do you have the gift of discouragement? A surprising amount of people do! They’re the ones who text or post things like: I don’t have the energy to pretend I like you today. Your call will be ignored in the order it was received. I don’t understand your specific kind of crazy, but I DO admire your total commitment to it. The gift of discouragement is everywhere, which is odd. Because most people already have enough of that: It's a relationship that burns as sandpaper rubbed across the back of your sunburned hand. It’s a job that eats at your…
Gone to Heaven!
Charlie Daniels—dead? It can't be true! Talk about a guy who was larger than life. If you ever saw his iconic beard or watched him play the fiddle or heard him sing (country, rock, or Christian—he did it all), you never forgot him. A few years ago, Diana and I met Charlie Daniels as part of an interview for Moody Radio. Like most truly great people, he was as humble and homespun as his blue jeans. Jeans accompanied by a large brass belt buckle that read, "Jesus is Lord." Most of us know CD’s music—but not as many know that…
The Stench of Anger
It’s one in the morning. We are jolted awake by the sound of an alarm—our LP gas sensor. What to do? I remove the tanks from our camper and set them out in the yard. But the camper now wreaks of gas. Is it safe to breathe? Should we even be in the camper? Are we an inch away from a Hollywood explosion? Ultimately, we spent most of the night in our minivan. Not exactly restful—but at least breathable. And safe. What was maddening was that over the weeks that followed, we continued to notice a sort of rotten egg…
Take off the Mask
To my way of thinking, it’s the worst part of Coronavirus: wearing a face mask. No matter how it’s made—and despite claims to the contrary—a face mask is hot, confining and uncomfortable. It’s also one more thing you have to remember to take with you the second you leave home. I’m intrigued by the creativity, though, that people have injected into this new tradition. You see all kinds of face masks—have you noticed? Some feature the logo of a favorite sports team. Or a sticker. Or the colors of a favorite university. I’ve noticed that if you…