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…
I love them–but you don’t
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…
Stained!
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,…
A Concert Demolished!
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…
Where’s the Tremble?
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…
The Last Snowman
“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…
Photobombing Jesus
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…
You are Loved
It was a desperate search. A Hail Mary. I was looking for a misplaced check. A big one. Previous attempts had turned up nothing. So there I was, pulling out the large drawer under our bed. The one where I keep my cards. All of them. That’s when I knew this was going to take some time. There were cards from my wife, Diana: birthday cards and Christmas cards and Valentine’s cards and cards for no other occasion than her simple desire to express her love. By far, these took up the most space. It was fun to read through…
Had a Job to Do
His ship was in flames. His path was blocked. But Jim Downing had a job to do. Sprinting toward the harbor, he dodged machine gun bullets from an overhead fighter plane, and then slid across the five-inch gun barrel of a neighboring vessel to launch himself onto the inflamed deck of the battleship West Virginia. December 7, 1941. If the gun magazines aboard Jim’s 624 foot long boat were to overheat from the fires, the explosions would be enormous. So he grabbed a hose and aimed at the flames. “Several times that day, I was sure I would shortly be…
“Would you like a Coke?”
Imagine that you are 23 years old, standing outside a door. On the other side is the confidant of presidents and princes—the most famous evangelist of our time—Billy Graham. You are there for an interview. But what will he say to you? What will he actually be like? That was me, along with my friend Dave, waiting for our appointment in Amsterdam’s Rai Convention Center. It was a muggy July afternoon more than 30 years ago. Feels like an hour ago, though. Had we prepped enough? Would we come across as hicks? And what about the formalities—do you call him…