(A Turning Point Story)
This is an article I first wrote about my son 16 years ago, about what a powerful thing encouragement can be. It means as much to me today, if not more, as it did in 1993. Click “share this” and forward it to the encouragers in your life. Thank them for being your “Face in the Window.” And let somebody know you’ll be theirs….
It was one of those forgettable days, when nothing seemed to go right. I was physically, emotionally, and spiritually exhausted. The summer heat was unbearable, the humid West Alabama air unbreatheable. But I had to bear it, and I had to breathe it on this day.
Name a pitiful emotion – I’m sure I felt it on that day. Rejection, anger, discouragement, depression, loneliness, fear, shame – they all showed up with the intention of staying.
“Nobody needs you,” they said. “And nobody believes in you.”
It was a day of giving. Normally that rejuvenates me, but not today. On this Saturday, I had given time, love, and tenderness, together with a whole lot of physical energy. I had given my best (I thought). Apparently, others had disagreed, and I had been humiliated in front of a large family gathering.
I was spent. I would say that I came home with my tail tucked between my legs, but honestly I don’t think I was standing that tall.
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Nobody gets anywhere without ideas. And nobody gets it right 100% of the time. So sometimes we take risks, try things, and hindsight tells us we were geniuses. Sometimes, things just don’t work. But sometimes we score a Hanukkah Ham – one of those choice decisions that qualify us for the Blooper Reel of Life.
This edition of Hanukkah Hams is devoted to life behind the wheel – the things you see, the things you say, and the things you do. Yeah, we’ve all been there. And it seemed like a good idea at the time.
A couple of weeks ago I got to my local teaching assignment at Wayland Baptist University a bit early, and proud to get a close parking place. Just before class was to start, one of the staff members comes in saying he couldn’t find the owner of “that truck.”
Has your sinkin’ heart ever told on you?
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“I’ll say good-bye to love,” Karen Carpenter once crooned. Ha! She never knew Hugh and Mary.
Dede Long shared the wonderful story below of her grandfather who proved that you’re never to old for love or romance. Enjoy!
In 1920, my paternal grandparents, Hugh and Peggy Stuntz, went to Santiago, Chile as Methodist missionaries. While they were there, they met a single woman named Mary Sweaney. Her husband had been killed by lightning when they had only been married eleven months. Mary was in South America running a Methodist girls’ school. The three of them became lifelong friends. My dad, his brother and sister were all born while they lived in South America.
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Fran Cotton is a PK – a preacher’s kid. She saw love demonstrated by her pastor/father in a myriad of ways.
In response to my request for love stories, Fran shared the following example of how loving your neighbor can make you zigzag your way across your yard – and into someone else’s heart.
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Lisa Collins is a friend, a ministry partner, an extraordinary worship leader, and a bride-to-be. In response to my request for love stories, she wrote to me about how her father modeled God’s grace. I think you’ll like it! Here goes….
The casual observer might glance at my Dad and not notice anything that distinguishes him from any other man. He is average in height and build. His hair is showing some gray-which is expected of a man in his sixties who survived raising two daughters. His home is modest and under a mortgage. His job is nothing that will bring him acclaim, wealth or notoriety – he is a plumber. He is a husband. He is a father. He is a “B-Poppa”-short for “Big Poppa” in case you don’t speak his granddaughter, Daphnee’s, language.
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This is Maymie’s ultimate love story. She holds her husband, Shannon, dear, but Maymie says their story doesn’t compare to the story of her children.The first time she got pregnant, Maymie and Shannon weren’t married. But they excitedly started planning and moving in the direction of marriage and starting a family. They set the date and made the doctor’s appointments. At the first appointment, the obstetrician wanted to do an ultrasound to see how far along she was and make sure everything looked good.
They excitedly watched the monitor.
There was no heartbeat.
The next day they went back, mothers in tow, for another picture, just to be sure. They got the same dreaded answer.
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This is another response to my request for love stories. I’m still looking! Who has taught you about the real meaning of love? How have you experienced it? Email me at andy@lifevesting.com and share what you have observed, learned, or experienced.
The following was originally written by Joel, my son, on February 28 last year. It’s a powerful story of friendship that transcended social and racial barriers, and started with a plane crash in a Vietnamese rice paddy. (You can read more of Joel’s good stuff at http://anyidleday.com).
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I hate maintenance. This is in defiance to everything my father faithfully tried to instill in me. I want the dishes to morph into the dishwasher, the oil to change itself, and the lawn to live, but not grow. So you can imagine how thrilled I was to get a reminder in the mail that I had an appointment with a treadmill, about 11 electrodes, and a sadistic nurse with a razor and sandpaper. “Stress EKG.” Ha! I don’ need no stinkin’ treadmill to tell me I got stress.
It’s not about the treadmill, mind you. I get on one about five times a year, whether I need to or not. It’s about getting on the treadmill at the doctor’s office when I haven’t been on one at the gym in a while. I needed some time to work out before the exam so the exam wouldn’t make me look like I hadn’t been working out. Sort of like cleaning the house before the house cleaner comes.
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Here’s another amazing story of love – this one from my friend, Dr. David Rosenthal. In it he shares the profound story that led to his adoption as a baby, and his future adoption as an heir and follower of Jesus Christ. It’s the story of three women who loved him greatly. One gave him life; another gave him a home and a name; the third pointed him to the Author and Finisher of his faith. Read on…
Esther Kaufman was born June 12th, 1917 in Bucharest, Rumania. Magdalena Barta was born not far way in Budapest, Hungary on June 23rd, 1924. These two women shared a strange and unique destiny and were part of a long love story that continues until today even though both are deceased.
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Recession. It’s the word on everybody’s mind these days. Congress, in an election year, is scrambling to give people some of their money back in order to avoid it (which begs the obvious question…). All the media, the experts, and the average Joes are all talking about some aspect of it. Somebody did a poll a couple of days ago, and it seems the average American believes if we’d just get out of Iraq, the recession would get better. Uh, OK, I guess.
What most of us are interested in is, can I keep what’s happening in a national and global economy from happening to me? Yes! But first it’s important to understand that economists are measuring only one thing.
What to recession-proof your life? Get a bigger definition of the word, “economy.” Try this one as I first heard it from Jack Taylor: Economy is the exchange of all the commodities of life.
If you’re finding yourself a bit short on cash, or if you’re worried about it, why not try a different kind of currency? Here are seven ways you can be wealthy, with or without money:
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