<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html><head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252"><title>James McAlister's Home Page</title></head> <body style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);" lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple"> <h1 style="text-align: center;" align="center"> James McAlister's Home Page</h1> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"> <hr align="center" size="2" width="80%"> </div> <a href="index.html#newsletter"> Sign</a><a href="index.html#newsletter"> </a><a href="index.html#newsletter">Up For Free Email Newsletter</a> <a href="spanish.htm"> How</a><a href="index.html#newsletter"> </a><a href="spanish.htm">I'm</a><a href="index.html#newsletter"> </a><a href="spanish.htm">Learning</a><a href="index.html#newsletter"> </a><a href="spanish.htm">Spanish</a> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><hr align="center" size="2" width="80%"> </div> <big> Read About James' Book Projects: </big> <a href="cover.htm"> Silent Witness: The Language of Your Home</a> <a href="treasure2.htm"> Finding Treasures in Your Trials: 31 Nuggets of Hope for Trying Times</a><div style="text-align: center; font-weight: bold;">Audio Files:</div> <a href="audio/james.mp3"> The Message At Mary's Funeral--James McAlister</a> <a href="audio/barrett.mp3"> A Letter To My Mom--Barrett McAlister</a> <a href="audio/john.mp3"> The Good News--John S. Gilliom</a> <a href="audio/regrets.mp3"> Remembrances & Regrets--James McAlister</a> <a href="audio/john14.mp3"> The Work, Way & Will of Jesus (What it means to pray in the name of Jesus)--James McAlister</a> <a href="audio/hopes_deferred.mp3"> Crises, Choices & Confirmations (On being healed in both body and soul)--James McAlister</a> <a href="audio/four_hopes.mp3"> Four Hopes for the New Year (Hopes from four critical points in the life of the patriarch Joseph)--James McAlister</a><a href="audio/four_hopes.mp3"><a href="audio/next.mp3">What To Do Next In Life (Steps for finding direction)--James McAlister</a></a><a href="audio/four_hopes.mp3"><a href="audio/four_hopes.mp3"><a href="audio/boat.mp3">Getting Out of the Boat (When our old ways don't work)--James McAlister</a></a></a> <div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"><hr align="center" size="2" width="80%"> </div> <div style="text-align: center;"><big><big> <a href="http://www.zipwise.com/geomap/">Click here to see the locations of the last 100 visitors to this site:</a></big></big> <a href="http://www.zipwise.com/geomap/"><img src="geomap.jpg" alt="ZIP Codes" border="0"></a> Read Past Newspaper Columns: <div style="text-align: center;"> Copyright 1998--2008 James McAlister </div></div>  <a href="00483.htm">NEW TRICKS FOR AN OLD DOG</a>   <a href="00483.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   My wife's death a year ago immediately plunged me into many new behaviors, almost all exceedingly difficult to embrace. But the extreme distress and displacement I once felt is virtually gone, and I'm now developing a workable routine--of sorts. And in the process I've had to learn (or at least have been working on learning) some "new tricks" for this old dog. Let me share some of them with you so you'll know where I am. <a href="00482.htm">FOUR HOPES FOR HARD TIMES</a>   <a href="00482.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>  <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://www.bulletininserts.org/4hopes.html">BulletinInsert</a> How should we confront the difficult times life invariably brings? One way is to learn from those who have succeeded in similar straits. Joseph the patriarch faced incredible trials, and his life holds many lessons to give us hope. Let s look at four. <a href="00481.htm">THE GREATEST UNDERSTATEMENT EVER MADE</a>   <a href="00481.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>  <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://www.bulletininserts.org/understmt.html">BulletinInsert</a> Inconspicuously penned like a hurried postscript to a lengthy letter, we find what is perhaps the greatest understatement ever made, unadorned and unpretentious. The sum total of this incomprehensible little notation expends only five words in the Bible: "He made the stars also." (Genesis 1:16). <a href="00480.htm">WHAT TO DO WHEN STOPPED BY A POLICEMAN</a>   <a href="00480.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   About three years ago, when my wife heard that a young friend had received a speeding ticket, she recorded some of her own traumatic experiences with policemen. Perhaps you can identify. <a href="00479.htm">WHAT IT MEANS TO PRAY IN THE NAME OF JESUS</a>   <a href="00479.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>  <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://www.bulletininserts.org/thename.html">BulletinInsert</a> "If you ask anything in my name," Jesus promised, "I will do it." (John 14:14). What an incredible confidence this should infuse into prayer! But do we tap the power and potency of heaven simply by tacking the words "in Jesus' name" onto the end of our prayers? No. There's more involved. <a href="00478.htm">THOUGHTS ON BEING A SPY</a>   <a href="00478.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   This is the fifth anniversary of my retirement party, and I have just come across the letter my wife read on that occasion. I'd like to share it with you: / ----- / I know something about James that you don't know. To explain, I'm going to quote from one of G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown stories. These are detective stories about an unassuming priest who solves mysteries both by observation and by trying to think like the culprit. In this particular story Jameson is the "bad guy." <a href="00477.htm">TAKING TIME TO HEAL</a>   <a href="00477.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   "I walk on an isolated, lonely beach, and her absence is a vast and angry sea that breaks over me repeatedly--one black and terrible surge after another. Each batters me relentlessly, and I am powerless to resist, stand, endure. And I go down under their weight and intensity." Thus reads my journal a scant six weeks after the death of Mary, my wife. <a href="00476.htm">EVALUATING FATHERS</a>   <a href="00476.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   I write this on the eve of Father's Day--my first as a grandfather and my son's first as a father. Thus I evaluate fatherhood by my own experience, both failure and success, and offer a few characteristics of the ideal father I wish I had better exhibited: <a href="00475.htm">OF LOSS AND DISCOVERY</a>   <a href="00475.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Early in my career, I'd sometimes have to travel. And when Mary packed my suitcase she'd always hide little notes for my discovery. One, a long-lost, hand-sketched rendition of the cozy den in our tiny house in Sherwood, reminded me that "home is waiting for you." <a href="00473.htm">A LETTER TO MY MOM</a>   <a href="00473.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Following is the talk given by my son Barrett at his mother's funeral. <a href="00472.htm">THE DAY THE TEARS CAME</a>   <a href="00472.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   I was strong during her rapid physical decline. I was strong during her painful suffering and death. I was strong at her funeral and at the graveside. But today the tears came. <a href="00471.htm">THE FIERCE FOE OF DIFFICULT TIMES</a>   <a href="00471.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>  <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://www.bulletininserts.org/lheart.html">BulletinInsert</a> I face an enemy daily, sometimes hourly. Perhaps you know him, too. <a href="00470.htm">THINGS I DON'T EXPECT THIS YEAR</a>   <a href="00470.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   "I couldn't go hunting this year because of work and school. But in May, that problem will be solved, though I never really expected to graduate." So reported the young cashier with marked enthusiasm. <a href="00469.htm">WITNESSING THE REBIRTH OF HERITAGE</a>   <a href="00469.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   "Now you know that Saturday morning is when we go to the lumber company, don't you? They have gum and candy machines, so we'll need to take our money." Thus spoke the young man to his tiny three-day-old son--and our first grandchild. <a href="00468.htm">REMEMBERING A PRINCE OF A MAN</a>   <a href="00468.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Why do great men often have simple, understated obituaries summing up their lives? Perhaps because their works speak for themselves without flowery embellishments. Such was the case with Roy Chatham. <a href="00467.htm">LEARNING TO LIVE DAY BY DAY</a>   <a href="00467.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   The outside air crackles with the first autumn crispness, and we're confined to chemotherapy treatments in the doctor's office. But the words of a song--my favorite--lilting through my mind transports me beyond these sobering confines. <a href="00413.htm">TRAVEL THEN AND NOW</a>   <a href="00413.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Still in our pajamas, my sister, Sara, and I had been tucked into the backseat to sleep on makeshift beds Daddy had fashioned from orange crates. Departure time was usually around midnight to avoid the scorching daytime heat; cars in the 1950s didn't have air conditioning. <a href="00412.htm">PICKING THE RIGHT SHOVEL</a>   <a href="00412.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Glancing over the right arm of my recliner, what confronts me? Books. Not neat, precise, manageable stacks--but a landslide flinging itself beyond me in ever-increasing sprawl. <a href="00410.htm">THOUGHTS TO CARRY INTO MARRIAGE</a>   <a href="00410.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   At the recent rehearsal dinner for our son and his fianc�e, a few of us older folk injected one of their last hours of singleness with bits of wisdom learned gleaned through our own struggles in life. If you'll indulge me, I'll pass along a few personal musings that time didn't allow that evening. <a href="00409.htm">ENJOYING THE GOOD OLD DAYS</a>   <a href="00409.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Whenever I'm asked how retirement is going, my response may elicit a quizzical look. <a href="00408.htm">DRINKING FROM THE BITTER WATERS</a>   <a href="00408.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>  <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://bulletininserts.org/bitter.html">BulletinInsert</a> By many miracles, God delivered Israel out of Egypt and across the Red Sea. Immediately thereafter, they were three days in the wilderness without water. When they did find at Marah the water they had desperately sought, it was bitter (Exodus 15:22-25). How would they respond to this disappointment? <a href="00407.htm">THE PARALLEL TRACKS OF GOOD AND BAD</a>   <a href="00407.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   The late Ron Dunn, a preacher whom I highly esteem, coined a truism I frequently lean upon: Good and bad run along parallel tracks and often arrive about the same time. <a href="00406.htm">LEARNING WORDS OF A NEW LANGUAGE</a>   <a href="00406.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   We began this year with expectant enthusiasm for learning Spanish as a second language. Imagine our surprise in being compelled to abandon our first enjoyable lessons and adapt to the convoluted lingo of a decidedly ominous tongue: cancer. <a href="00405.htm">LEARNING WORDS OF A NEW LANGUAGE</a>   <a href="00405.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   We began this year with expectant enthusiasm for learning Spanish as a second language. Imagine our surprise in being compelled to abandon our first enjoyable lessons and adapt to the convoluted lingo of a decidedly ominous tongue: cancer. <a href="00404.htm">WHEN GOD SAYS HOWEVER</a>   <a href="00404.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>  <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://bulletininserts.org/however.html">BulletinInsert</a> A curious event in Genesis 48 demonstrates how God's work in us is never really over. <a href="00403.htm">RECIPES FOR SIMPLIFYING LIFE</a>   <a href="00403.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   "What did Sherlock Holmes say?" she anxiously asks, befuddled by Jeremy Brett's decidedly clipped but authentic British accent. "Back it up a bit," I reply, failing to have grasped his words myself. So she begins furiously stabbing buttons on one of several devices beside her--but the action does not stop. Then I decipher the problem and quickly advise her: "That's your cell phone!" <a href="00402.htm">JUST AN HOUR WOULD DO</a>   <a href="00402.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   "I'd like to live my life over again," some assert, "if I could just know what I know now." Not me! <a href="00401.htm">MOVING TO THE HEAD OF THE LINE</a>   <a href="00401.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>  <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://bulletininserts.org/line.html">BulletinInsert</a> My dad had two fears: the nursing home and a long-winded speaker at his funeral. He avoided the first; the jury still debates the second. <a href="00400.htm">THINGS I WISH I STILL HAD</a>   <a href="00400.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Some I willingly released. Others I lost... or they simply disappeared. And time and circumstance ripped away a significant few by force. But here's the commonality: I wish I still had them all. <a href="00399.htm">FINDING SATISFACTION IN THE OLD-FASHIONED DUMP</a>   <a href="00399.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Thomas Edison observed, "To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk." And junk helped fuel the imagination of my youth. <a href="00398.htm">THE PAIN OF FORGING NEW ALLIANCES</a>   <a href="00398.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Just last month I painfully, reluctantly forged my latest alliance in a four-decade string of relationships. I bought a new vacuum cleaner. <a href="00397.htm">THE PAIN OF FORGING NEW ALLIANCES</a>   <a href="00397.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Just last month I painfully, reluctantly forged my latest alliance in a four-decade string of relationships. I bought a new vacuum cleaner. <a href="00396.htm">GOOD KNOTS I HAVE KNOWN</a>   <a href="00396.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   An old friend rescued me from a bit of a jam last week. He's one of an elite group I've come to count on for more than four decades now. <a href="00395.htm">NEW BIRDS IN THE YARD</a>   <a href="00395.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Recent weeks have found me plying a new-found pleasure: installing bird feeders in our treeless backyard. Our most frequent visitor has been the English sparrow. <a href="00394.htm">SOSIPATER S LONESOME DUMPSTER DAYS</a>   <a href="00394.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   I'm not sure when we started feeding him. Six months ago... about. Just a sad feral kitty under a dumpster behind Sonic. <a href="00393.htm">DREAMS I NEVER FOLLOWED</a>   <a href="00393.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   "Launch your career as a locksmith with our home study training course!" Thus read typical back-of-the-magazine ads in late 1950s. And the promise of a free set of tools--even for lockpicking!--pulled almost irresistibly. But I had neither nerve nor money to follow through. <a href="00392.htm">GUIDELINES FOR IMPORTANT STUFF</a>   <a href="00392.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Advice to anyone contemplating retirement: finish your "important stuff" before you retire; there won't be time afterward. <a href="00391.htm">PUTTING THE BRAKES ON UNWANTED MOMENTUM</a>   <a href="00391.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   The phenomenon in physics known as "conservation of momentum" has a practical explanation: an object in motion resists attempts to change its speed or direction. The same is true of life. <a href="00390.htm">THE SURPRISING WORLD OF SENIOR DISCOUNTS</a>   <a href="00390.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   I well remember the first time it happened. Surprised but not offended, I happily accepted the unexpected outcome. <a href="00389.htm">THE PROBLEM WITH EASTER</a>   <a href="00389.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>  <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://bulletininserts.org/easter.html">BulletinInsert</a> After its conception as a holy celebration in the second century, Easter was not always celebrated on Sunday as it is today. But when it should be celebrated has been a source of controversy and confusion that continues even until today. <a href="00388.htm">AN UNEXPECTED VALENTINE STORY</a>   <a href="00388.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   What connects a spool of thread, a battery, a bottle of aspirin and a small dog bone? Fabricate an interlocking story--and write it. That was the seemingly impossible assignment for the four couples at our Valentine banquet table. For what could these unrelated items have in common? <a href="00387.htm">THE THIRST FOR HIGHER SPEEDS</a>   <a href="00387.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   My move to electronic communication can hardly be described as voluntary. Simply put, a testy magazine editor demand that I use email if I wanted to do business with him. <a href="00386.htm">THE SOUNDS AND SEQUENCES OF MORNING</a>   <a href="00386.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Even in 5:00 a.m. February darkness, familiar sounds and sequences define my world. <a href="00385.htm">WHY I LOVE PAYING BILLS</a>   <a href="00385.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Peering out the window, I twitch... until the mail arrives. Then snatching up my bills, I scamper inside to pay them. <a href="00384.htm">MAKING EXTRA MONEY WITH POSSUM HIDES</a>   <a href="00384.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   In 1955 when I was nine, Daddy decided to teach me how country people earned money after the Great Depression. Our lessons came mostly on cold winter nights. <a href="00383.htm">FAMILY HISTORY BY THE NUMBERS</a>   <a href="00383.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Populate 37 blank pages with meaningful notations before Christmas morning. That's the one present my wife requested, so it had to be done. <a href="00382.htm">THE DEMISE OF THE SUIT</a>   <a href="00382.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Except for weddings or funerals or speaking engagements, I seldom wear a suit. <a href="00381.htm">VERBAL SHORTCUTS THAT WORK</a>   <a href="00381.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   As is often the case with people who've lived together for a long time, we've developed our own system of effective verbal shortcuts. These words and phrases effectively convey far more meaning than their staid and steady "plain English" counterparts--and they work. <a href="00380.htm">ENJOYING THE LIGHTS OF CHRISTMAS</a>   <a href="00380.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   I write this on December 20, 2004, which would have been our daughter Jenny's 32nd birthday. And I well recall the events of December 20, 1972. <a href="00379.htm">REMEMBERING MR. BILL FOY</a>   <a href="00379.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   When we first met the Brown family in 1982, a problem immediately surfaced: what to call Mr. Brown. His wife, Judy, referred to him as "Bill," but their mailbox said "Foy." My wife soon resolved the dilemma by dubbing him "Mr. Bill Foy," a term of endearment that even his recent death hasn't erased. <a href="00378.htm">IN SEARCH OF THE PERFECT PEN</a>   <a href="00378.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   At last! The perfect pen! <a href="00377.htm">GOING WIRELESS THE OLD FASHIONED WAY</a>   <a href="00377.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Solid black with rotary dial. That was the standard choice in telephones when we married. <a href="00376.htm">THE TRUE MEANING OF TWINSHIP</a>   <a href="00376.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Can twins be born three years apart? I say yes. <a href="00375.htm">RULES FOR DEALING WITH CATS AND LIFE</a>   <a href="00375.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   "I'm so lonely here by myself during the day, and there's free kitty advertised on the radio. Can I get it? Please?" <a href="00373.htm">THE UNEXPECTED TROPHIES OF PARENTHOOD</a>   <a href="00373.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Just before midnight, the whistling outside put me on alert. Then the front door swung opened. <a href="00372.htm">THE MEANING OF RETIREMENT</a>   <a href="00372.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   "Well, how's retirement going?" My journal for the last month answers this frequent inquiry, but probably not as the various questioners might expect. Let me explain. <a href="00371.htm">THE SOURCE OF TODAY S CLUTTER</a>   <a href="00371.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Like water into the Dead Sea, whatever flows into my junk drawer never emerges. Just today I stirred the contents to see what kinds of "things" would rise to the surface. <a href="00370.htm">THOUGHTS FOR THANKSGIVING</a>   <a href="00370.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>  <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://bulletininserts.org/tthoughts.html">BulletinInsert</a> In an era not so long ago, our country was being ripped asunder by internal turmoils and differences--much as it is today. <a href="00369.htm">THE PUZZLING SHADOW OF PERCEPTION</a>   <a href="00369.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   As I slid from my car onto the Hobby Lobby parking lot, I was startled to see some tiny birds flying low--very low--to the ground. But one incongruity made me wonder: they were only an inch long. <a href="00368.htm">HOW DREAMING BEGETS BECOMING</a>   <a href="00368.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   I still see Old Smiley in my mind's eye, snuffling fallen leaves in search of animal trails. Finding none, she trots eagerly ahead until my whistle beckons her back. Recovering from a broken foot and unable to keep up, I creep tentatively, leaning heavily on my hiking stick. <a href="00367.htm">THE LAST TIMES OF THAT OCTOBER</a>   <a href="00367.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   I saw her for the last time on such a rare and wonderful autumn day as this. With fall crispness charging the air, our long, lingering stroll around the campus let her enjoy the unique texture of October breeze and sun upon her cheeks. <a href="00366.htm">WHAT S LEFT WHEN BEAUTY FADES?</a>   <a href="00366.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Indian corn, ghost pumpkins, and flowering vines. The discovery of the misplaced seed packets put me in a dither to plant before summer had progressed too far. <a href="00365.htm">FIGHTING OBSOLESCENCE</a>   <a href="00365.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   I fight a persistent enemy almost every day: obsolescence. <a href="00364.htm">EBB AND FLOW OF EARLY MARRIAGE FORTUNES</a>   <a href="00364.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Why have I bothered to save these check registers from our early marriage? For posterity, I suppose, should anyone actually be interested. <a href="00363.htm">PICKING PET NAMES BY THE LITERARY METHOD</a>   <a href="00363.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   "Never touch a purring kitten" had been my longstanding, firm admonition. But when the tiny black beast appeared on our doorstep on Morningside Drive almost 20 years ago, my wife buckled--and fed the little waif. <a href="00362.htm">HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATIONS</a>   <a href="00362.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Rivulets of sweat traced muddy trails on the dusty face behind the mower. Dogged by heat, noise and grime, the boy's body language screamed: "I hate this job!" <a href="00361.htm">NECESSITIES FOR SUCCESSFUL COLLEGE LIVING</a>   <a href="00361.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   I haven't slept in a college dorm room in almost 40 years. But just last week I bought a few dorm supplies--for myself. <a href="00360.htm">LISTENING TO THE STORY OF THE FOREST</a>   <a href="00360.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   My back to the river below me, I hunker on a stone and gaze into the forest. And seeking refuge from the challenges of responsibility, I listen to its story. <a href="00359.htm">FEELING THE HOT BREATH OF TEXAS</a>   <a href="00359.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   A certain type of brisk, dry breeze upon my face invariably elicits one response: "This feels just like Texas!" I first felt the unforgettable hot breath of Texas in June 1967. <a href="00358.htm">THE DAY THE SLIDE RULE DIED</a>   <a href="00358.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   When friend Keith Bolton politely inquired whether I had used Texas Instruments calculators during my employment at that company, he greatly underestimated my foothold in antiquity. <a href="00357.htm">TAMING A LION WITH A KEYBOARD</a>   <a href="00357.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Cruelty dons many a face. Consider this one: Unbeknownst to her, I signed my wife up for a computer course. Actually, all I really did was call Conway Adult Education Center and gather information. T-h-e-e-n-n I told Mary what to do. <a href="00356.htm">FINDING PEACE IN A HOSTILE WORLD</a>   <a href="00356.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   How does one adapt to a hostile world? Four brief sentences from a biography of renowned American illustrator and painter Newell Convers Wyeth (1882-1945) provide a tiny peek at how one man faced four battles none of us will escape. <a href="00355.htm">WAITING FOR UNEXPECTED APPOINTMENTS</a>   <a href="00355.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>  <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://bulletininserts.org/appmnt.html">BulletinInsert</a> A band of swarthy men prod their sleepy camels out of slumber to face another interminable, boiling desert day. Traders from the land of Midian, Egypt's bustling bazaars beckon. But unbeknownst to them, they will keep an appointment they do not know they have. And it will fling them into the centrifuge of history that separates miraculous from mundane. <a href="00354.htm">VOICES OF THE SUMMER STORM</a>   <a href="00354.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   From the front porch I gaze at lighting flashes in the west as thunder rolls like distant surf. And I hearken intently for the voices of the approaching summer storm. <a href="00353.htm">VISIONS OF FOOD AND FIREWORKS</a>   <a href="00353.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   The announcement in this morning's paper about the annual Fourth of July celebration at the Conway Human Development Center has cast me into a reflective mood. As a boy, our son, Barrett, had one persistent question beginning mid-June each year: "When are we going to the Celebration?" <a href="00352.htm">WALKING IN HIS STEPS</a>   <a href="00352.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   By her own confession, my wife has a terrible memory for critical details like the whereabouts of the checkbook, the name of a 20-year friend, the destination of the vehicle she is driving. But her brain exhibits a strange affinity for obscure relationships among numbers, dates and events. <a href="00351.htm">THE WORD FATHERS LONG TO HEAR</a>   <a href="00351.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>  <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://bulletininserts.org/longhear.html">BulletinInsert</a> Regular readers know our daughter Jenny, who died unexpectedly in October 1995. So in honor of Father's Day, I share this brief essay about her that I prepared for a writing contest. <a href="00350.htm">A LETTER TO MY WIFE</a>   <a href="00350.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   It hardly seems as seems as if our 37 years together have come and gone so quickly, but sifting through old pictures this past week convinces me that they have. My hair was once black, but what few locks that age and stress have permitted to remain are now decidedly gray. <a href="00349.htm">THE LESSON VETERANS CAN TEACH US</a>   <a href="00349.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Sixteen hundred years after the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 79, explorers uncovered the aftermath of tragedy that had swept away the town of Pompeii. Inhabitants were found where death had overtaken them--cellars, attics, streets--in their desperate flights from the tide of volcanic gases and the storm of falling ashes. But the Roman sentinel's skeleton-hand still grasped the hilt of his sword. Stationed there by duty, death had met him at his post. <a href="00348.htm">GREAT LEARNING SOMETIMES HINDERS GOOD THINKING</a>   <a href="00348.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Six years of college don t necessarily make one a good thinker. <a href="00347.htm">LEARNING TO WRITE WITH MY MOUTH</a>   <a href="00347.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Envisioning unlimited possibilities, I clutch my pen with determination, hunching intently over the blank page before me--and nothing happens. So I'm trying to learn to write with my mouth. <a href="00346.htm">WHO SAYS YOU CAN T TRAIN CATS</a>   <a href="00346.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Whoever says you can't train cats just doesn't know. Training involves establishing strong ties between cause and effect, and cats learn quickly. Training brings results. <a href="00345.htm">CHANGING MY FAVORITE PUNCTUATION MARK</a>   <a href="00345.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Favorites. Fishermen have their lures, golfers their clubs. Me? I have a favorite punctuation mark--but am trying to make a change. <a href="00344.htm">STRANGE DOORWAYS TO CERTAIN DEATH</a>   <a href="00344.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Strolling through Lowe's on Saturday, I unexpectedly stumbled upon--again--strange doors to certain death. <a href="00343.htm">THE PROBLEM WITH WE PROJECTS</a>   <a href="00343.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Just last Tuesday our son spied a coconut on the kitchen cabinet and began tossing it into the air. "What's this coconut for?" A reasonable question, since I don't remember our ever having a coconut in almost 37 years of marriage. "Oh, that's just one of Mom's WE Projects." <a href="00342.htm">WAITING FOR THE CLOSED DOORS TO OPEN</a>   <a href="00342.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   A melting pot of all walks of life, both the wealthy and the destitute alike present themselves at the emergency room on approximately equal footing. Many arrive under on their own power, others are carried, some pushed. Certain problems declare themselves openly, others not so. <a href="00341.htm">THE LAST TIME WE LOOKED FOR TRAINS</a>   <a href="00341.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Last week I heard the early morning wail of a train. Though trains are commonplace in our city, fleeting years and evolving circumstances have diminished their importance to me, and I seldom notice them anymore. <a href="00340.htm">REVVING UP THE TREADMILL OF MEDICAL CARE</a>   <a href="00340.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   (Sunday afternoon) I have an appointment with a new doctor tomorrow afternoon. And I'm a bit concerned. <a href="00339.htm">THE BEST BIRTHDAY PRESENT FOR MY WIFE</a>   <a href="00339.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   One question stabs many husbands with increasing intensity as the time draws near: what should I get my wife for her birthday? Not me. <a href="00338.htm">WHAT TO DO WITH FAILED DREAMS AND SCHEMES</a>   <a href="00338.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   "Now when they come to evict us from the house, do they call first, or do they just show up?" With such naivety my wife has spoiled many a good plan to quit a dull but stable job and pursue my dream de jour. <a href="00337.htm">THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE AREN T FREE</a>   <a href="00337.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Her simple obituary offers no pretense or grandeur: a retired florist, faithful church member, an advocate for and friend of the developmentally disabled. And not a word of the unfathomable riches waiting for her in heaven. <a href="00336.htm">WHEN TIME PAYS OUT HER DIVIDENDS</a>   <a href="00336.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   As we passed through downtown Farmerville (Louisiana) this past weekend, I silently scoured the storefronts. Then from a memory reaching back about 20 years, I recognized the object of my surveillance. "There's where we saw Santa Claus in the rocking chair!" <a href="00335.htm">SHUTTLED ONTO A SIDETRACK</a>   <a href="00335.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   On Monday mornings I endeavor to inflate a small idea in a full-blown column. But today, as I riffled an old book seeking a pithy quotation, four scraps of paper tucked within the pages interrupted my pursuit and shuttled me onto an unexpected sidetrack. <a href="00334.htm">THE BRUSHSTROKES OF DESTINY</a>   <a href="00334.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Onto a single square inch of paper, my photo printer can spew 5 million infinitesimal droplets of colored ink. Though individually indistinguishable by the eye, 120 million of these miniature orbs somehow amalgamate into a splendid photograph. A facsimile of life, innumerable individual details--each seemingly insignificant and unrelated to its neighbor--control the quality of the finished product. <a href="00333.htm">THE HEALING BALM OF TIME AND PERSPECTIVE</a>   <a href="00333.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Four years ago, during our last foray into their domain, the dinosaurs began peering menacingly over the horizon from about 15 miles out. With bodies looming larger by the minute, their fierce stares dared us to come closer. <a href="00332.htm">STEPS FOR EFFICIENT LIVING</a>   <a href="00332.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Our cat Peach relished a full-length sprawl, tummy pressed against the front of the refrigerator to capture every smidgen of warm air rippling from the vent. Little did he know how improved efficiency would soon wreck his luxuriant habit when compulsions to upgrade both color and capacity sent us refrigerator shopping for the first time in 25 years. <a href="00331.htm">SHAPING SPLENDOR FROM THE CLAY OF ADVERSITY</a>   <a href="00331.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   "Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honor and recognition in case of success." <a href="00330.htm">FLEEING FROM THE VOICE OF FEAR</a>   <a href="00330.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Plunging furiously and simultaneously in all directions, he still could not escape the breath of doom hot upon his neck. There was no escape--so he ran for all he was worth, driven by recurring impulses of pure terror. <a href="00329.htm">THE HOPE THAT S IN THE HURT</a>   <a href="00329.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   George Frederick Handel's career was afflicted with setbacks. Twice bankrupt, he had fallen out of favor with audiences, and financial woes mounted. With such strains upon him, he plunged into the task of writing Messiah. Servants reported that for the 24-day duration of the project, his food was often untouched, and his manuscript was frequently wet with tears. <a href="00328.htm">IF I COULD SEE FOR JUST THREE DAYS</a>   <a href="00328.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   After being stricken with a devastating illness before she was two, Helen Keller (1880--1968) spent the rest of her life both blind and deaf. Scaling these two great obstacles, however, she rose to international fame and offered solace and comfort to many in similar straits. <a href="00327.htm">RESOLVED TO DO BETTER THIS YEAR</a>   <a href="00327.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>  <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://bulletininserts.org/resolvedto.html">BulletinInsert</a> This being the season for making New Year's resolutions, I thought we might be inspired in our own commitments by a few of the 70 resolutions made by a young man when he was about 20. His powerful resolves helped shape not only his own destiny, but also that of a nation. / ****** / 1. Resolved, that I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God's glory, and my own good, profit and pleasure, in the whole of my duration, without any consideration of the time, whether now, or never so many myriads of ages hence. Resolved to do whatever I think to be my duty and most for the good and advantage of mankind in general. Resolved to do this, whatever difficulties I meet with, how many soever, and how great soever. <a href="00326.htm">HOPE FOR NEXT YEAR S PROBLEMS</a>   <a href="00326.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Sunday, December 31, 1995. The big backpacking trip is over. It was exhausting, and I am still weary and sore. <a href="00325.htm">ENJOYING THE AUTUMN DAYS OF LIFE</a>   <a href="00325.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven-- a time to give birth and a time to die... a time to weep and a time to laugh... a time to keep and a time to throw away. (Ecclesiastes 3:1ff) <a href="00324.htm">THE WEAPONS OF OUR WARFARE</a>   <a href="00324.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>  <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://bulletininserts.org/defense.html">BulletinInsert</a> For the 1876 centennial celebration of the Fourth of July, Daniel C. Roberts wrote a special hymn. He could never have known how applicable it would be 125 years hence. <a href="00323.htm">THE OLD ANTIDOTE FOR THE POISON OF FEAR</a>   <a href="00323.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   The recent attacks on America have put us in frightful straits. Defenseless people have been slaughtered. Our wall of peace breached, Fear, Anxiety and Sorrow stalk about almost unrestrained. We are exiles in a country far different from the one we enjoyed just days ago. What can we do? <a href="00322.htm">DECIDING WHAT TO PUSH AGAINST</a>   <a href="00322.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Mary and I had just turned down a steep hill and noticed a stalled car on the other side of the street. Inside was a man; outside were a woman and a young girl, both poised to push the car up the hill. They were obviously unaware of gravity--or pretending it didn't exist. <a href="00321.htm">IF I CAN T SEE HIM, HE S NOT THERE</a>   <a href="00321.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   In the days before Doppler radar and up-to-the-minute weather reports, we had a foolproof way of knowing when a storm was brewing: our dog, Old Muff. <a href="00320.htm">INDEPENDENCE NOW AND INDEPENDENCE FOREVER</a>   <a href="00320.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   When the 1960s dawned, a cloud of fear was creeping across our country. Russia was continually breathing threats, and many were anxious. <a href="00319.htm">OLD ADVICE FOR NEW GRADUATES</a>   <a href="00319.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   When recently asked for some advice for a new graduate, my thoughts flashed back almost 200 years. <a href="00318.htm">MADALYN MURRAY O'HAIR'S GREATEST SERMON</a>   <a href="00318.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   In the 1960s, Madalyn Murray O'Hair participated in successful court battles to ban prayer and Bible-reading in our public schools. Though it took 30 years, she has apparently tasted the bitter fruit of the athiestic gospel she both embraced and fervently preached. But getting what we want is not always good. <a href="00317.htm">TRUE VALUE IS MORE THAN WHAT MEETS THE EYE</a>   <a href="00317.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   I have a $500 car. At least the way our son Barrett classifies it. But I know it's worth a lot more than that. <a href="00316.htm">FINDING GRACE TO LIVE THE NEXT MOMENT</a>   <a href="00316.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   I recently received sad news--a friend had died of substance abuse. How could a successful, intelligent person fall into such a trap? Because, I believe, "Bob" had put his security in things that could be taken away from him. As the foundation stones of his life crumbled one by one, despair crept in to fill the void. He couldn't cope. <a href="00315.htm">SMOKING CIGARS TO THE GLORY OF GOD</a>   <a href="00315.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Dubbed "The Prince of Preachers," Charles H. Spurgeon left an unrivaled legacy among the giants of Christendom. Even today, his volumes of sermons are classics. But Spurgeon had a habit that occasionally brought him criticism: he loved a good cigar. <a href="00314.htm">THE PRAYER THAT BRINGS RESULTS</a>   <a href="00314.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother named him Jabez saying, "Because I bore him with pain." Now Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, "Oh that You would bless me indeed and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and that You would keep me from harm that it may not pain me!" And God granted him what he requested. (1 Chronicles 4:9-10, NASB) <a href="00313.htm">GOD S PROVISION AT THE APPOINTED TIME</a>   <a href="00313.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>  <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://bulletininserts.org/appoint.html">BulletinInsert</a> ... And Samuel said, "Here is what has been reserved! Set it before you and eat, because it has been kept for you until the appointed time.... (1 Samuel 9:24) <a href="00312.htm">SPIRITUAL YARDSTICKS THAT WORK THE BEST</a>   <a href="00312.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   On his 20th birthday earlier this month, I gave our son Barrett a copy of the letter I had written him when he was just one year old. The challenges I set out for him at age one are unchanged 19 years later. I've excerpted portions of that "spiritual yardstick" below, along with one final lesson that's now become obvious. <a href="00311.htm">THE HOUR IS LATER THAN WE THINK</a>   <a href="00311.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   And the sons of Issachar, men who understood the times, with knowledge of what Israel should do.... (1 Chronicles 12:32) <a href="00310.htm">WHEN GOD SAYS HOWEVER </a>   <a href="00310.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   When Joseph was about 56 years old and his father, Jacob, was dying, Jacob called for Joseph's two sons so he could bestow his blessing upon them. As was the custom, Joseph expected Jacob to place his right hand upon the elder son and arranged the boys in front of his blind father accordingly. But that's not what happened. <a href="00309.htm">THE BIBLE S GREATEST UNDERSTATEMENT</a>   <a href="00309.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Buried within the account of creation, we find what may be the Bible's greatest understatement of God's omnipotence and creative ability. The description of this incomprehensible act (which almost sounds like an afterthought) requires only five words in the KJV: "He made the stars also." (Genesis 1:16). <a href="00308.htm">GOD REMEMBERS OUR DEEDS</a>   <a href="00308.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Last month we looked at how God remembers our needs--physical, spiritual and emotional. While we are prone to forget a particular thing for a while and then remember it later, God does not function that way. When God "remembers," He has simply determined to act upon something He has known from the beginning. <a href="00307.htm">GOD REMEMBERS OUR NEEDS</a>   <a href="00307.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   There are many places where the Bible indicates that God "remembers" one thing or another. In considering these statements, we must not assume that God has "forgotten" for a time--and then suddenly "remembers." When God "remembers," He has simply determined to act upon a course of action decided upon long before. <a href="00306.htm">DRINKING FROM THE BITTER WATERS</a>   <a href="00306.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   By many miracles, God delivered Israel out of Egypt and across the Red Sea. Immediately thereafter, they were three days in the wilderness without water. When they did find water at Marah, it was bitter (Exodus 15:22-25). How would they respond to this disappointment? <a href="00305.htm">WITH GOD IN THE SCHOOL OF BUILDING FAITH</a>   <a href="00305.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   Faith: An outward decision made in response to something God has inwardly revealed through the supernatural enlightenment of the eyes of my heart. <a href="00304.htm">ON GOLDEN WINGS</a>   <a href="00304.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   I'm not the person my wife married almost 33 years ago. <a href="00303.htm">THOSE HANDS</a>   <a href="00303.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   I'm trying to finalize some remarks that I've been asked to make at the funeral of a friend's father, and a question keeps coming to mind. What will cause a father's teaching to stick with his children even after his death? The answer is important. <a href="00302.htm">A DIFFERENT EYE</a>   <a href="00302.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   I've wondered what single thought might be appropriate to share as we step into the year 2000. As we seek to better our relationships with God and with each other, there is one that should burn within: God does not see as man sees. <a href="00301.htm">POWER IN A MOTHER'S PRAYER</a>   <a href="00301.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   I recently received an e-mail from a mother who gave me permission to share this excerpt with you: <a href="00300.htm">BEFORE THE THRONE</a>   <a href="00300.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   On March 22, 1997, Barrett and I took a spur-of-the-moment hiking trip to Pedestal Rocks with John Sherman Gilliom and Luke and Zack Stanton. We had a bit of time there to rest and meditate on the Scripture, and I pondered the seeming impossibility of bringing up godly, pure children in an evil world. <a href="00299.htm">AGAIN FOREVER FREE</a>   <a href="00299.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   As I began writing this, I was anxiously waiting for our son Barrett to come home. We had some sad news for him. <a href="00298.htm">THE POWER THAT MOVES THE HAND OF GOD </a>   <a href="00298.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   / From the journal of James McAlister, August 10, 1997: <a href="00297.htm">PREPARING FOR THE TEARS </a>   <a href="00297.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>   The news of Joseph Bounds' drowning struck us with grief and hurt for his parents. He was their only child, and on him were hung so many hopes for the future. <a href="00296.htm">FINDING HELP IN TROUBLED WATERS</a>   <a href="00296.pdf">   Printer Friendly Version</a>  <a style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);" href="http://bulletininserts.org/waters.html">BulletinInsert</a> This has been a particularly difficult week, and I confess to have fallen prey to anxiety and fretting. Worry can give small problems such long shadows that they become giants of immense, irresistible proportions. But on the other hand, I fully realize that there is no enemy too strong or foe too powerful to stand against the t