LOVE FIRST…LOVE MOST

I JUST WAS NOT THINKING TODAY.

I recently wrote that I THOUGHT OF YOU TODAY.

I meant every word. However, there are times when I am not thinking about you. In truth, I have moments where I do not think about anything. That is a little frightening!

There are times that the chains on my mood swing just snap...and I go into Stupid Ville.

Thoughtless. Mindless. Scatter-brained. Moronic.

My childhood dream was to become an astronaut. Unfortunately, it was not in the stars.

I fell short of NASA’s astronaut standards for eyesight, intelligence, aviation skills, and problem solving. How was I to know that my failure to accurately follow an assigned check list would haunt me for the rest of my life?

Last week, my wife lowered her hopes from words to pictures. That’s right. Pictures! She used to give me a list of items to buy at the store. Somehow, this Ivy-League educated husband finds ways to miss or mess up something on the grocery list.

This time she sent me to the store with pictures of the food purchases. (No, this is not the grocery picture assignment I mentioned before. This happened after months of flash card training at home.) How humiliating!

Well, not as humiliating as when I returned home with blackberries, instead of blueberries!

When my wife pointed out my mistake in the colored berry selection, I muttered, “Well, I feel stupid.”

My adorable wife laughed as she asked, “Didn’t you look at the picture? Did you not think to look at the product description next to the picture?”

I was stunned. I did not know if that was one question or two?

Now I am back to the preschool basics of learning colors and counting and reading.

Well, the store assistant assumed I could not read. That was also humiliating. When he offered to help, I showed him a picture on my phone and asked if they had any berries that looked like it. He stared at me as if I were stupid. I explained that the chain on my mood swing had snapped.

In my defense, the color in the picture was very misleading.

I already admitted I failed the astronaut eyesight exam. Apparently while navigating a spaceship, it matters whether you hit the abort liftoff black button on the computer keyboard rather than the rocket thrust acceleration blue button.

The only areas where I surpassed NASA standards were weight and stupidity. One was fixable through a better diet. The other cannot be fixed. Not even by the greatest minds in the known universe.

There are moments when my stupidity ventures to boldly go where no stupidity has gone before.

STUPIDITY. If you need me to provide a definition, then just consider yourself far above the minimal standard for ‘idiot.’

Stupidity is universal. We each exhibit some degree of it at various times in life. It does seem to come more naturally to some. I know a few people whose stupidity appears endless and effortless.

To help all mankind, I wish to offer these suggestions to avoid doing stupid things.

1. Do not stand over a toilet with your eyeglasses on top of your head. (The absence of clean eyeglasses did contribute to my inability to discern the picture colors for the berries on the shopping list.)
2. Do not place your cell phone on top of your car.
3. Do not place your billfold on top of your car.
4. Do not place your mail on top of your car.
5. Do not place your wife on top of your car.
6. Do not close the car door before your foot is fully inside the vehicle.
7. Do not try to walk on ice.
8. Do not fall on ice without access to a cell phone to call for help.
9. Do not come home with three ice cream cones when there are four grandchildren at the house.
10. Do not use stupid phrases as computer passwords, such as Dumb and Dumber, or Dummy and Dummy2. I suggest using my favorite password, 2Dumb4U.
11. Do not drive away from the gas station before returning the gas pump to its stored position.
12. Do not stomp on the brakes when your Raising Cane’s sauce is open.
13. Do not stomp on the brakes when your beverage cup is unsecured.
14. Do not stomp on the brakes when your hot pizza box is in the front seat. (Seatbelt laws should be enforced.)
15. Do not stomp on your brakes when your ride-along dog is standing in the back seat. (It is amazing how quickly a pet can become a windshield ornament.)
16. Do not forget…anything (anniversary, birthdays, doctor appointments).
17. Do not leave the water running in your sink…in your shower…in your lawn sprinkler.
18. Do not drop your cell phone into the Bermuda Triangle darkness between your car seat and console.
19. Do not make impulse purchases without checking the three figure return shipping costs to China.
20. Do not get into the wrong car just because it looked similar to yours.
21. Do not think that money in your checking account never needs to be replaced.
22. Do not think that anything on the internet is ‘free.’ (You just signed up for a ten-year monthly supply with no customer service connection.)
23. Do not stick a suction cup to your forehead for the grandkids to pull off.
24. Do not call someone “Buddy” or “Bro” or “Idiot” just because you cannot remember their name.
25. Do not reply to a “bless you” for your sneeze with “you too.”
26. Do not scream at the traffic red lights more than three times in a row.
27. Do not use hand signals to communicate with other drivers.
28. Do not carry five sacks of groceries at one time so you can make fewer trips from the car.
29. Do not place a water-filled ice chest on the hotel clothes cart.
30. Do not leave your room key and ID in your locked hotel room.
31. Do not be intimidated or stopped or made to feel guilty while enjoying a ‘family size’ bag of chips or cookies all by yourself.
32. Do not type an angry text or email that you never intend to send. (Ooops! Did I just hit the ‘send’ button?)
33. Do not binge on The Good! The Bad! And The Ugly while naming people you know who could play those characters.
34. Do not give your honest opinion about someone’s recipe, clothing, haircut, or parenting technique…NEVER! NO MATTER WHAT!
35. Do not show any signs of life when your friend asks for help to move a few rocks.
36. Do not move your spouse’s keys to a better place to keep them.
37. Do not open a pill box over the sink.
38. Do not rinse silverware while the garbage disposal is engaged.
39. Do not tell a caller you are not home before checking to see if their car is in your driveway.
40. Do not leave your dinner meal unattended on the table stand next to your chair while you go to the garage refrigerator for something to drink. (Some dogs see that as a grand opportunity provided by their ‘stupid’ owner.)
41. Do not make private comments on a group text.
42. Do not set the table for the family dinner before you realize the dishwasher was never turned on. (At that point, it might be ‘stupid’ to even mention the slight discrepancy between people’s varying definitions of clean and dirty.)
43. “Do not ever argue with stupid people, they will drag you down to their level and then beat you with experience” (Mark Twain).
44. Do not ask a stupid question without expecting a truckload of sarcastic remarks from my family.
45. Do not pause the washing machine so you can throw in your red shirts with your wife’s laundry.
46. Do not continue driving to the next town while your car’s dashboard flashes ‘No Fuel.’
47. Do not give a smart phone to a stupid person. (That is stupid!)
48. Do not waste your time trying to teach a stupid person how to use their smart phone. (That is stupider than more stupid!)
49. Do not try to convince a stupid person that what they are saying or doing is stupid. (That is the stupidest waste of time!)
50. Do not honk your horn louder for stupid people. (They will not notice and, if they do, they will think you are celebrating with them!)

The old wise Albert Einstein spoke about his Theory of Relativity in real life terms. “There are two things that are infinite: The universe and human stupidity, and I am not sure about the universe…The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has limits.”

Maybe there is an APP for stupid people. Surely, there is a market for it.

I do predict that Artificial Intelligence will be defeated by Natural Stupidity.

I am going to go along with Shakespeare on this one. “A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool.”

DO NOT FORGET THERE IS BEAUTY IN STUPIDITY…USE PICTURES TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT ACCENT COLOR.

Others will have to put up with my stupidity because YOU CANNOT FIX STUPID.

Stupid people do not gain wisdom as they age; they just become old stupid people.

I pray the Lord saves me from being morosoph– an educated person who lacks common sense, good judgment, refuses to listen to other ideas, but insists on commenting about everyone and everything.

To conclude with a hopeful thought, it is worth noting that jellyfish have existed for thousands of years without possessing brains.

So, remember that the one who laughs last is usually the one who thinks the slowest.

EYES UP! LOVE YOU!….even when the chains on my mood swing snap.

I hope you are enjoying the holiday weekend whether you are chillin’ at the beach, fishing on the lake, watching fireworks, grilling, or cuddling up on the couch watching a movie or reading a book.

My Winsday Week recommendation is to watch Chariots of Fire, renowned for its awesome music theme, or explore the larger story in the book, Something Beyond the Gold.

My brief synopsis contains Preview Spoiler Alerts and Subliminal Suggestions.

CHARACTER, COMMITMENT, AND COURAGE MATTER IN LIFE…everyday…with everyone… involving everything.

Imagine doing something impossible…something which has never been done before. Eric Liddell faced that challenge. The Academy Award winning movie, Chariots of Fire, told the real-life story of Eric and his track competitor, Harold Abrahams. The film follows them through their university years as they prepared to compete for the 100-meter gold medal in the 1924 Paris Olympics.

The most dramatic scenes highlight one of the reasons Liddell became so famous as he refused to compete in his best event, the 100-meter heat because it took place on a Sunday. He was a very committed follower of Jesus Christ. His decision shocked the world. Years later, Liddell would be tested far beyond mere physical ability as a missionary to China. He had postponed his missionary service for this opportunity to glorify God. As he told his sister, “I plan to serve God in helping others, but God also made me fast. When I run, I can feel His pleasure.”

Liddell was harassed about his decision by the British Olympic Committee.

Despite this, he didn’t back down on the issue. When offered an alternative plan, he agreed to run the 400-meter race. He was fast but nowhere near the fastest times of the other athletes.

Liddell also was noted for his very peculiar running style as a sprinter. When he kicked it in gear, he would throw his head back and flail both arms like he was fighting the wind.

Liddell ran the Olympic race clutching a small piece of paper with a note given to him by the American 100-meter finalist: “In the old Book, God says, “He who honors Me, I will honor.”

The writer of Something Beyond the Gold described what happened next. The shot of the starter’s pistol echoed around the stadium as the 400-meters race began. Eric Liddell lunged forward. The spikes on his black leather shoes gripped the rolled cinder track surface. Puffs of gray cinders burst from under his shoes with each stride.

Liddell was running in the outside lane which was a disadvantage since he could not see how well the others were doing. Running next to him was the American, Horatio Fitch, the favorite to win the gold medal. Fitch had set a new world record that year. The Swiss runner, Joseph Imbach, was in the next lane. He had also broken the previous world record. The cheers of the crowd roared throughout the stadium in anticipation of this battle.

As the runners streaked down the back straightaway, it was Liddell still out in front, sprinting through the first 200 meters in 22.2 seconds. Another British runner was close, and the favorite Fitch appeared to be gaining ground. The crowd suddenly went silent as Liddell continued to lead.

Most thought the 100-meter star could not keep up this full out sprint in what many consider the toughest race of all. The crowd waited for Liddell to falter from using all his energy and stamina in the first half of the race. As the runners entered the final turn, Fitch made his move, and the crowd erupted with loud shouts.

It seemed impossible for Liddell to hold off this challenge. When everyone expected Liddell to fade, he threw back his head and began to flail his arms like a drowning man. Like a rocket shot from a cannon, Liddell had a burst of speed and began pulling away from Fitch’s challenge.

Instead of slowing down, he ran the second half of the race faster than the first. The crowd sensed an upset and roared for Liddell’s finish as British flags waved throughout the stadium. Liddell lunged for the finish line five meters in front of the favorite Fitch.

He had done the impossible. Liddell fell into the arms of his coach and then to the ground as he struggled to catch his breath. Thunderous applause erupted throughout the stadium. The noise was deafening. It was later reported that the celebration could be heard all over Paris.

As the sound levels lessened, an announcement came over the speakers declaring Eric Liddell the gold medal champion with a new world record.

The crowd went wild again as his British teammates hoisted him on their shoulders and paraded around the track. Liddell defied the odds and won the event with a world record performance (47.6 seconds). His incredible victory further strengthened his belief in God’s promise, “He who honors Me, I will honor.”

He was just an athlete who remembered the most important thing in life: Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength and then love your brothers as yourself.

Liddell ran the race as a full out sprint. How did he do it? Listen to his description. “I run the first 200 meters as hard as I can. Then, with God’s help, I run the last half even harder.”

Winning the Olympic gold medal was truly an impressive achievement, but it was child’s play compared to what Liddell did next. Originally born in China to missionary parents, he was educated in Scotland. Although he ran under the British flag, China regarded him as one of her first Olympic champions. The following year after his Olympic victory, Liddell spoke all over England and Scotland to raise funds for the Lord’s work among the poor and needy. Then he returned to China as a missionary.

For several years, Liddell served as both a science and sports teacher at a college in the same Chinese city in which he was born. He also engaged in preaching and humanitarian work. He helped the poor and sick.

During this time, the Japanese were attacking China as part of World War II. Liddell ran the risk of being shot every time he walked out the door. The situation was so dangerous that the British government advised him and other British citizens to leave the country. Liddell’s family left, but he voluntarily stayed to help the needy.

Eventually, the Japanese invaded China and took control of the city. Liddell and other foreigners were sent to a prison camp. Liddell spent his time teaching children and sharing what he had. However, his health rapidly deteriorated. He suffered from a brain tumor.

The English Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, managed to secure Liddell’s freedom in a prisoner exchange, but Liddell declined and instead offered his place to a pregnant woman who was also in the camp, saving her and the unborn child. Liddell died in a World War II prison.

A survivor of the prison camp described Eric Liddell this way. Often in an evening I would see him bent over a chessboard or a model boat, or directing some sort of square dance – absorbed, weary and interested, pouring all of himself into this effort to capture the imagination of these penned-up youths. He was overflowing with good humor and love for life, and with enthusiasm and charm. It is rare indeed that a person has the good fortune to meet a saint, but he came as close to it as anyone I have ever known.

God has given you some ability and opportunity. The main goal is to use your platform of influence to glorify God and help others.

Eric Liddell often said, “A fellow’s life counts for far more at helping others than his athletic endeavors.” His character, perseverance, endurance, and kindness set an example for every one of us willing to take on the impossible.

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. (Joshua 1:9)

CHARACTER, COMMITMENT, AND COURAGE MATTER IN LIFE…everyday…with everyone… involving everything.

EYES UP! LOVE YOU!

I wanted to be an astronaut. I ended up being a coal miner.

I dreamed of soaring into space with John Glenn or leaping around the moon’s surface with Neil Armstrong. “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Instead, I went deep into the earth. There were no stunning views of our blue planet, just high piles of dirt in a dark dungeon.

Outer space was far away. My coal mining day was spent deeper underground than the Empire State Building is tall.

I was fully qualified to be an astronaut. I had all the Right Stuff except for my poor vision, even poorer vertigo, the poorest grades in physics, and my inability to fly a plane.

Apparently, I had all the Right Stuff to be a coal miner. I had a body, and I was expendable.

I had coal mining in my family history before I ever felt my face covered in black soot. My mom was a Coal Miner’s Daughter, and I was the grandson of a coal mine foreman from Kentucky and later Tahona, Oklahoma.

I wanted to be an athlete and then an astronaut. I ended up as a coal miner.

One summer in college, I worked as a coal miner in a shaft mine. We took an elevator down, and then the tunnels extended horizontally underground.

This was the one dark place where literally I could not see my hand in front of my face without the assistance of the headlamp. My dreams had plummeted from the infinite heights of outer space to the hidden depths of total darkness.

The summer benefit was vanity. After cleaning my blackened face, I was left with dark eyebrows and eyelashes that could make Elvis Presley jealous. Girls who spent hours with mascara and fake eyelashes envied my look. It felt as if a Hollywood stylist had prepared me for a photo shoot.

The long-term benefit was qualifying for Black Lung support. Apparently, breathing coal dust is unhealthy for the lungs.

I remember this experience around three topics. Darkness. Danger. Dirt.

Coal Mine Lesson #1 DARKNESS:
I arrived for my engineering apprenticeship, which was mostly about studying, not working hard. The chief engineer said the timber crew needed an extra person, and they offered three dollars more an hour. I needed the money, so it was an easy choice.

An elevator brought us to the bottom of the shaft, which resembled a lit-up parking lot. There were large machines, bright floodlights, and a lot of noise. The horizontal tunnels were very dark.

The crew took a lunch break at noon. When a co-worker asked about my lunch, I said it was in my locker. He laughed and told me we do not go back above ground for lunch; we eat against the shaft wall.

Man does not live by bread alone, but by the word of God.

The only light in the horizontal tunnel we traveled through was the small light on our coal miner’s hardhat.

After lunch, my headlamp started to dim. The foreman told me to return to the main center for a new light and to follow the conveyor belt to the main shaft.

As I walked, my lamp gradually dimmed and then went out. It was completely dark, and I could not see my hand. There was nothing around me, just the sound of the conveyor belt.

Darkness can be frightening and cause confusion about direction.

What should I do? Should I ask for help? I was too proud and scared to shout. I thought there was time, so I continued walking close to the sound on my left.

When I reached the bright lights of the center complex, I noticed my foreman had come with me. This was a trust test and a lesson on keeping the headlamp fully charged.

I learned both.

Spiritual Lesson about Darkness. Life has both light and dark moments. We experience sunny days, but sometimes our despair feels so heavy that we do not feel there is any hope of better days.

God uses darkness to teach us to trust Him and the importance of keeping our own light bright for life’s journey.

God’s Word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Never leave home without its guidance. Trust it and preach to yourself in the darkness. Read it often to remind yourself God is always with you and for you.

Every dark day serves a good purpose. Darkness makes faith, hope, and love shine brighter, helping those whose light is fading into fear and confusion.

Coal Mining Lesson #2 DANGER:

My time in coal mining was filled with danger, not extra money for summer fun. When my retired grandfather, who used to be a coal miner, learned I joined the timber crew, he felt fear instead of pride. He had seen too much. The year before he became foreman, an explosion killed his foreman and nineteen other miners.

Coal mining is dangerous. A roof collapse can cause heavy rocks to fall. Dust and methane gas can ignite and cause explosions. Coal dust harms the respiratory system.

The timber crew faced increased danger. As the big machines carved out new tunnel shafts in the rock, the timber crew followed closely to support the ceiling.

The roof was quickly supported by hydraulic jacks. The crew then replaced the jacks with large oak timbers. We measured and cut the timbers with a two-man saw. After lifting and adjusting them into place, our foreman slowly lowered the hydraulic jack until the ceiling’s weight rested fully on the timbers.

Some experiences helped me understand my grandfather’s fears.

I stood by my experienced foreman as he prepared to move the heavy rock ceiling from the hydraulic jack to the new wooden supports. In complete silence, he listened as he slowly released the jack, little by little.

He would stop, listen, and rely on a sense learned only through experience. This timber insertion was unique. He warned me, “Son, be ready to run when I say. Just let go of the jack and run for your life.”

The next breath was, “Run!”

I stood up as a large rock dropped two inches onto my helmet. I felt a small bump. If I had still been on my knees, I might never have played sports again or seen daylight.

As we ran to a safe spot, the rock ceiling fell. Large rocks crashed around us as dust swirled in the air.

Spiritual Lesson for Danger: Stay close to the Lord. Listen to His voice. Follow His warnings. Be aware of His cautions. Avoid dangers to your soul and spiritual health.

There is never a good time to stop and ignore the warnings in the #1 Textbook.

Blessed is the one who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,

nor stands in the way of sinners,

nor sits in the seat of scoffers;

but his delight is in the law of the Lord,

and on his law he meditates day and night.

Coal Mining Lesson #3 DIRT:

Coal dust poses a significant risk of fire explosions. As new mine shafts are developed, large quantities of coal are placed on the conveyor belt that leads to the main shaft for extraction.

One week, the safety engineer threatened to close the mine due to excessive dust under the conveyor belt. Two of us were assigned to shovel the dust onto the belt—three hundred yards of dirt, four feet on each side. We had to shovel until we reached rock bottom.

After eight hours and a lunch break, we only uncovered twenty feet of dirt. That was less than seven yards of a three-hundred yard project.

Why so little progress? The depth of the dirt.

I began the morning on my knees level with the conveyer belt. I moved shovel loads of coal dust, dropping it down on the belt. At the end of the day, I was standing below eye-level of the conveyor belt, lifting shovel loads above my head.

A lot of dirt built up over the years, dust particle by dust particle.

I woke up the next morning, calling for my dad. My hands felt stiff, curled up as if holding a shovel. I thought I was paralyzed. Despite my feelings, I went back to work at the coal mine.

The next day, the mine supervisor assigned our ten-man crew to the project. We dug another thirty yards. A lot of dirt had built up over time. Eventually, we were told to just remove two feet of dirt from the top.

Many of us manage our spiritual lives with just a quick, surface-level approach. Superficial spirituality.

Spiritual Life Lesson about DIRT:

Even a small amount of daily dirt will eventually lead to a hardened heart. Simply trying to be better never solves the problem. We need Christ’s forgiveness each day to have a pure heart for a fresh start.

Clean me up, Lord, and I will be whiter than snow.

Do you need help today? Learn from a summertime coal miner and a wanna-be astronaut.

In times of Darkness, Danger, or Dirt, turn to the Lord.

Oh soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior; and life more abundant and free!

Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face

And the things of this world will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.

EYES UP! LOVE YOU!