Get a Room

Another Great Loss in America - and a Gain for Heaven

The homegoing of Paul Harvey was a sad loss for me personally. This was a truly great commentator. Yes he was conservative for sure, yet Harvey knew how to touch the heart of America with his down home wit and wisdom.

My favorite type of Paul Harvey material came from his patented "The Rest of the Story". I have read two books of his compilations of those broadcasts: Paul Harvey's the Rest of the Story and More of Paul Harvey's the Rest of the Story. You would enjoy them. They are a combination of mystery, romance, humor and history - more lasting no more than 2-3 pages my kind of chapters!) For example, one starts out "I bet you thought you had heard all of the stories about Abraham Lincoln, but I bet you haven't heard this one." He then begins the story with Lincoln getting killed by Indians. Somehow he is right and he doesn't re-write history in the process. (Let me know if you want to know how that one ends!???)

Suffice it to say that Harvey will be missed and that he made no secret of his faith in Christ. That was always the cool thing about him. He was so popular and such a strong believer!

No one will be noticed in heaven for probably millions of years when we first get there. Only the Lord will be seen and worshiped for a long time. It is how it should and will be I am confident. Yet when we lose a special loved one from here (this world) - I cannot help but think of the old saying - "heaven just got a little sweeter". Probably not theologically sound, but comforting to know that we will all be together one day.

Thanks, Paul, for your faith and your boldness to share it with us. You were an encouragement and inspiration to all who heard you. It is probably not my place to assess you on this, but to quote our Lord on what we all long to one day hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant".

A Word to Mark Gaither

I don't know if this is "Blog Kosher" or not but here goes:

Mark Gaither wrote a book I spoke of in this blog last summer - Redemptive Divorce. (See July 17 post.) Good book for thought to say the least, about a creative and God-honoring approach to the ending of a marriage. He actually wrote me and told me "thanks" for reading and commenting on his book in my blog. Imagine that!?! Someone besides you and me read this thing!

Well Mark, I have tried to respond to your email but the address just wouldn't go through. So if you are reading this - or if you know Mark Gaither personally - please let him know that I am grateful and would like to tell him that personally through an efffective email address.

I promise to try to wrap up my list of running animals before 2008 completely evaporates! I know, I know - there's not much left, so I'll see you soon.  

Reading Year-in-Review

Many of you have commented on what you are reading this year and I must say, it is encouraging to hear from you on this subject. I might not read what you do, but it is good, very good to hear your heart on this.

Before we get to far down the road in 2008 I wanted to share with you a few books that meant something to me in 2007. As with what I'm planning on reading, this reading year-in-review is all over the place. I won't comment much on these, especially if I've already mentioned them in a previous posting, but it's just to look back and remember what I've read. Here we go:

Pat Sumrall, Pat Sumrall - On and Off the Field. Inspirational and informational about the NFL.

Kenn Kington, Super Husband and Wonder Wife. Some actual marriage principles as well as Kenn's incomparable humor.

Peter Robison, How Ronald Reagan Changed My Life. Obvious politics but some genuine marriage principles as well - from Ronald Reagan of all people!

Chuck Norris, Against All Odds. His autobio begins in some humble places and he truly lives his life against some major odds. Glad to know he loves the Lord.

Rob Bell, Sex God. Typical off-the-wall Bell. Get ready when you pick one of his up!

Wally Armstrong and Ken Blanchard, The Mulligan. An inspirational devotional guide for golfers. Armstrong has several of these out and they are all solid pieces.

Charles Stanley, When the Enemy Strikes. I am not the kind to find a demon under every rock but it does help to respect the enemy and understand what happens with spiritual warfare. Stanley provides a good framework to do that.

Tony Dungy, Quiet Strength. One of my favorites bios. Solid spiritual principles incorporated into his life and this book.

Happy reading ... and keep me posted on what you are reading. Thanks for doing so to this point.

Coming soon on Get a Room ...

A focus on Romance and Roses ... February 8 ... at FBC Smyrna.

08 Reading: Here's Where I Am - Where Are You?

I always set me a goal of reading 30 books a year. It began as a goal when I turned 40. I thought, "If I read 30 books a year in my 40's I will have read 300 books in a decade." I came close to that in my 40's but it has been a while since I've read 30 in a year. Alas, I still try...

In the list below you will find that I read just like I play the piano - all over the place. I like jazz, blues, some contemporary Christian stuff, and okay, if it's just the right song, maybe some country  - I play a lot of stuff. And I read a lot of different stuff. And a lot of it at the same time.

So, with the goal of 30 in the back of my mind (and now on line where all 25 of you can see!), here are some things I'm looking forward to reading in 2008. Yes, I know there are not 30 books here. We'll add to the list as the year progresses. They are in no special order:

1) 3:16 by Max Lucado. Let me "name drop" here for a moment. Selma and I got to meet Max a couple of years ago to interview him for HomeLife. He was just a cool guy. So patient and so willing to go further in his answers. It was more of a talk with two fellow ministers rather than a cut and dried interview. The book is incredible. I'm through the text and working through the daily thoughts. You would like it I am sure.

2) My Anecdotal Life by Carl Reiner. The genius behind so many comedies shares his background revealing how so much of that comedy came to be. I've been laughing at Carl Reiner since the days he was Alan Brady on the Dick Van Dyke show in the 60's!

3) For One Day More by Mitch Albom. The only Albom book I've read has been the one that everyone has read: Tuesdays with Morrie. It was good so I thought I'd try this one out.

4) Standing Next to History: An Agent's Life Inside the Secret Service by Joseph Petro. I've always been intrigued by the 'behind the scenes' workings of the Secret Service, the White House, etc. This book's got potential to address my intrigue for sure!

5) A Cup of Cold Water by Ed Heil. Ed is the roommate of my dad in the nursing home. A strong believer, he is a genius and has written a good book that he's let Selma and me read.

6) Cleared for Takeoff: 50 Ways Parents Can Help Their Teenagers Grow Up and Into Lives of Their Own by Wayne Rice. I found this one while researching the parent project Selma and I are working on. (More about that later.)

7) Life Sentences by Warren Wiersbe. Looks like a good devotional book on 63 Bible characters and the one sentence that sums up each of their lives.

8) Emotions: Can You Trust Them? by James Dobson. Been trying to get to this one for a long time. I'll wrap it up this year and let you know if it's good. The title grips me.

9) Thirty Years of Sausage, Fifty Years of Ham by Jimmy Dean. (Where do I find this stuff?) Who has read a bio of Jimmy Dean? Somebody's gotta do it!   

10) The Book of General Ignorance by John Lloyd. It was a Christmas gift from one of my daughters so I'm going to read it. Deal with it. I do think it's ironic that the author is writing on ignorance when he has the same name as Chris Evert's first husband. (It's not the guy, is it??)

Three quick points and I'm done:

1 - Of course I'll read other marriage and family books along the way. I will also read more spiritual books than just 3:16 and Life Sentences. If they are any good, be assured I'll pass them along as well;

2 - I'll share what I read in 2007 a little later;

3 - HOW ABOUT YOU? WHAT ARE YOU READING? No, it doesn't have to be a list. Not everyone's that crazy. It may be just one book, but I'd really like to know.

Happy reading in '08!

Read About the Leader of the Colts

In his book, Quiet Strength, coach Tony Dungy of the Super Bowl champs Indianapolis Colts, conveys faith, integrity and character. If that sounds boring, it is only because of my lack of vocabulary. This is a genuine work of inspiration.

For us football fans, he takes us behind the gridiron scenes of high school, college and the NFL into private situations. For example, the book begins with him packing his personal belongings in the rain just after getting fired from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Who shares stuff like that? ? ?

His faith is threaded throughout but it really comes through as he describes the nightmare of his son's suicide just a couple of years ago.

Dungy's references to coaches he has known and now works with reminds me of a Billy Graham interview I once saw with Larry King. Billy was talking about all of the US presidents he had known (beginning with EISENHOWER)! He was nothing but gracious and complimentary about each and every one and their first ladies. Amazing and classy.

Tony is right there with Graham as with every coach and worker he had positive comments, including the one who fired him. Like Billy Graham, amazing and classy, but you will find that that is Dungy.

I think you will enjoy this work. It is inspiring whether you follow football or not. There is much about marriage enrichment for example. It's gotta be hard to write 200 pages of autobiography without sounding full of yourself. Dungy's autobio somehow comes across with true humility. (Which probably why I actually fininshed it!)

Get this book. You can click on it at the left. Read it and let me know what you think.

Coming up on Get a Room, let's look at holiday movies, specifically my Top Ten favs ... 

The Last of the Left Behind Books

I mentioned to Selma recently that finishing a book can be a depressing experience. She says the best thing she does is begin another book. (That's probably why you see several books listed in the column to the left- and why many have been there for a while - it takes longer to complete them when you read many at the same time!)

Anyway, I'm down to the last of the 12 Left Behind books. Everyone else probably read them ten years ago. Not me. I've had the last one for a year now and completed number 11 last July. So why didn't I just dig into the last one immediately? Let's study that for a moment.

I remember the late actress Ingrid Bergman filming her final picture. After her death, the director was commenting on the very last scene. Ingrid had messed up her line and the crew set up for the next take. No big deal. Then, Ingrid blew the line again. She apologized and the crew went about getting ready for still another take. As they were setting up again, Ingrid said out loud, to no one in particular, "I know the line, but when I deliver it the movie will be over." Perhaps she knew it would be her last.

I know what to do with Glorious Appearing, but when I read it, the series will be over. (Does anyone know of a good counselor who can help me this problem? :-)

Ah, but isn't there coming a day when the real GLORIOUS APPEARING will happen? That won't be over by simply finishing a manuscript. It will indeed be "the end of days" as the book's subtitle suggests, but it will initiate a whole new world neither you nor I can even imagine. (Do I hear Bart and MercyMe singing somewhere in the background?)

It might be a little sad for me to end the story of Rayford, Buck, Chloe, Mac, Abdullah, and the infamous Nicolae. However, there will be nothing sad about the real Glorious Appearing. Our Lord is coming back. May we be encouraged by that truth. And my we live like we really believe it.

As it says in the next-to-last verse in the Bible (Rev 22:20) "Even so, come Lord Jesus."

Media Review

If you have looked at my "About" page below my pic, you will notice that my tastes in entertainment (music, movies, etc.) is everywhere.  That is something that I love about me - the diversity. Playing the piano is the same. I can play something from Billy Joel and then Le0n Russell's This Song for You followed by something Ron taught us in worship earlier on that same Sunday morning. It keeps life from getting stale and I'm grateful for my eclectic tastes.

It is the same with my reading. The only time I might have a method to my reading is when Pat or someone on staff gives us a book to read or I'm researching for a book Selma and I are working on. I do try to consistently stay in the marriage enrichment arena along the way.

Other than that, there's often no rhyme or reason. It's just what I'm reading at the moment. With that in mind, I'd like to give a brief (I'll try!) look at what I've just read or am reading now. (And excuse a personal story here and there, too!)

Bill Hybels, Just Walk Across the Room. Recommended to me a long time ago by my former boss, Ircel Harrison, of Murfreesboro. An encouraging work as Hybels talks about how we don't have to do it all to bring someone to Christ - just our part. We "walk across the room" to begin a conversation with someone. In the course of that talk - or subsequent talks - we discover where they are in their search for Christ. And we contribute as we are gifted and depending on where the person is on their journey. You trust the Lord and do your part. Maybe it is only encouragement. Or perhaps it is to lead them to accepting Christ because someone else has done all the preliminary work and this guy is ready.

That happened the day we moved into our home in 1988. This college kid was sweeping out our new garage before we put 2 million items in it for the first time. Our conversation was brief but amazing. One thing led to another and there the kid was - praying with me to accept Christ as we moved in!

The point is that we never know where someone is on their journey. And literally or symbolically walking across the room will help us find out where they are and where we need to contribute.

(Well, Hybels can just give me a royalty because I've rewritten his book for him!)

Chuck Norris, Against All Odds. Good bio. He came from nothing but had a strong faith due to a committed-to-Christ mom. It's not an all-sweet and wonderful life he has lived but it is honest and fascinating. The kung fu/judo/karate stories were even interesting to me and I wouldn't know where to start with that stuff. I like bios a lot and this one did not disappoint.

Pat Sumurall, Pat Sumurall: On and Off the Field. I had heard Pat Sumurall tell his chilling story of intervention for his alcoholism addiction on a  radio program years ago. This legendary broadcaster shares it in more detail in the book. He tells of his life as a player in the NFL when it was really just getting started. Then, his broadcasting days with John Madden and others is super. Pat was one of those Jim Nance kind of guys who could easily do the NFL, then the US Tennis Open and by the way, competently cover the Masters golf tournament in the spring. His alcoholism, however, leads to all kinds of problems with him and his family. His faith in the Lord was his complete "salvation" - on so many levels. Good read for sure.

Don Knotts, Barney Fife and Other Characters I Have Known. Another interesting read to discover the background of a legend. This was not a spiritual work by any means. But there are many, many stories of how he grew up in West Virginia and how he got to be Barney Fife among other roles. Did you know he was on a soap opera (I think it was Search for Tomorrow) for about 4 years pre-Andy Griffith Show?

That'll do for now. We'll come back to media another day. You've seen these books in the margin and I just wanted to elaborate on a few of them. I came by reading late in life but I sure do love it now. I might share that with you sometime as well...