My wife Suzanne and I had the great honor of escorting WWII Veterans through the National WWII Museum in New Orleans a couple weeks ago with the Forever Young Senior Veterans Organization. The men were so humble and their stories amazing. History was brought to life by the men who fought at the very battles depicted throughout the…
The mood was somber as our group walked into the Ardennes Forest outside Bastogne, Belgium. Thirteen WWII Veterans ages 89 to 96 and their escorts joined the multiple natural pathways intertwined among the preserved foxholes American troops had dug during the 1944 Battle of the Bulge. Bob, a WWII Marine Veteran who served in the…
The Moto traveled slowly down the long, rough mountain road. A father holding his sixteen-day-old baby girl against his chest. Her mother had died in childbirth. The father, with no prospects of a job or money to support even himself, knew if his child was to survive he would have to make a sacrifice of…
FAITH, HOPE, LIFE I stood on the cliff overlooking Omaha Beach, Normandy, France. My hands rested on the handles of a wheelchair. The old soldier I was assisting slowly stood and pointed to where he came ashore in the second wave on D-Day, June 6, 1944. A tear formed in the corners of his eyes…
“Front Desk. Security. The St. Jude shuttle is here”, bellowed from my handheld radio. “Thanks, Security.” As the families exited the bus, I pressed the door button to allow entry into Ronald McDonald House of Memphis (RMH-M). A mother with arms full of supplies and her two-year-old daughter, ‘Ellen’, were first through the door. Ellen…
The day was going well. I woke early when our cats started walking up my chest and over my head, meowing of course. I engaged in my normal morning routine: couple cups of coffee while opening the laptop to read my daily devotional and catching up on the happenings of the day. Fox News then…
Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. John 6:35 NIV I arrived at my church 15 minutes before the start of our Tuesday Morning Men’s Prayer Breakfast. As I walked into the dining room, the first man…
“He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.” Job 8:21 The small, country Methodist church sat on the banks of a clear mountain river. The parking lot was full and great laughter could be heard coming from the attached multi-purpose gathering hall. An amazing lunch, all dishes…
We embraced as we had done many times before. The six days we spent together in my old stomping grounds just didn’t seem long enough—-but my vacation was coming to an end, and I had to leave my beloved Huttonsville and my beloved dad. We’d talked, laughed, trimmed grapevines, stained a wooden entry ramp,…
The red-tailed hawk soared effortlessly over the large cornfield, its eyes searching for any movement along the newly harvested rows of dried corn stalks. Cleatus watched as the magnificent bird patiently spied its prey, a sight he had observed many times in the last three years in this iconic valley in the West Virginia mountains.…
Craig ‘Spider’ Ward sat on his Cabo villa balcony watching the lighthouse beacon atop the hill where the Pacific Ocean meets the Sea of Cortez. He could hear the roar of giant waves crashing against the rocky shoreline some 400’ below. The lights of a southbound cruise ship interrupted the stark ocean darkness. He smiled…
As Southwest Flight 770 touched down at SeaTac International Airport, Craig ‘Spider’ Ward smiled and thought, Game on. In a couple hours, he would be walking through Gate 2 beneath a sign saying, “WELCOME TO THE 115th U.S. OPEN CHAMPIONSHIP.” Nearly two years had passed since he had played this very golf course, Chambers…
Jesus looked hard at them and said, “No chance at all if you think you can pull it off yourself. Every chance in the world if you trust God to do it.” Matthew 19:26. (The Msg) The red light changes to green. The two cars in front of us, a large blue sedan and a…
And you yourself must be an example to them by doing good deeds of every kind. Titus 2:7 I slowly walked the wide hallways of the convalescence center, not sure if I was ready for what awaited me. I had visited a good friend in another section and, as I was about to leave, he…
The heat of the day lingered as the sun began to set. My wife and I gathered up 20 of the 110 bags of popcorn we had just finished popping along with a small cooler packed with various fruit juices. We walked the short expanse from the dining hall to the Infant House. It was…
Mike's Musings 