October 4, 1957

It weighed a little over 183 pounds and was less than 25 inches wide. Scores of people crowded to try and get a glimpse of it. It was the most amazing thing anyone had ever seen. Nothing in the world had ever been built that could compare to the amazement of what this small object held as people anxiously jostled for a chance to see it. The pyramids were spectacular, but only a few thousand people a year made the trip to see them. The Empire State building was magnificent with a glorious view, but again the crowds were minimal to the millions that wanted to get a look at this small simple object.

It was a Friday night in October when it came to our town. In Texas Friday night is big with hundreds of football games across the state. But the buzz that night was not the game. It was what was coming to town. The big problem was that it was to arrive after the ballgame had already started. The dilemma of choice was tough, should we miss the game to see it or not? Others made plans to see it after the game was over, but it was still on their minds throughout the game. Parents were telling their children about it and it was exciting that it was coming to our town.

I remember seeing it for the first time. We actually got to see it before we headed off to the game. “There it is” someone cried out, but it was a false alarm, so we continued to wait. Then there standing in the dark someone pointed upward and shouted “Look over there!” This time it was there right before our eyes. We all stood in silence and watched as it moved across the sky, a simple white streak of light, barely visible to the naked eye. Amazing! Fantastic! Wow!

It was October 4, 1957 and its name was Sputnik, the first manmade object put into orbit around the earth. There was really nothing to it compared to what takes place today, but to that generation it was a marvel of man’s achievement. It was a mere speck in the universe that circled the earth every 98 minutes.It didn’t do much, but it started the “race for space” that eventually put men on the moon and routinely now sends men up and back again. Now there is talk of even going deeper into God’s universe.

Great events don’t always start out great, but many times begin small and grow into greatness. It’s the same with people. The great people of history did not all start out great. Men like Moses, David, Joseph, Peter, Paul and many others of the Bible were simple ordinary people that God used to do great things upon this earth. No one said look there’s Moses, but when God used him to part the sea his name went down in history. David was a simple shepherd, but when he downed Goliath people wrote songs about him. The Bible teaches us that God can do great things using the ordinary, simply because “He” is great.

We often dwell on our weaknesses. We spend time looking at how little we are instead of the great things God can do in us. Most importantly we fail to see that when we do little things for God it can quickly spread and be something great for him.

Tonight as I walk outside and look up into the sky, I will no longer see Sputnik, but I will still behold the great heavens built by God in which it took its journey.

To My Friends of 1965

Just recently one of the families in our congregation had family members involved in a terrible automobile accident. More than 50 people were at the hospital when the injured family members arrived. Others drove 60 miles to be with other family members and still others were in Ft. Worth at the hospital waiting for the arrival of others that were injured. It's times like this when you realize how great it has to have friends who love and care for you.

As I thought about it later I wondered, what is it like for people who have no friends when they need them? Did the people in the other car have scores of people waiting to support them or were they all alone? Solomon wrote "If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up."

In a time that seems so long ago, but then like only yesterday I was picked up by my friends. Many of these friends were people that I did not even know, but cared about me enough to be beside me through a dark hour. The attached video is a "God Story" that was given for our church. But it is also a friend story. It's a story of how I made it through a tough time because there were literally hundreds of people who were with me. I thank the Lord that I had so many people at the time who wanted to pick me up.

To all my friends known and unknown in 1965 I say thanks for being there.

I Started School as a First Grader

I had the fortunate opportunity to attend the same public school system for twelve years. Although most of the memories are locked up somewhere in the file cabinet of my mind there are still glimpses of the past that will pop into consciousness every so often.

I started school in the first grade, since kindergarten didn't exist in Plano in the '50s. The school was Plano Elementary School, later to be named Mendenhall Elementary. First grade started on the far west wing and you continued from grade to grade and finished the sixth grade at the far east wing. The building was only around 3-4 years old when I started so was modern for the time.

It's hard to remember much of my childhood in detail, but I do remember every teacher I had in elementary school. I can even still picture their faces in my mind. I also remember how I felt about each one. In first grade I had Mrs. Rogers. I guess this was the one teacher I remember liking the least and was glad to leave first grade. She wasn't mean and in fact was always kind to me and a lot of my classmates loved her, but I can remember distinct times that she made fun of someone, one of whom was me, and I guess this stuck in my mind and I was ready to move on.

In second grade I had a grandmotherly type teacher in Ella Page. She was one of my favorites and I remember crying when school was out and we'd have a new teacher the next year. She tried to comfort me, but I knew no one could take her place. Then came the third grade and Miss Streetman. I think this must have been her first teaching job and to the boys she was beautiful. We were nine and she was a much older 22 at the time. She'd give the boys a kiss on the cheek when they left class, a highlight of the day. She was a very kind person. I didn't get a penmanship certificate that year and cried about it (I cried a lot back then). She felt sorry for me and said she'd give me one if I'd work on my writing over the summer. That was the last one I got, the rest of teachers weren't such push overs.

In the fourth grade I moved to the east wing and Clara Wilson's class. She was probably the most fun of all the teachers I had in elementary. You guessed it, I cried when I left that class too. For the record this was the last time I cried moving to the next class. From there on out it was "let's move on". Fifth grade brought Jack Harris another new one to teaching but was fun to be around.

Next stop was the sixth grade. The one teacher you didn't want to get was Mrs. Kate Holder. We had heard the horror stories of bleeding hands and boxed ears from discipline. To those of us who were younger she was scary! We had two or three 6th grade classes so everyone wanted one of the others. The first time I walked into the room there she was, I had drawn the short straw, the dread of the 6th grade. But you know, what we fear is not always what is out there. Mrs. Holder was strict, but she was also kind and I enjoyed being in her class that year.

Children are impressionable and and the impression we leave on them can last a lifetime. I've no idea where all these people are today. Some have passed away and others I'm sure are retired somewhere out there. But in my memories the legacy of school that they left me is still there over 50 years later.

Jesus loved children. He encourages us to make a good impression on them and not lead them astray. In our children lies the future of the nation and the church, we should do everything to give a great impression that will lie forever in their hearts.

In my mind I can still walk the halls of Plano Elementary School and am thankful for the faces I see in my mind that made my six years there a joy to remember.

Question from a Seven Year Old

Friday night I answered the phone and my 7 year old niece was on the other end of the line. She then began to ask me a theological question that I had never been asked in my 40+ years of ministry. A theological question from a seven year old? Now that was something I was never expecting. In fact it's a question I'd never asked myself and have never been asked by an adult, mostly because to an adult the answer is obvious, but it was a very logical question for a seven year old to ask.

"Uncle Danny," she asked, "If the Bible says that brothers and sisters are not suppose to get married how can brothers and sisters at church get married?" You must admit that for a seven year old to come up with such a question it had to have her mind clicking on things she had heard at church and at home. However, no one knew how she came up with this particular question.

As adults many of us don't think that deep when it comes to Bible study. We rush quickly through our reading hardly pausing to take in what God's word is trying to tell us, much less asking ourselves questions about what we read. I don't know if it's an "I don't care" or just a "I never thought of that" attitude. However, most of the time the question goes unasked and often we go through life never knowing the answer.

As we study and start asking ourselves questions we'll get much more value from our time in the Word. What it does is cause us to research and seek out answers. This in turn deepens our faith. The "whys" and "how comes" are what can spark us on to delving deeper in the Words of God.

By asking questions I found out that Noah was still alive for the first 50 years of Abraham's life. Wow, just think to be able to sit at the feet of the man whose story you had heard over and over. By asking questions we learn that when we talk about Jesus bearing the cross, it's not the physical wooden cross, but the burden of sin that he truly carried for man. We learn by asking questions in our study.

A small child will ask you a thousand "whys" trying to quench his or her thirst to know. In the words of Jesus "So I say to you: Ask and it will be given unto you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door will be opened to you." If you never ask the question, you'll never know the lesson.

So I received a theological question from a seven year old. How do you explain it so they'll understand the answer. The simple answer is that brothers and sisters with the same grand-parents cannot marry other than it's okay. This doesn't completely answer her question, but maybe it will suffice until she turns eight.