What I didn’t know could have killed me.  What I came to know thrilled me.  It took a scary situation to learn a tender truth.

           We put up lots of hay when I was growing up on a farm and ranch in Eastern Colorado.  One day my Dad and I were loading a truck with bales of hay to be taken to our feedlot.  He was operating the tractor with the front end hay loader and I was stacking the bales of hay on the back of a large farm truck.  When we finished, I was stuck on the top of the hay I had stacked on the truck.  Since it was close to 15 feet from the top of the truckload of hay to the ground, rather than climb down, Dad offered to give me a ride down with the tractor loader.

This was a common practice for us so I didn’t hesitate to grab on to the loader for the quick and easy way down from my perch high on top the truckload of hay.  Since Dad was an excellent loader operator and in a good mood, he decided to surprise me with a thrilling ride down to the ground this time.  Unfortunately Dad didn’t let me know his plans, and so he didn’t know my grip on the loader was only sufficient for a boring ride down to the ground.

I was hanging on to the loader with more than 10 feet of empty space below me when my grip gave way to Dad’s playfulness with the loader.  As I started my freefall, my short life flashed before my eyes.  I must have lost consciousness for awhile as I woke up with my Dad’s tear-stained face staring into mine.  He was gently shaking me and asking me if I was alright.  He needed to know if I thought I had any serious injuries.

Evidently I had fallen on my back and shoulders and it had knocked all the wind out of me.  I didn’t think anything was broken, but my chest muscles were really sore.  Eventually I was able to breathe normally and Dad was able to help me to my shaky feet.

Needless to say, Dad couldn’t stop apologizing.  He had so much confidence in me and my grip on that loader that he thought I would enjoy a little fun after doing so much back-breaking work.  But his good mood had been shattered by his ill-advised plan and my potentially life-threatening fall.

We both learned valuable lessons that day.  And the one thing I learned that surprised me the most, had nothing to do with putting up hay.  My Dad cared about me far more than I had realized!

We shouldn’t wait until a crisis comes along to let a loved one know how much they mean to us.  We need to do it the next chance we get!  Life is often more fragile than we realize.

            As it turned out, my room was right next to our dormitory’s Resident Assistant (RA) room at college.  Though Frank, my RA, was older, bigger, stronger, more athletic and handsome than I was (that didn’t take much), he seemed to enjoy spending time with an underclassman like me anyway!

            Not long after settling into the Bible college routine, Frank came to me and asked me to be the “Prayer Chairman” for our floor of thirty one guys.  I didn’t know what a position like that entailed, but with his encouragement, I decided to give it a try. 

            Frank also worked in the “Dish Room” at the college cafeteria.  That’s where the dishes, cups and silver were washed and then put back into the serving lines.  He suggested I apply for a job there to help with my expenses.  So I gave it a try and was accepted (even though I had very little dishwashing experience from home!)

            As my first year of college began to draw to a close, Frank encouraged me to apply for an RA position my next year.  This was a big surprise to me.  RA positions were highly coveted in those days and very difficult to get.  He said he would put in a good word for me, and he did. 

            Though I made it through the interview process, I didn’t get the job.  Frank seemed more disappointed than I was!  Surprisingly, he didn’t stop encouraging me.  Before long he had convinced the leadership in the “Dish Room” to promote me to a shift supervisor. 

            Towards the end of my two years with Frank, I asked him who would take over my job as “Prayer Chairman” of our floor when I left.  He said he didn’t know, but it was his smile that encouraged me to dig deeper.  He finally admitted that he had “made up” the position to give me a chance to show if I had any leadership potential.  When he saw the way I handled that responsibility, he looked for other opportunities for me to pursue that would help me to grow as a leader.

            I was surprised, humbled and honored.  Frank had seen potential in me that I hadn’t seen.  And he always supported me and encouraged me along the way, especially when the going was tough. 

            Frank could have been just an RA to me.  That’s all he was compensated to do.  But, he went the extra mile and became my friend and my mentor.  And because it was a pivotal time in my personal and spiritual development, Frank, maybe more than anyone else in my young adult life, helped me to see that God could use me, maybe even as a leader.

            Almost forty years later, I want to be more like Frank!  I want to see the people God puts around me the way Frank saw me.  People who may have hidden potential that is just waiting to be brought out and nurtured.  People who may need to have some responsibility, even if it has to be invented!

            The path for me to become a leader was significantly enhanced by an RA who made me “Prayer Chairman” and then became one of my best cheerleaders.  I thank the Lord for Frank, and for all the others who have invested in me in like manner.

            As it turns out, God probably has put people around you who also need a chance, who need a cheerleader.  Who are they?  What are you waiting for?  Invest in people!  Maybe forty years later they will still remember you also!

I was just out of high school and needed a better car.  Since my dad was the expert on mechanical things and negotiating, he agreed to go car shopping with me.  We visited a few car lots before I found the car of my wildest dreams, a blue 1970 Mach 1 Mustang, only three years old back then.

Of course it was priced several thousand dollars more than our predetermined spending limit.  So, we moved on and looked at several cheaper cars.  Unfortunately, nothing looked interesting to me after my heart had been stolen by the Mustang!

Though I hadn’t noticed this trait in my dad before, I realized that he empathized with my disappointment.  He suggested we go back and offer them our two thousand dollars in cash for the Mach 1.  I was excited; and embarrassed at the same time.  My dad wanted to try to help me get the car of my dreams!  But, I couldn’t imagine how ridiculous we were going to appear to the salesman.

However, my desires won over my pride and I allowed my dad to make our humble offer.  The salesman was both insulted and amused.  There was no way he could even consider such an offer for that a car.  My dad thanked him for his time and told me to head back to the car so we could continue our shopping.

I was not surprised, but I was heartbroken.  As we were preparing to drive off the salesman hurried over to our car.  He had decided he should at least take our offer to the sales manager.  What followed was a lengthy test of my dad’s resolve versus the negotiating skills of our salesman.

Eventually my dad told me to go back to the car.  I assumed we would drive off and continue shopping.  Instead, dad suggested we pray about what to do.  So right there in dad’s car, we prayed; out loud, asking God for wisdom.

I have to admit I was a bit embarrassed to pray while the salesman watched us.  After all, I didn’t know if God even cared about the process of buying cars, especially for a kid like me.  But my dad didn’t care about what people thought, he was only concerned about doing the right thing in God’s eyes.

When we finished praying, dad suggested we make our original offer one more time.  If the Lord wanted me to have this car, they would accept our offer.  If they didn’t, the Lord would have a better car for me somewhere else.  I was skeptical, but we had prayed and dad was confident.

Shortly thereafter, I drove that very same Mustang out of the car lot with our salesman shaking his head in amazement.  I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that God had done a miracle, just for me!

That miracle was just the first of many that I can still remember to this day!  Miracles that have convinced me that God cares about me, and the ordinary issues that concern me.  Since then I have learned much more about my gracious Heavenly Father.  He cares about you!

Alexander was born into a Puritan home in Scotland the end of May in 1701. Since his extracurricular activities were significantly limited by his strict father he often entertained himself by tracing words through the Bible.
Alexander left Scotland and moved to London. He became a recognized scholar and was said to be fluent in Greek and Latin. Accordingly, he found work as a tutor, printer, proofreader and bookseller. He also took upon himself the title, “Alexander the Corrector,” making it his life’s duty to protect his country from all vices; from misspelling and poor grammar, to all matters of morality. He often carried a sponge with him and whenever he encountered any inappropriate writing he would symbolically wipe it clean with his sponge!
While Alexander fell in love on a number of occasions, the objects of his affection inevitably rejected him, and so he never married. Consequently, his significant accomplishments were punctuated with romantic embarrassments that rivaled insanity and so led to most of his numerous stays in lunatic asylums. He would eventually come back to his senses and be released; until he would commit his next social blunder.
During his early days in London, Alexander began the laborious work of putting together a Bible reference book. After working long hours on his job, he would come home to read his Bible, recording on thousands of sheets of paper his tedious findings. He recorded every one of the 777,746 words in the King James Bible and noted every place each one occurred! All this by himself, and with no modern technology! The fruit of his painstaking work was the most comprehensive and useful work of its kind ever published! The first edition was presented to Queen Caroline in 1737, and Cruden’s Concordance eventually became a best seller and has remained in print ever since!
Charles Spurgeon was said to have written in the flyleaf of his copy of Cruden’s Concordance, “For ten years this has been at my left hand when the Word of God has been at my right.” After Cruden’s death, Spurgeon was quoted as saying, “This half-crazy Cruden did better service to the church than half the D.D’s and L.L.D.’s of his time.”
Towards the end of Cruden’s life he devoted himself to studying the Bible, helping the poor and downcast, and handing out gospel tracts. Though he was known to be very benevolent and pious, his contemporaries had little respect for him. He was found dead in 1770, on his knees, his head lying on the open Bible in front of him.
Though dead for hundreds of years, his work still lives on! And it continues to give life to all who avail themselves to it! Evidently it took a crazy man to undertake the monumental task of compiling a complete concordance of the Bible in his spare time and in his humble home!
Cruden’s life teaches us to not discard an unusual person’s value too quickly! One generation’s trash can become many generation’s treasure!