Bucket List

“A happy heart is good medicine but a broken spirit saps one’s strength.” ~ Proverbs 17:22

When Dillon was growing up, it always seemed like someone else “knew best.”  That became less true as he started to take control of his life and tweaked his parent’s values to fit his own life.  So when Dillon announced that he was dropping out of college, his parents reacted supportively.  In fact, they were genuinely proud of their son.

Earlier that week, (September 2017), the 20-year-old Californian learned that his best friend, who’d already beaten childhood cancer, had gotten the worst news imaginable.  The cancer had officially returned; this time as a mutated string highly resilient to the experimental drugs he’d used before.

Chris had one year or less to live.

Thiers's was that kind of friendship that blooms from the center of your heart - that kind of friendship that grows from the seedling basking in the warm soil to an enormous tree with many sturdy branches, but not enough to disguise its enormity or sheer brilliance.

Now the pair is traveling the world to cross off as many items as possible on Chris’ 127-point bucket list.  They kicked off their mission by buying 150 hamburgers from a fast-food restaurant and delivering them to the homeless.

The friends have documented Chris’ “One Life, One List” at https://mybestfriendslist.com where followers can sign up to become bone marrow donors and contribute GoFundMe donations to help finance his bucket list wishes.

From having a pillow fight with strangers (#31), to tasting the world’s hottest pepper (#11), and flying a jet airplane (#7), they’re determined to experience all life has to offer.  The two are also hoping to dive with sharks (#62), pay for someone’s college (#96), meet Danny DiVito (#104), and ride a motorcycle across Alaska (#123).

The ultimate wish would be to find a bone marrow match for Chris, the odds of which are a little less than winning the lottery.  Even so, they broke a world record (#4) by inspiring 3,715 people to sign up for a bone marrow donor list in one day.

Facing a grim prognosis, Chris remains hopeful and keeps appreciating the “simple things in life.  ”So many people think they’ll be really happy and enjoy life when they go on vacation, when the kids are older, when they climb higher on the ladder of success at work.  But God wants you to enjoy your life now, not when.”

So follow their lead - make the decision to enjoy your life TODAY.  If you’re too serious, lighten up!  Learn to laugh at yourself and the things that normally frustrate you.  If you don’t have joy, then no matter what you have or how great your circumstances may be … it doesn’t mean much.

“Lord, thank You for placing friends like Dillon in my life!   If this is my last year on earth, let my legacy inspire others to live their lives – really LIVE them.  Help me spread the word that any good bucket list is never finished.” ~ Chris Betancourt

The Last Reunion

“God does not show favoritism." ~ Acts 10:34

Few 92-year-old, white-haired men are seen as celebrities.  But Eddie Stafford was treated like a rock star from the moment he returned to Normandy with several of his D-Day comrades.  They were some of few remaining survivors from the 1944 invasion that claimed 10,000 soldiers (Allied and Axis) on a single day.

D-Day survivors have been returning back to the sites where they fought in the war, retracing their steps across the beaches, down country roads, and across fields where cattle now graze.  But this trip was probably the last reunion because the men are all in their late 80s or 90s, and few are now able to make the trip.

For Eddie, this pilgrimage would complete a story begun long ago.  The last time he saw France it was under attack, ravaged by bombs and gunfire.  For him the prosperous farms and tidy villages of Normandy today seemed like a vindication for the sacrifices and hardships they endured as young men, proof that peace can flourish after the horrors of war.

On the last evening of their visit, their French guide took them to a local bar after a long day of touring.  The crowd seemed friendly; old friends catching up, most of them men about the same age as the US vets.

They spoke German.

A heavy silence erupted as the veterans found seats.  Anxious eyes glanced around trying to escape eye contact.  Some shifted uncomfortably in their seats grasping sweaty under the tables.  Others shuffled their feet against the cobbles of the bar floor, nervously tracing the outlines of each brick.

Whispers swirled throughout the small space.  Things were about to get interesting.

Ever since the war, American television depicted Germans as savage, dull-witted and violent.  But Eddie knew that these too were decent hard-working men doing their duty for a country they honored and loved.  He was no better, no wiser, no smarter; and just as simple to manipulate.

Eddie rose from his chair and hobbled across the room like his leg had fallen asleep.  The shrapnel he’d received from that December bombing run had never fully healed.

He introduced himself in English and struck up a conversation, the exact contents of which he’d never reveal.  But soon enough, everybody in the room was talking to each other and sharing stories.

The Germans talked about what it was like to be young and terrified that the next bomb was going to land on them.  The Americans told them what it was like to be young and frightened as they flew amid fierce anti-aircraft fire.

For those men, Americans and Germans alike, their war finally ended over glasses of beer in a French bar, more than seventy years after the armistice had been signed.

“Now I understand the meaning of our lives, the loss of comrades so very long ago.  So to you who have answered duties siren call, may God bless you my soldiers, may God bless you all.” ~ Lewis Millet (An Old Soldier’s Prayer excerpt)

"Behind the Mule, Beneath the Sun"

“What’s done is done; like water over the dam.  There’s no use thinking of what might have been." ~ Ecclesiastes 1:15

For him the country was the safest place to live, to explore, to create new stories.  Though Ken could feel lonely in a crowded room, he felt entirely at home on the family farm.

He was never happier than wearing muddy boots and his battered, felt hat.  Of course there were chores, but that's how he got to feel important and know he was needed.

There was time for work and time for play, a perfect balance.  But today was all about work; his first day on his own, plowing behind Elvis the mule.

A crisp morning breeze brushed across the field.  Crickets broke the silence.  Edging the plow into the soil, he seized the cold steel handles and headed across the field admiring the brute power behind such an amazing animal.

The first furrow plowed was the always the most important.  It had to be straight, especially when you had acres of land to plow.  If you got the first furrow straight, the whole field would end up straight and square.

Dad reminded him (for the umpteenth time) before he’d left the barn: “Plow with your eye on the fence post at the end of the field.  Stay focused!  Never take your eyes off of it.”

“How dumb!” Ken thought.  How’re you going to know if you’re plowing straight if you don’t look back occasionally to see how you’re doing?”

Throwing Dad’s advice out the window he decided to do it his own way, looking back to admire his progress.  He enjoyed being in charge!

When he reached the end of the field, he looked back eager to view the results.  Instead of the ramrod straight line he was expecting, he saw what looked like a slithering snake, with more bends and curves than the Colorado River.

On the return Ken complied, with telling results - the line was as straight as a gun barrel.  Dad had been right.  The row got messed up only when he lost focus.  At day’s end he marveled at the field of dark, straight rows; another season's promise in the ground.

Paul had similar wisdom when he spoke of placing his focus on Jesus Christ.  When we need, God knows.  When we ask, He listens.  When we believe, God acts.

Too many of us try to steer our lives by looking in the rearview mirror.  “If only … “Things ain’t what they used to be.”  "I wish I woulda or coulda …"

“Press forward,” Jesus said “and don’t look back.”  Like Paul, if we focus on Christ, we’ll plow a dead straight path and accomplish God’s purpose in our lives.

Lord, You are the God of the impossible.  You can do anything.  I want to trust in Your ability and not my own.  Help me to focus forward and teach me to see difficulties in my life from Your perspective.  Amen

Get Rich Quick

“And (Jesus’) mother stored all these things in her heart." ~ Luke 2:51

The beach was her go-to place.  Some folks like homey coffee shops.  But for Margaret, the sea’s briny aroma was like an elixir, it tasted like home.

Despite the heat, she found herself frozen in place.  The waves rolled in white tipped, spreading themselves like fine lace over the beach.  There’s something revealing about the quiet whisper of waves sharing the ocean's melodies. 

Today it was the memories of summers long ago with children she adored.

It had been late afternoon, almost time to leave the beach.  The light had already begun fading into liquid gold, but it was so warm no one was in a hurry to leave.  Her eyelids fluttered closed as she remembered calling for them as they scampered up the beach, yellow bucket in hand.

She’d been fretting all afternoon about the invitation to her best friend’s wedding.  Unfortunately Janet lived in Australia.  Traveling there was a luxury she simply couldn’t afford.  She’d told her husband earlier that morning the only way she could go was if she “got rich quick.”

Margaret looked up at the twins as they approached.  They were so “busy.”  They’d worn her out by simply watching them running and swimming and playing in the water for hours.

“Mom, look what we brought to you!” Tommy shouted flashing his dimples.

The twins stood there holding a plastic bucket in their hands.  It had been heavy and took both of them to hold it.

They were dirty; their hair tousled with sand.  There had been something about their smiles: the way butterflies seemed to escape from his stomach; the way the sun had somehow toppled from the sky and made a home right in her heart.

“You brought for me?” Margaret remembered asking.

“You said you needed to get rich fast,” Tammy said, “So me and Tommy collected all these pretty shells from the shore to make necklaces!  We haven’t looked at all of them but we hope there’s a pearl for you too!  That way you could go to ‘Aunt” Janet’s wedding!” she grinned.

Their happiness had been so infectious.  There they’d stood, so proud of themselves, holding a treasure bucket of hundreds of little shells.

She’d hugged them closely, not minding the mess they’d made of her sun dress. “You’ve made me the richest person on earth!  And faster than anyone could have imagined!

And Margaret hadn’t been talking about monetary wealth.

The light wind here still carries their voice and sweet kisses.  She stood up, face to the breeze and felt the sand retreating with the tide as the sun’s flaring hues melted into the sky.  Just for a moment she was a young mother again.

Oh how she missed those days.

Thank you, Lord, that you fill a mother’s heart with love, for nurturing them, teaching them, comforting them and for leading them to know and do what is good, living not for themselves alone, but for God and for others.  Amen

Tiny Miracles

“We can see God’s eternal power and divine nature by what He has created." ~ Romans 1:2

Jenna needed to exercise and get her kids out of the house for a little bit, so they went to the city park to run around and explore.  The sun’s warmth was too quickly interrupted when her most nature loving daughter called with great urgency and enthusiasm to come to the nearest tree.

Zooming in an out of a brightly colored birdfeeder was a hummingbird − their first sighting of the year!  ‘Little Hummer’ quickly became part of the 7-yeaar-old’s heart and mind, prompting library visit and a stack of bird identification and reference book.

Soon Emily christened her very own backyard hummingbird feeder for Little Hummer.  Whether he actually visited or not didn’t matter; Emily spent hours enthralled by all their aerial acrobatics.

“Mom!” Emily shouted.  She’d read volumes about these tiny birds.  “Did you know that their wings beat 50-80 times per second?  It can hover, fly backwards and sideways, and fly at speeds of more than 55 mph.”

“But,” she continued breathlessly, “That’s not even the coolest part!   Hummingbirds burn huge amounts of calories - the equivalent for us of 1,300 hamburgers a day, washed down with 65 quarts of water for cooling purposes.  To work at their energy level, our hearts would have to beat 1,260 times a minute.  Our body temperature would rise to 725°F and we’d burst into flames."

Mom interjected, “Of course we’re not designed to operate that way.  But the hummingbirds show great evidence of God’s careful design for its remarkable lifestyle.  He loves all creatures and this is one way He shows us that He’s real.”

“God equipped the hummingbird with a needle-like bill which penetrates deep into flowers to extract nectar.  It’s specially designed tongue takes about 13 licks per second.”  (Mom had apparently done a little reading on her own too). “Its unique wingbeat allows the tiny bird to move forward to pierce the flower, hover until it gets enough nectar, and fly backwards to remove its bill from the flower.”

Then Jenna put an exclamation point on her comments by adding:  “All the hummingbird’s features had to work perfectly from the start for it to have survived - long bill, special tongue, and special rapid wing-beat - in order to be able to gather its high energy food.”  It’s a miracle that only God could have done that so perfectly!”

Miracles surround us daily - the rising sun, the roar of the ocean, the cry of a newborn baby, even the sight of a hummingbird in flight.  Make them teachable moments filled with the joy of being present in a child’s life.    Keep the information fresh and relevant by teaching when it makes sense and always invite conversation.

Almighty Father, let me be Your miracle on earth.  Help me be a miracle of love, a miracle of kindness, and even a miracle in the life of another.  Let my soul soar through this life and into the next.  Amen