A Heart To Heart Talk With My Daughter

A story that I have shared with MANY during the past several years is one about my daughter, Holly, who is now age 20. (I have told others on several occasions that I could not handpicked a better son or daughter than Johnathan and Holly.) When Holly was about age 15, she came over to my home one night to get help on math from me and, when she was done, I decided to have a heart-to-heart talk with her.

I asked, "How's school?"

Holly gave the answer they always do, "Fine."

I then asked, "How are your friends?"

Holly's voice then became concerned and she told me that one of her friends was upset at Holly because she thought that Holly had repeated something her friend had told Holly in confidence but Holly didn't think that she did. Holly then told me that she really didn't care because she had a lot of other friends besides this girl, anyway.

I then asked Holly, "Well, the important question is: 'Are you friends with any........ugly people?'"

Holly calmly looked at me and solemnly replied, "I consider you.........to be a friend."

I was so caught off guard and I couldn't stop laughing! (It is typical that Holly gets the last laugh with me. Many people strongly believe that she has my sense of humor.)

A Vignette That Some Might Consider A Heresy

I will share a vignette here that I'm sure will sound like heresy to most Christians:

(As a reminder, between 1989-1990, I was likely the world's greatest believer in the Antichrist, Armegeddon, Seven Years of Tribulation (1992-1999) scenerio and anyone who has followed my posts knows that by the end of 1991, I began to believe that Christ will return sometime after 1999 to a world without Antichrist or Armegeddon. But ups and downs, yes.)

In about 2002, in this same library that I am in right now, I was sitting next to a man who I met during my time as a temporary enumerator for the 2000 census. I had given him a Matthew 24:29-30a prophecy card and I told him that I once believed that all those 'bad things' would happen prior to Christ's return but I now look at the glass as being half full instead of being half empty and that the God of the Bible is a good God and He will not put the world through Seven Years of Tribulation just because some interpreters of prophecy say that He will.

This man assured me that "the scriptures are there in the Book of Revelation saying that there will be an Antichrist one day."

I replied, "Oh, the scriptures are there but they're just storyline filler."

This man stared at me for a second and then gave me a scoffing laugh and I just continued to passively look at him.

My Visit With An Elderly Hannibal Couple and Their Friend

One of my favorite experiences in about 2003 was with my friend Debbie in the beautiful River View Park here in Hannibal. An elderly couple from Hannibal and their elderly friend crossed our paths and we made small talk for a little while. (The host introduced us to his guest from New Jersey and I learned from him that he was a retired political science college professor. I told him, "Oh, I guess that I'll talk to you, anyway," leading them to laugh.)

I segued to telling them about my lifelong interest in astronomy, showing them my photo taken on Easter Sunday, 1997 of the Hale-Bopp Comet with my parents' family farm windmill in the foreground (a truly beautiful photo) that won third place in the biennial Official Manual for the State of Missouri, 1997-1998, under the Missouri Scenery section.

I then gave all three of them my Luke 21:25a/Matthew 24:29-30a prophecy cards with those three 1999 celestial events fulfilling Matthew 24:29 on the back side. I told the elderly man who was from Hannibal, "It's just that when I was 10 years old, I took Christ's statement in Luke 21:25 that 'there will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars' to mean that the astronomers living just prior to Christ's return will be able to determine when the events described in Matthew 24:29 will take place."

In dramatic fashion, with his right elbow against his waist, this man extended his right forearm and swung it around towards me and said, "A-a-a-a-a-a-and."

I quickly picked up on his cue and, jabbing my right index finger at him for emphasis, I replied, "AND...I was so proud....of my abilities as a 10-year-old astronomer in 1964.....that I wanted to think....that if these events were to occur in MY lifetime....that there was NO WAY...that they...were going to get past me!!!"

There was then a few seconds of silence among the five of us before this man replied, "Well, you just never know what you're going to run into in this town of Hannibal," causing all of us to laugh very hard.