2009-09-18T14:17:40-05:00 GCI info@gospel.com /feeds/topics/altm/ http://hutchcraft.com/a-life-that-matters/radio-program/how-to-be-unforgettable-8299 2009-09-18T14:17:40-05:00 Don’t you just love to get telemarketing calls? Not! Millions of people have put themselves on a “do not call” list because we just don’t like having our lives encumbered with people who have only one interest–you’re a customer and they’ve got something to sell. http://hutchcraft.com/a-life-that-matters/radio-program/making-jesus-sick-8298 2009-09-18T14:15:58-05:00 When you drive as many miles as we do, those little surprises out the window spice up the trip a bit; like the two municipal water tanks we saw as we sailed by a town on the Interstate recently. Usually those water tanks have the name of the town on them. Well, not these. One word on each tank: one said “Hot,” the other said “Cold.” There was no third tank. http://hutchcraft.com/a-life-that-matters/radio-program/a-brand-new-daddy-8297 2009-09-18T14:14:58-05:00 Little Scotty really wanted to play with his dad, and his dad really wanted to read his massive Sunday paper. Well, Scotty kept tapping on the newspaper, and finally Scotty’s dad had an idea: he tore out a page of the paper that had a map of the world. He tore it into puzzle pieces and he said, “As soon as you put this picture together, I’ll play with you.” Two minutes later his son shows up with the picture together. He said, “Scotty, how did you put this picture of the whole world together so fast?” He said, “Daddy, it was easy. There was a picture of a man on the other side. If you put the man together right, the world goes together just fine.” http://hutchcraft.com/a-life-that-matters/radio-program/every-dads-a-builder-8296 2009-09-18T14:13:26-05:00 In the course of our ministry on Indian reservations, we met a precious grandmother who told us a memorable story. Her grandmother had been forced out of the village she lived in because she gave her heart to Christ. That meant her grandfather had to build a house down in the valley below the village, and here’s how he did it. Each day as he returned from work, he’d pick up a big rock and bring it home to help build that house. http://hutchcraft.com/a-life-that-matters/radio-program/the-power-of-a-fathers-smile-8295 2009-09-18T14:12:31-05:00 It was that time of the year when the grass grew so fast, it seemed like our lawn needed to be mowed like every other day. My then five-year-old son was following me, clipping around the rocks, and I smiled at him and kept mowing. He came up to me and he said, “Daddy, could you do that again please?” I said, “Do what?” He said, “Could you please smile at me again. It’s your smile that keeps me going.” http://hutchcraft.com/a-life-that-matters/radio-program/dangling-in-the-dark-8294 2009-09-18T14:11:30-05:00 It started out as one of the scarier experiences of my wife’s childhood. Her grandfather had dropped his valuable pen into the well in their yard, and there was only one way it could be retrieved: if someone was lowered down there on a rope…someone small…like a little four-year old girl. Soon my wife found herself with a rope tied securely around her, being lowered into the darkness of that well, sort of dangling in the dark. She got the pen and she shed a lot of the fear as she did it. She told me, “I knew I’d be OK because my father was holding the rope.” If you belong to Jesus Christ, so is yours. http://hutchcraft.com/a-life-that-matters/radio-program/anchored-in-stormy-times-8293 2009-09-18T14:10:09-05:00 I was talking to our amazingly perceptive eight-year-old grandson about his recent bout with a very painful condition. It turned out to be something simple to correct, but it wasn’t fun at the time. His teacher called and told our daughter, “You need to come and pick him up right away. He’s in excruciating pain.” Well, our daughter took him to the doctor, where he had to endure the pain for a little longer while they sat in the waiting room. Here’s how he described his experience to me: “You know, it’s like a boat that’s tied to an anchor. A big storm comes and really blows you around. I felt like my anchor was going to break. But Jesus is my anchor, and that anchor never breaks.” Man, in stormy times like these, isn’t that what we need? http://hutchcraft.com/a-life-that-matters/radio-program/how-to-go-everywhere-with-your-kids-8292 2009-09-18T14:08:42-05:00 Our daughter isn’t afraid to tackle a real parenting challenge, like teaching an eight-year-old boy the value of writing thank you notes for gifts he receives. That’s exactly what she’s been doing with our grandson. And while they were writing those notes, she said, “How are you going to remember to do this when I’m not around?” And he said, “The voice inside me that sounds like you.” http://hutchcraft.com/a-life-that-matters/radio-program/the-most-expensive-mistake-8291 2009-09-18T14:07:48-05:00 NFL player Marquis Cooper was one of four men who set out for a fishing trip off the Gulf Coast of Florida. When they hit rough seas, their boat capsized, and Cooper and a friend never made it back. Sadly, the Coast Guard never received a distress signal from Cooper’s fishing boat. But here’s the sad footnote to the tragedy. Two days before that fatal trip, a friend had urged Cooper to buy a life-saving device that self-activates radio signals when a boat flips over, but he never got what could have saved his life. http://hutchcraft.com/a-life-that-matters/radio-program/a-no-regrets-life-8290 2009-09-18T14:07:07-05:00 After many amazing movie successes, director Steven Spielberg decided to use his talents to try and capture an unforgettable story from the horror of the Holocaust; he called it “Schindler’s List.” It’s the story of industrialist Otto Schindler who used his business and his fortune to save the lives of hundreds of Jews who otherwise would have been victims of Hitler’s “final solution.” The movie ends with hundreds of those he saved gathering to thank him. But as they pay tribute to him, he begins a heartbreaking calculation. He looked at his car and said, “Look at this car. I could have sold it–ten more Jews. Look at this jewelry–five more Jews. This pin–one, maybe two more Jews.” He melts into tears, sobbing, “I could have done more. I could have done more.”