QUARANTINE BLOG # 519

August 31, 2021

Anne Frank, the young Jewish girl hiding out in Nazi-occupied Holland whose diary came to serve as a symbol of the Holocaust, wrote her final entry on August 1, 1944, three days before she and her family were arrested and placed in concentration camps.  She and seven others lived for 2 years in a secret annex behind her father’s business in Amsterdam during World War II.  Anne Frank died in 1945 from typhus at Germany’s Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. 

James Butler “Wild Bill” Hickok, one of the greatest gunfighters of the American West, was murdered in Deadwood, South Dakota on August 2, 1876.  Hickok was playing cards with his back to the saloon door.  At 4:15 in the afternoon, a young gunslinger named Jack McCall walked into the saloon, approached Hickok from behind, and shot him in the back of the head.  Hickok died immediately.  He was holding a pair of aces and a pair of 8s, known universally now as “the dead man’s hand.”

On August 3, 1492, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus set sail from Spain in command of three ships on a journey to find a western sea route to China, India and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia.  On October 12, the expedition sighted land and went ashore the same day, claiming it for Spain.  Later that month, Columbus sighted Cuba, which he thought was mainland China, and in December, Hispaniola, which Columbus thought might be Japan.

On August 4, 1892, Andrew and Abby Borden were found hacked to death in their Fall River, Massachusetts, home.  Their daughter, Lizzie, was charged with murder, but the fact that no blood was found on her, coupled with her well-bred Christian persona convinced the all-male jury that she was incapable of the gruesome crime and they quickly acquitted her.

On August 5, 1976, the National Basketball Association merged with its rival, the American Basketball Association, and took on the ABA’s four most successful franchises: the Denver Nuggets, the Indiana Pacers, the New York (later Brooklyn) Nets and the San Antonio Spurs.  The ABA instituted the now popular 3-point shot (and the red, white, and blue basketball).

On August 6, 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.  Approximately 80,000 people were killed as a direct result of the blast, and another 35,000 were injured. At least another 60,000 would be dead by the end of the year from the effects of the fallout.  Secretary of War Henry Stimson estimated that invading Japan would cost 1.7 - 4 million American casualties, including 400,000 - 800,000 fatalities, and five to ten million Japanese casualties, fatalities unknown.

On August 7, 1974, French high-wire artist Philippe Petit performed a tightrope walk between the not-yet-open twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City.   The night before some of Petit’s cohorts went unnoticed up the north tower while Petit and two friends snuck 250 feet of steel cable and a balancing pole up the south tower.  The rigging was set up overnight and, at 7.15 am, Petit began the “artistic crime of the century.”  He was arrested after stepping off the wire.

After Joseph Smith, the founder and prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and his brother, Hyrum, were murdered by an angry mob in an Illinois prison, Elder Brigham Young was chosen to be the Church’s next leader on August 8, 1844.

In accordance with his statement of resignation the previous evening, Richard M. Nixon officially ended his term as the 37th president of the United States at noon on August 9, 1974.  Minutes later, Vice President Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as the 38th president of the United States in the East Room of the White House.  That evening on television Ford said, “Our national nightmare is over.”

A group of federal prisoners classified as “most dangerous” arrived at Alcatraz Island, a 22-acre rocky outcrop situated 1.5 miles offshore in San Francisco Bay, on August 11, 1934.  In 1963, U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy ordered Alcatraz closed, citing the high expense of its maintenance.  In its 29-year run, Alcatraz housed more than 1,500 convicts.

Jack Nicklaus won the PGA championship for his 14th major title on August 12, 1973, surpassing Bobby Jones’ record of 13 majors.  He shot a seven-under-par 277 to win $45,000 and his third PGA National championship.  The “Golden Bear” went on to win 18 major tournaments, a record that still stands today. 

On August 13, 1961, East German soldiers began laying down barbed wire and bricks as a barrier between Soviet-controlled East Berlin and the democratic western section of the city.   Soldiers worked over night, laying more than 100 miles of barbed wire inside the East Berlin border.  The wire was soon replaced by a six-foot-high, 96-mile-long wall of concrete blocks, complete with guard towers, machine gun posts and searchlights.  The wall remained a barrier to freedom until November 9, 1989.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the Social Security Act on August 14, 1935.  The historic act guaranteed an income for the unemployed and retirees.  FDR commended Congress for their “patriotic” act.

On August 15, 1969, the Woodstock music festival opened on a patch of farmland in White Lake, New York.  Acts included the Jefferson Airplane, the Who, the Grateful Dead, Sly and the Family Stone, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Creedence Clearwater Revival and many more.  By the time the gates opened on more than 400,000 people were clamoring to get in.

V-J Day – Victory over Japan – was August 14, 1945, in Japan, and because of the International Date Line, it was August 15, 1945, in the United States when an official announcement of Japan’s unconditional surrender to the Allies was made public to the world.  The official surrender would be signed by Japan on September 2, 1945.

Ivy Elaine Allen and Michael David Sisler were married on August 18, 2012, at Macedonia United Methodist Church.  The union created “The Crew at 2042.”

On August 20, 1945, Brooklyn Dodgers utility player Tommy Brown homered to drive in his team’s only run in an 11-1 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.  It seems insignificant, but at 17 years old, Brown remains the youngest player to homer in a Major League Baseball game, a feat unlikely to be duplicated.  

The pop duo Zager and Evans ended a six-week run at #1 on August 22, 1969, with their smash-hit “In the Year 2525.”  It would be their one and only hit.  Zager and Evans never returned to the pop charts, and disbanded two years later.

As punishment for betting on baseball, Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose accepted a settlement on August 23, 2000, that included a lifetime ban from the game.  A heated debate continues to rage as to whether Rose, a former player who remains the game’s all-time hits leader, should be given a second chance. 

After more than four years of Nazi occupation, Paris was liberated on August 25, 1944, by the French 2nd Armored Division and the U.S. 4th Infantry Division.  German General Dietrich von Choltitz, commander of the German garrison, defied an order by Adolf Hitler to blow up Paris’ landmarks and burn the city to the ground before its liberation. 

The first televised MLB game was broadcast on August 26, 1939, on station W2XBS.  Announcer Red Barber called the game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn.  At the time, regular programming did not yet exist, and very few people owned television sets – there were only about 400 in the New York area.

On August 28, 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.  250,000 people attended the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.  On that day the African American civil rights movement reached its high-water mark.

On August 30, 1967, Thurgood Marshall became the first African American to be confirmed as a Supreme Court justice.  He would remain on the Supreme Court for 24 years before retiring for health reasons, leaving a legacy of upholding the rights of the individual as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

Diana, Princess of Wales, died in a car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997.  She was 36.  Her boyfriend,  socialite Dodi Fayed, and the driver of the car, Henri Paul, died as well.  At first, the paparazzi hounding the car were blamed for the crash, but later it was revealed that the driver was under the influence of alcohol and prescription drugs.

👉  Our close today, “A Desert into Pools of Water,” is from Praying with the Psalms, by Eugene H. Peterson.

“He turns a desert into pools of water, a parched land into springs of water” (Psalms 107:35).

Rivers can dry up and deserts can blossom.  The world as we find it is neither a guarantee of happiness nor a condemnation to despair.  Not the ground we put our feet on, but the God we put our trust in provides a sure, unchanging base on which to live.

Prayer: Great God, I will neither divinize this earth you have given nor abhor it; not turn the river into a god; not turn the desert into a demon.  I will enjoy your largesse in the pleasant places and obey your will in the difficult straits, as you direct and enable me in Jesus Christ.  Amen.

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QUARANTINE BLOG # 518

August 30, 2021

One of the great lines, repeated several times, from the movie Forrest Gump is, “Stupid is as stupid does.”  Today, in homage to those 5 words, QB opens a new department:

Forrest couldn’t have said it any better.

👉  There is a warning in the following three stories.  Are we listening?

Caleb Wallace, a leader of the anti-mask movement in central Texas became infected with the coronavirus, spent three weeks in an intensive care unit, and died Saturday.  

Wallace campaigned against mask mandates and other Covid policies that he saw as government intrusion.  In July he organized a “Freedom Rally” for people who were “sick of the government being in control of our lives.”  He founded the San Angelo Freedom Defenders, a group that hosted a rally to end what it called “COVID-19 tyranny.”

Caleb Wallace leaves three children, and his wife, Jessica, who is pregnant with their fourth child.  He was 30 years old.

Marc Bernier, a prominent conservative radio host from Daytona Beach, Florida, who was an outspoken opponent of COVID vaccines and mask mandates, died Saturday after a nearly month-long battle with COVID-19.

Bernier, a strident voice against vaccinations of all sorts, on July 30, posted what would become his final tweet, in which he compared the U.S. government to Nazis in its push to get people vaccinated.  

He was responding to a tweet from Nikki Fried, a Democrat set to run against Florida’s Ron DeSantis next year, who wrote: “The greatest generation had to defeat the Nazis to preserve our way of life, you’re only being asked to get a shot.  So be a patriot. Turn off the TV and go get vaccinated.”  In response, Bernier quote-tweeted her post saying, “Should say, ‘Now the US Government is acting like Nazi’s. Get the shot!’”  Bernier was 65 years old.

An unvaccinated elementary schoolteacher infected with the highly contagious Delta variant spread the virus to half of the students in a classroom, seeding an outbreak that eventually infected 26 people.  The classroom outbreak occurred in Marin County, California in May, according to a recent CDC release.

The teacher first showed symptoms on May 19, but worked for two days before getting tested.  During this time, the teacher read aloud, unmasked, to a class of 24 students, despite rules requiring both teachers and students to wear masks indoors.  All the students were too young for vaccination, which has been authorized only for people ages 12 and older.

On May 23, the teacher reported testing positive for infection with the coronavirus.  Over the next several days, 12 of the students also tested positive.  At least eight parents and siblings of the infected students also were infected.

👉  Doug Simmons and Dedra McGee of Chicago had a destination wedding in Jamaica.  As is the custom, the couple sent out invitations with RSVP cards.  On the wedding day one-third of the people who RSVP’d didn’t show up.  Simmons said they asked the would-be guests four times if they were coming, and booked seats at the reception dinner for those who said they would be there.  

After everyone was seated and there were a number of empty chairs and meals left over, the couple sent invoices to the no-shows – at $120 per person.  Simmons stressed that it’s not about money.  He and his new bride were merely hurt and felt disrespected by the no-shows at their hard-earned dream wedding. 

I could not find the eschewed menu, but for $120 it should have included Beluga caviar, petit foie gras, truffles, and some very good Dom Perignon.  

👉  Tomorrow’s QB will feature our monthly recap of “This Day” – notable events from the month of August.  But just a preview to whet your appetite.

On August 30, 1976, Tom Brokaw became news anchor for NBC’s “Today Show” (his co-host was Jane Pauley).  He is the only person to have hosted all three major NBC News programs: The Today Show, NBC Nightly News, and Meet the Press.  Along with his competitors Peter Jennings at ABC News and Dan Rather at CBS News, Brokaw was one of the “Big Three” U.S. news anchors during the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s.  All three hosted their networks’ flagship nightly news programs for more than 20 years.  On January 22, 2021, Brokaw retired after 55 years at the network, one of the longest standing anchors in the world at the same news network.

And today in 1968, The Beatles released their single, “Hey Jude.”  It topped the charts in Britain for two weeks and for 9 weeks in America, where it became The Beatles longest-running No.1 in the US singles chart as well as the single with the longest running time.  To help with the filming an audience of around 300 local people, as well as some of the fans that gathered regularly outside Abbey Road Studios were brought in for the song’s finale.  The video is from David Frost’s “Frost On Sunday” show.  Enjoy all 8 minutes and 9 seconds of “Hey Jude.”

👉  Today’s sermon is the second in our series from the Lord’s Prayer: “Whose Kingdom? Whose Will?”

👉  Today’s close, “The Hunt for Pleasure,” is by Steve Arterburn.

“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want” (Philippians 4:12).

Society says, “Just do it!”  Friends say, “If it feels good, do it.”  And our flesh says, “More, more, more!”  Our appetite for pleasure fuels our lives.  

Is this a bad thing?  Actually, you were designed for pleasure – but the pleasure that you were designed to seek – the pleasure that will truly satisfy – is finding pleasure in God.  

Far too often, however, we set our sights too low, seeking satisfaction from power, food, status, money, or things.  C. S. Lewis wisely reflected that we’re like ignorant children who want to go on making mud pies in a slum because we cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.  “We are far too easily pleased,” he concluded.  

Maybe you’re dissatisfied in your hunt for pleasure, or maybe you’re satisfied right where you are and you shouldn’t be.  Pause and reflect on the source of your pleasure.  Only one source is lasting – seek God.  

“Pleasure can be supported by an illusion; but happiness rests upon truth.” – Sébastien-Roch Nicolas De Chamfort (1741-1794).

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QUARANTINE BLOG # 517

August 29, 2021

Motives

Earl Anthony was one of the greatest bowlers of all time, the first professional to earn one million dollars. I once watched him bowl a perfect game, shook his hand and got his autograph.

Walking up the backstairs of a church one evening, I was following a tall man who was wearing a great suit and expensive cowboy boots. One landing ahead, he stopped, turned around, stuck out a large hand and said, “Hello, I’m Cliff Barrows.” And that is how I met the man who has always shared the platform with Billy Graham.

I once flew from State College, PA to Pittsburgh on a fourteen passenger puddle jumper. I chatted with the man sitting across the aisle from me – Joe Paterno, head coach of the Penn State football team.

Flying the “red eye” to Los Angeles one night, I sat in the first class cabin with actor Tim Conway. Before we boarded the plane I spent twenty minutes talking with Richard Keil, the actor who played “Jaws” in two James Bond movies.

Impressed? My how we like to drop names. Name dropping gives the impression of intimacy when there is usually only the most casual acquaintance (Hey, my Grandma Lowdermilk did not meet the President, but she did meet Lady Bird, Mrs. Lyndon Johnson).

It is not only from the world of sports or entertainment or politics that we drop names. We do it spiritually. The future record reveals that many will say, “Lord, Lord, did we not in your name work great miracles, cast out devils, and do many wonderful things?” The Lord Jesus Christ will then say, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord.’ will enter the kingdom of heaven. I do not care if you did it in my name. I do not dispute that. But you did not mean it in my name.”

A woman gave a scenario to Ben Haden, radio and television minister for Changed Lives, proposing an outreach she had in mind. “Ben,” she asked, “are my motives pure or impure?” Without the slightest hesitation, Ben said, “They are probably impure, but do it anyway, and do it in Jesus’ name and for his glory, not your own.”

To act in Jesus’ name is not to pray on a street corner, in a loud voice, attracting attention to yourself. To act in Jesus’ name is not to deprive yourself of food for several days and then draw attention to your hunger. To act in Jesus’ name is not to attempt to convey that our motives are divine, when our motives are, in fact, only human.

Jesus said, “Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding.

“When you do something for someone else don’t call attention to yourself. You’ve seen them in action, I’m sure – ‘play actors’ I call them – treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. When you help someone out, don’t think about how it looks. Just do it – quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out” (Matthew 6:1-4, from The Message, by Eugene H. Peterson).

Check out the people whose faith and worship Jesus honored – the leader who came under cover of darkness; the woman who crawled through the crowd to touch the hem of his robe; the man who climbed a tree to watch the parade; the woman who begged for table scraps; the soldier who told Jesus a word was sufficient, he did not need a personal visit. These were men and women who acted merely as a matter of course, and did not thereafter take to the streets to let the whole world know they were doing good.

Do you ever wonder about the motives of God? When we are examining motives, ours are not nearly as important as his. And his motivation is love. “Herein is love,” the Bible says, “not that you and I loved God (because we did not), but that he loved us, and sent his only begotten Son to be the suitable sacrifice for our sins.”

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QUARANTINE BLOG # 516

August 28, 2021

Gold Mines, Glaciers, and Ghost Towns: the Conclusion.

The huge quantities of gold coming through Dawson City encouraged a lavish lifestyle amongst the richer prospectors. The major saloons each ran their own gambling rooms. A culture of high stakes evolved, with rich prospectors routinely playing for a $5,000 ($125,000 today) poker pot. The biggest recorded poker game in Dawson occurred between the well-known gamblers Sam Bonnifield and Louis Golden. $200,000 ($5 million) was put into the pot, which Bonnifield won with a hand of four kings. 

The largest modern poker payout at World Series of Poker was $18.3 million won by Antonio Esfandiari in 2012 at the inaugural Big One for One Drop Texas Hold ‘Em Tournament. That was for a tournament that started with 48 entrants. Bonnifield was playing for one pot. He later suffered a nervous breakdown and died in poverty.

As Dawson grew, so did the fortunes of those who made the right business decisions. Big Alex McDonald bought up the claims of discouraged miners and hired others to work them for him. He earned $5 million ($75 million) and the title ‘King of the Klondike’ without ever lifting a pick or shovel. 

The ‘Queen of the Klondike,’ Belinda Mulroney, arrived in the Klondike in the spring of 1897 with $5,000 ($125,000) worth of cotton clothing and hot-water bottles, which she sold for $30,000 ($750,000). This was followed by a lunch counter, a construction company, and a successful roadhouse. 

But that was not ambitious enough for Mulroney. She went on to build the grandest hotel in the Klondike – the Fair View, which boasted brass beds, fine china, cut-glass chandeliers and chamber music in the lobby, even electricity generated by the engine of a yacht anchored in the harbor.

For a brief time, Belinda and Big Alex became partners in a scheme to salvage the cargo of a wrecked steamboat. Big Alex got to the wreck first and made off with the most valuable supplies, leaving Belinda with a large inventory of rubber boots. ‘You’ll pay through the nose for this,’ she promised. When the spring thaw turned the ground in the gold fields to mush, McDonald was in dire need of boots for his men, and Mulroney was happy to provide them – at $100 ($2,500) a pair.

Big Alex became obsessed with buying up unwanted claims and eventually found himself stuck with a lot of worthless real estate. He died broke and alone. 

Belinda Mulroney married a fake French count and lived in style for several years, until her husband invested her money in a European steamship company – on the eve of World War I, which put an end to merchant shipping. She died penniless.

Three years after the discovery of gold on Bonanza Creek, the great gold rush was over. News came of a bigger gold strike in Nome, Alaska. In the spring of 1898 the Spanish-American War removed Klondike from the headlines. 

“Ah, go to the Klondike!” became a popular phrase to express disgust with an idea. Unsold, Klondike-branded goods had to be disposed of at special rates in Seattle. During one week in August 1899, 8,000 people deserted Dawson for the beaches of Nome which were open to all, no claims were allowed.

The Klondike gold rush was over.

Gold production actually increased until 1903 as a result of the dredging and hydraulic mining but then declined; but by 2005, approximately 1,250,000 pounds of gold had been recovered from the Klondike area. 

But away from Front Street following those stampede days, Dawson became increasingly deserted, jammed with the refuse of the gold rush: stoves, furniture, gold-pans, sets of dishes, seltzer bottles, piles of rusting mining machinery, boilers, winches, wheelbarrows and pumps. By 1912, only around 2,000 inhabitants remained compared to the 30,000 of the boom years and the site was becoming a ghost town. In 1972, only 500 people were living in Dawson. Tourism has brought people back – 1,300, give or take, living there now.

The three discoverers of the Klondike gold had mixed fates. 

George Carmack left his wife Kate – who had found it difficult to adapt to their new lifestyle – remarried and lived in relative prosperity. When George took up with Marguerite Laimee, Kate filed for divorce. George offered her a sentiment of $2,500 ($62,500). She asked for $100,000 ($2.5 million) but was unable to prove she was George’s lawful wife. Kate died back in the Yukon with her family in 1920 from the worldwide influenza epidemic of 1918-1920. 

Skookum Jim had a huge mining royalties but continued to prospect until his death in 1916. 

Dawson Charlie spent lavishly and died in an alcohol-related accident.

Alaska currently produces more gold (725,000 troy ounces annually) than any state except Nevada. Gold accounts for 15% of the mining wealth produced in Alaska. A total of 40 million troy ounces of gold from 1880 through the end of 2007 [$52 billion at $1300/troy ounce]. The Dawson City/Klondike Fields rank #9 in total world production with Johannesburg, South Africa #1 – 40% of all the gold ever mined came from the South African mines 2.4 miles below the earth’s surface.

I’ll wrap up this series, “Gold Mines, Glaciers, and Ghost Towns” with “Sourdough: The Miner's Song,” a video I made when this was cruise talk back in 2016 (when The Bride of My Youth, The Bro, CJ, and I sailed into some of the cities you have visited in this series).

👍  Today’s close is from New Morning Mercies, by Paul David Tripp.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:23-25).

We all do it in our own way. We all work to convince ourselves that we are better off than we are. We all want to believe that we are not that sinful after all. We compare ourselves to those who seem more sinful than us. We evaluate ourselves by looking into mirrors other than the one truly accurate mirror, the mirror of the Word of God. We list our good deeds to ourselves. It is a shocking denial of sin and a minimizing of the grace that is a sinner’s only hope.

God knew that this would be our tendency. He is fully aware of the self- righteousness that still lives inside all of us. God knew that we would convince ourselves that we are okay when we’re not okay. So he designed a means for us to be confronted again and again with the depth of our sin and the expansive glory of his provision in the person and work of the Lamb, the Savior, the Redeemer – the Lord Jesus Christ. 

He ordained that we gather again and again in services of corporate worship and be confronted with our true identity as both sinners and children of grace. You see, when you understand the free gift of God’s provision of grace, you aren’t afraid to admit to the depth of your sin, and it is only when you have admitted the disaster of your sin that you are excited about the grace of Christ Jesus. 

Corporate worship really does confront us with the fact that we are worse off than we thought and that God’s grace is more amazing than we ever could have imagined. We will continue to need that reminder until our sin is no more and we are with him and like him forever. Corporate worship is not a thankless duty for the religiously committed. No, it’s another gift of mercy from a God of glorious grace.

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QUARANTINE BLOG # 515

August 27, 2021

Maurice “Rocket” Richard was a Canadian professional ice hockey player – and hero of Canada – who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League for the Montreal Canadiens.  He was the first player in NHL history to score 50 goals in one season, accomplishing the feat in 50 games in 1944-45, and the first to reach 500 career goals.

Richard retired in 1960 as the league’s all-time leader in goals with 544.  He won the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player in 1947, played in 13 All-Star Games and was named to 14 post-season NHL All-Star Teams, eight on the First-Team.  In 2017 Richard was named one of the 100 Greatest NHL Players in history.  Richard was a member of eight Stanley Cup championship teams, including a league record five straight between 1956 and 1960; he was the team’s captain for the last four.  The Hall of Fame waived its five-year waiting period for eligibility and inducted Richard in 1961.

The Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy is presented annually to the leading goal scorer in the NHL.

When this great hockey player died in 2000 at the age of 78, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien remarked that he “defined and transcended the game of hockey.”  The statue – called “Never Give Up!” because of his personal motto – was created in 2001.

Terrance Stanley “Terry” Fox was a Canadian athlete, humanitarian, and cancer research activist.  In 1980, with one leg having been amputated due to cancer, he embarked on an east to west cross-Canada run to raise money and awareness for cancer research.  Although the spread of his cancer eventually forced him to end his quest after 143 days and 3,339 miles, and ultimately cost him his life, his efforts resulted in a lasting, worldwide legacy.  The annual Terry Fox Run, first held in 1981, has grown to involve millions of participants in over 60 countries and is now the world’s largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research; over $800 million has been raised in his name as of April 2020.

His right leg was amputated in 1977 after he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma (bone cancer), though he continued to run using an artificial leg.  He also played wheelchair basketball in Vancouver, winning three national championships.  

In 1980, he began the Marathon of Hope, a cross-country run to raise money for cancer research.  He began with little fanfare from St John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, in April and ran the equivalent of a full marathon – 26.2 miles – every day.   Fox had become a national star by the time he reached Ontario; he made numerous public appearances with businessmen, athletes, and politicians in his efforts to raise money.  He was forced to end his run outside Thunder Bay when the cancer had spread to his lungs.  His hopes of overcoming the disease and completing his run ended when he died nine months later.

Terry Fox’s path across eastern Canada. He began at St. John's on the east coast and ran west.

In addition to being the youngest person ever named a Companion of the Order of Canada, Fox won the 1980 Lou Marsh Award as the nation’s top sportsman and was named Canada’s Newsmaker of the Year in both 1980 and 1981.  Considered a national hero, he has had many buildings, statues, roads, and parks named in his honor across the country.

The statue of Terry Fox, which stands across from Parliament Hill in Ottawa, portrays the courage of this true national hero.

Memorial erected outside Thunder Bay on the Trans-Canada Highway near the spot where Fox was forced to end his marathon.

Because of space, the story of the Famous Five will be in Monday’s blog.

👉  Concluding thoughts on aging and other stuff:

• Some people are like clouds, once they disappear it’s a beautiful day.

• Some people you’re glad to see coming; some people you’re glad to see going.

• Common sense is not a gift.  It’s a punishment because you have to deal with everyone who doesn’t have it.

• PLEASE KEEP YOUR DISTANCE.  Nothing to do with virus.  I’m just a grouch.

• I came.  I saw.  I forgot what I was doing.  Retraced my steps.  Got lost on the way back.  Now I have no idea what’s going on.

👉  Some signs for the times:

👉  We haven’t done a hymn story in a while, so for our close today, here is “Sweet By and By.”  The video is performed by The Mennonite Singers.

In 1868, a pharmacist named Sanford Fillmore Bennett was filling prescriptions and handling sales at his apothecary in Elkhorn, Wisconsin.  His friend Joseph Webster entered the store.  Joseph was a local musician, vocalist, violinist, and amateur composer who suffered from periods of depression.  The two men had occasionally collaborated on hymns and songs, Sanford writing the words and Joseph the music.

On this particular day, Joseph was unusually blue and his face was long.  Looking up, Sanford asked, “What is the matter?”

“It’s no matter,” Joseph replied, “it will be all right by and by.”

An idea for a hymn hit Sanford like a flash of sunlight.  Sitting at his desk, he began writing as fast as he could.  The words came almost instantly.  Two customers entered the drugstore, but no attempt was made to assist them – Sanford was too absorbed in his poem – so they visited with Joseph.  Finally, Sanford rose and joined them, handing a sheet of paper to his friend.

“Here is your prescription, Joe,” he said.  “I hope it works.”  Webster read the words aloud:

        There’s a land that is fairer than day,

        And by faith we can see it afar;

        For the Father waits over the way,

        To prepare us a dwelling place there.

        In the sweet by and by,

        We shall meet on that beautiful shore.

        In the sweet by and by,

        We shall meet on that beautiful shore.

Instantly a tune suggested itself, and Joseph jotted down some notes.  Picking up his fiddle, he played his melody over a time or two, then said to the others, “We four make a good male quartet.  Let’s try the new song and see how it sounds.”

As “Sweet By and By” was being sung for the first time, another customer, R. R. Crosby, entered the store.  “Gentlemen,” he said, “I never heard that song before but it is immortal.”

He was right.  For more than a hundred years, we’ve been singing an immortal hymn that was written in a drugstore in less than half an hour.

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