Don’t Hope,… Decide!

d right next to me to greet his family.

First he motioned to his youngest son (maybe six years old) as he laid down his bags. They gave each other a long, loving hug. As they separated enough to look in each other’s face, I heard the father say, “It’s so good to see you, son. I missed you so much!” His son smiled somewhat shyly, averted his eyes and replied softly, “Me, too, Dad!”

Then the man stood up, gazed in the eyes of his oldest son (maybe nine or ten) and while cupping his son’s face in his hands said, “You’re already quite the young man. I love youvery much, Zach!” They too hugged a most loving, tender hug.

While this was happening, a baby girl (perhaps one or one-and-a-half) was squirming excitedly in her mother’s arms, never once taking her little eyes off the wonderful sight of her returning father. The man said, “Hi, baby girl!” as he gently took the child from her mother. He quickly kissed her face all over and then held her close to his chest while rocking her from side to side. The little girl instantly relaxed and simply laid her head on his shoulder, motionless in pure contentment.

After several moments, he handed his daughter to his oldest son and declared, “I’ve saved the best for last!” and proceeded to give his wife the longest, most passionate kiss I ever remember seeing. He gazed into her eyes for several seconds and then silently mouthed. “I love you so much!” They stared at each other’s eyes, beaming big smiles at one another, while holding both hands.

For an instant they reminded me of newlyweds, but I knew by the age of their kids that they couldn’t possibly be. I puzzled about it for a moment then realized how totally engrossed I was in the wonderful display of unconditional love not more than an arm’s length away from me. I suddenly felt uncomfortable, as if I was invading something sacred, but was amazed to hear my own voice nervously ask, “Wow! How long have you two been married?

“Been together fourteen years total, married twelve of those.” he replied, without breaking his gaze from his lovely wife’s face. “Well then, how long have you been away?” I asked. The man finally turned and looked at me, still beaming his joyous smile. “Two whole days!”

Two days? I was stunned. By the intensity of the greeting, I had assumed he’d been gone for at least several weeks – if not months. I know my expression betrayed me.

I said almost offhandedly, hoping to end my intrusion with some semblance of grace (and to get back to searching for my friend), “I hope my marriage is still that passionate after twelve years!”

The man suddenly stopped smiling.

He looked me straight in the eye, and with forcefulness that burned right into my soul, he told me something that left me a different person. He told me, “Don’t hope, friend… decide!” Then he flashed me his wonderful smile again, shook my hand and said, “God bless!”

- By Michael D. Hargrove and Bottom Line Underwriters, Inc.
Copyright 1997

Modern physics

Where Traditional Physics Stops
We're about to move into the modern age of
physics. In the early 1800's, scientists began
examining the basis of matter, space, and time.
Sometimes it gets very confusing, but the big idea
is that Newton's physics describe about 90% of
the way things work in the universe ( mechanics ).
His ideas start to break down when you talk
about ideas such as objects moving at the speed
of light, the inside of atoms, extreme
temperatures, and when the objects are huge (like
galaxies interacting with each other).
Into the Atom
The original idea of atoms developed by Niels
Bohr showed a structure based on various shells
and a center area called the nucleus . The
electrons were found in those shells while the
protons and neutrons were found in the nucleus.
There are other ways to look at the structure of
atoms (you may have heard of "spdf"), but we're
going to stick with the classic view for many of
our discussions. This view of the structure of an
atom was one of the foundations for modern
physics.
Into the Universe
Albert Einstein also played a large part in modern
physics. He developed formulas that described the
way matter and energy were related. Just about
everyone has heard of the formula E=mc^2 . That
formula explains how energy is related to mass.
The idea found its way into the study of fission
reactions, and it was proved that enormous
amounts of energy were stored in even one atom
of a substance.
Current Studies
Even now, scientists are still testing the
boundaries of physics and the laws of physics.
Only a few years ago a new state of matter was
created. The Bose-Einstein condensate was
theorized decades ago, but scientists have only
recently been able to create it in a lab. Every day
astronomers are studying space and learning how
black holes and galaxies interact. Stephen
Hawking is one of the more famous scientists
working in that field. Our point is, there is still
much to discover.

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