I like good news. How about you? I got back home this morning about 2:30 AM, after attending a meeting at Good News Fellowship Family Church in Owosso, Michigan. I'd gone over to hear Larry Huggins, a wonderful minister and longtime friend of mine. I went to bed and must have finally fallen asleep around 3:00 AM. About 8:00 AM, I was awakened out of a deep sleep by my wife, Debbi. "Randy, they found Saddam." Now, that's good news! It's especially good to hear on this particular day, December 14th. Why December 14th? It was on this day 39 years ago, that I received 'not-so-good' news that my father had collapsed in an office hallway at Fisher Body Plant #2 in Flint, Michigan. He'd suffered a fatal heart attack. He was 40 years old -- I was 14. Mom and I had just returned home from a neighborhood store where I'd purchased a Christmas gift for my dad -- an electric shoe polisher. My dad's shoes always looked new and shiny. He taught me how to polish and put a 'spit shine' on a pair, too. Maybe he took such good care of his shoes because as a kid he had to wear shoes with cardboard slid into the bottom of them because the soles had holes. That afternoon, as I sat alone in the darkness of our basement family room, I knew something was up. I'd heard the back screen door opening and closing, and the muffled sound of voices upstairs. Reverend Lomas was summoned to tell me the news: "Your father won't be coming home any more." That's all he said -- or at least that's all I remember him saying. For years I hated him for the way he told me of my father's death. But, how do you say it so it doesn't hurt -- so it doesn't cause pain? I don't know, do you? The news of my father's death made me cry. But today when I heard that Saddam Hussein had been captured, that news made me cry, too. Weird, huh? From now on, December 14th will carry added meaning for me. On this day I received bad news that a good man was lost -- and good news that a bad man was found. And life goes on... think on these things... Proverbs 25:25 (NKJV) As cold water to a weary soul, so is good news from a far country. Copyright 2004 Randall Gearhart top of page