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Dedication This book is dedicated to Lillian & Clarence
Jacqueline & Justin
In Reflection and with the Deepest Gratitude Shortly after my dad graduated from this world, the youngest of my three older sisters sent me an encouraging note along with a box of old letters. That box was filled with correspondence between my mother and just about every one of my elementary school teachers. Each teacher in turn said essentially the same thing: "I just can't motivate him." It wasn't until after I flunked ninth grade English that I met a teacher in summer school who could truly inspire me. In this lady's class I always felt as though it was late at night, we were with good friends, there was a bowl of fruit within easy reach, the discussion was lively, and everyone was involved. Still, it would take several more years before I would finally decide to live. I mean really, really live! And, I suppose, it was also about that same time that Our Creator created in me a real passion for learning, while also employing some pretty heroic measures to get me educated. I'm a greatly flawed individual. But I'm beginning to recognize the Ultimate Source of all true gifts. And, I think I'm now asking the right questions. For example, exactly why is it "that even a blind hog finds an acorn once in awhile?" Spirit gravity brought me to the point where I could view our inner space as a medical photographer. What an awesome privilege to trade places with a surgeon, and from there to photograph an open heart or a living brain. If you awakened after surgery feeling as though your insides had been moved about, it may have been because I asked "What's that?" and your surgeon actually took the time to show me. Anyway, sorry about any extra discomfort you may have experienced because of me. And I want to assure you, if you passed a small lens cap after stomach surgery, it wuzn't me. And I really don't want it back. When it became time to understand how a computer worked, I was invited into the life and home of the machine's inventor. From across the dinner table he explained how he came to realize it would have to be a binary system. He compared memory refresh to a child repeating his mother's instructions while walking to the store. The child saying, "a pound of butter and a loaf of bread, a pound of butter and a loaf of bread." And, though he built the first electronic digital computer this world ever knew, he gave me the honor of building the last one he ever used while on this world. Even though he built his from sketches he made on a paper napkin and the one I built for him was from Heathkit, I was seriously jazzed nonetheless. In learning how to fly, I was blessed with great instructors and no shortage of mentors. The first human being ever to fly un-tethered in outer space called me just prior to riding shuttle Discovery on a mission to deploy the Hubble Space Telescope. He placed that phone call from the NASA quarantine room. From the very top of the pyramid a shuttle astronaut generously gave advice and encouragement to this lowly student pilot, as I was about to take a Cessna 152 on my very first three-point, cross-country solo. It took days for me to come down and realize that no, I wasn't Jonathan Livingston Seagull and that yes, the "real" flight was still ahead of me. Now I also realize that I would not have been able to relate to Seagull at all had it not been for my middle sister encouraging me to read that book. As this project gets wrapped up, thanks to my first-born sister and her husband, our country's newly appointed and yet to be confirmed Treasury Secretary, I'm now looking forward to sharing Christmas dinner with the first man ever to set foot on the moon. Life is good, really good. It's also what family is all about. Families produced all of these people that I so admire. Our friends, family, teachers, mentors, inventors and pioneers each draw upon a rich heritage to inspire us. Whether our careers are high profile or low profile, whether we exude inspiration, perspiration or both, we influence people every day in ways we may never even pause to consider. Through three decades of youth ministry, I've encountered all kinds of families. Some are seemingly ideal, others just looking to put the fun back in dysfunctional. But almost all of them are cranking out truly magnificent human beings. I was so proud of my parents when they celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary. And I have been truly awed by my own children as they have faced some real adversity with courage and grace. But family is what it is; you take it as it comes; it's the hand you're dealt. While no amount of social engineering is likely to improve upon the original design, we can certainly improve on the way family is maintained. And that's mostly what this book is about. It is a small contribution in a much larger effort to preserve, protect and defend our families. Jefferson wrote: "I have sworn, upon the alter of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man." Some of that same hostility is reflected in the pages of this book, and rightly so. If, as a nation, we continue to follow our Supreme Court through their inconsistencies and to their illogical extremes, the Declaration of Independence and the words upon the wall of the Jefferson Memorial would have to be removed from the federal enclave. Due to their religious overtones, these writings too may some day be banned. I truly believe that today, in the context of families and our democracy, the greatest tyrannies are imposed through government's unwise but well-intentioned intrusion into our families combined with the impairment of academic freedom and journalistic integrity. In the first case "for better or for worse" has been replaced with a government enabled "If at first you don't succeed, bail!" In the second case, most of our institutions have produced a confused and narrow disintegration of truth. If we can get the system off of the backs of our teachers, then maybe de-motivators will cease to be such a large part of our gross national product. For only then can the Spirit that works through all great teachers, freely appeal to the spirit within learners. Those teachers that feel they are in need of some remediation in this area should study the way Jesus used parables. After all, they're not just for getting around the "authorities" anymore. While we've clearly outgrown the institutional religion that demands "turn or burn," we haven't outgrown religion, and we never will, for it is by definition the domain of values. This book is absolutely bullish on family values, and post-modern religionists are individually deciding if they want to be a part of the eternal future. As for me, I want my entire family to be a part of that future. I want to thank all of my teachers personally for their heroic efforts, so they all need to be there. I want to see all of my friends. And then of course there are the people that bought this book. I certainly want to meet both of you.
Robert H. Kalk
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