An Ounce

To help direct his boys' attention during church services, his dad gave him some paper, and a few crayons, and encouraged him to create a picture.

The boy did his best. But still, he wiggled and squirmed and just kept talking – as quietly as he could - to the characters he was placing on the paper - and his dad, who watched patently over him. Apparently whispering was not something the boy was familiar with.

When the picture was finished, he excitedly showed it to his father, and pointed out the characters and other things he had made with the crayons. Then he began to note the colors he had used. It was surprising how well he spoke considering his age.

But then, he paused a little, and then said, “... and this is yeh-woah. I know that’s not how you say it, I’m trying, but it’s as good I can do it."

This is when the lesson starts.

Exciting News!  We've Got A New YouTube Channel - Watch, listen and most definitely subscribe and share! 

We've Got A New YouTube Channel - Watch, listen and most definitely subscribe and share!

You’ve heard of the ‘Butterfly Effect'. That suggestion that proposes that if a butterfly flaps its wings in Colorado in just the right way, at just the right moment, it sets off a potential set of subtle events – a chain reaction if you will, that causes a hurricane to blow ashore in Georgia a month later.

Annie Oakley experienced one of those butterfly effect incidents. It happened in a fraction of a second, she made a perfect rick shot that everyone walk safely away from. But if she had missed her target, there are 2 world wars that might not have happened.

Exciting News!  We've Got A New YouTube Channel - Watch, listen and most definitely subscribe and share! 

We've Got A New YouTube Channel - Watch, listen and most definitely subscribe and share!

 Seems nostalgic for some, outright joyful for others, but for a few – it is a time of overwhelming stress and foreboding. Not for everyone, mind you, but for some, the fear is real – but not for the reason you might think. 

The fear – it comes from having to engage in… Dare I say it? … Calculus. 

That’s right, I said it, Calculus. 

So some of you will be dealing with the logic of ill-logical-ness (did I just make up a word there?) That’s right – you're going to be grappling with Binomial Theorem, and Cavalieri’s principle – in 3 dimensions! So get your polynomials lined up, because no simple imaginary number will suffice – unless it is the solution. 

But did you know that a simple monk almost destroyed calculus before it had a chance to sprain your brains? 

Exciting News!  We've Got A New YouTube Channel - Watch, listen and most definitely subscribe and share! 

We've Got A New YouTube Channel - Watch, listen and most definitely subscribe and share!

 It was October 1962 and the world was on edge. The US military was on high alert, everyone thought nuclear annihilation could happen at any moment. Schools were teaching children to ‘Duck and Cover’ under their desks in the event of an atomic blast. People were digging holes, and pouring concrete in their backyards. Not to build pools, but instead to build a personal fallout shelters - and then quickly filling them with survival supplies. 

It was the Height of the ‘Cuban Missal Crisis’. US President John F. Kennedy and Russian Premier Nakita Khruschev were at odds over the placement of nuclear missiles in Cuba – just a few miles off the coast of Florida. 

There is in Wisconsin an Air National Guard Base, Volk Field, with a 9,000-foot-long runway. What does this have to do with the Cuban Missal Crisis? Listen and find out!

Exciting News!  We've Got A New YouTube Channel - Watch, listen and most definitely subscribe and share! 

We've Got A New YouTube Channel - Watch, listen and most definitely subscribe and share!

 It was October 1962 and the world was on edge. The US military was on high alert, everyone thought nuclear annihilation could happen at any moment. Schools were teaching children to ‘Duck and Cover’ under their desks in the event of an atomic blast. People were digging holes, and pouring concrete in their backyards. Not to build pools, but instead to build a personal fallout shelters - and then quickly filling them with survival supplies. 

It was the Height of the ‘Cuban Missal Crisis’. US President John F. Kennedy and Russian Premier Nakita Khruschev were at odds over the placement of nuclear missiles in Cuba – just a few miles off the coast of Florida. 

There is in Wisconsin an Air National Guard Base, Volk Field, with a 9,000-foot-long runway. What does this have to do with the Cuban Missal Crisis? Listen and find out!

Exciting News!  We've Got A New YouTube Channel - Watch, listen and most definitely subscribe and share! 

We've Got A New YouTube Channel - Watch, listen and most definitely subscribe and share!

We live in an amazing time of electric cars, space travel for tourists, telephones in everyone pocket with which we instantaneously speak to some on the other side of the world, satellite navigation that can brings us within inches of any point on the globe, instant access to a volume of information even the Great Library of Alexandria would be envious of. 

Notice I said information – didn’t identify that information as factual or true. And, yes, we are talking about the internet, the World Wide Web, the miraculous digital information superhighway. 

According to a reference I found on the internet, Mark Twain once wrote, “In the vast realm of information on the World Wide Web, fact and fiction doth dance together, much like a pair of mischievous pickpockets.”

And though he never said this – he is right. How can you know if something is factual? What is true? What is good?

Exciting News!  We've Got A New YouTube Channel - Watch, listen and most definitely subscribe and share! 

We've Got A New YouTube Channel - Watch, listen and most definitely subscribe and share!

We live in an amazing time of electric cars, space travel for tourists, telephones in everyone pocket with which we instantaneously speak to some on the other side of the world, satellite navigation that can brings us within inches of any point on the globe, instant access to a volume of information even the Great Library of Alexandria would be envious of. 

Notice I said information – didn’t identify that information as factual or true. And, yes, we are talking about the internet, the World Wide Web, the miraculous digital information superhighway. 

According to a reference I found on the internet, Mark Twain once wrote, “In the vast realm of information on the World Wide Web, fact and fiction doth dance together, much like a pair of mischievous pickpockets.”

And though he never said this – he is right. How can you know if something is factual? What is true? What is good?

Exciting News!  We've Got A New YouTube Channel - Watch, listen and most definitely subscribe and share! 

We've Got A New YouTube Channel - Watch, listen and most definitely subscribe and share!

The Career of Staff Sergeant Reckless with the United States Marines Corps began in 1952. This soldiers' heritage went back to an unlikely origin – Mongolia. 

A bit smaller than most but smart, tough, and fast. Sgt Reckless was proven in battle during the Korean War. 

Reckless was assigned to a Recoilless Rifle Platoon, Anti-Tank Company, in the fifth Marine Regiment, and took on responsibilities in what we now call “logistics”. The Sgt moved supplies and ammunition to the front and evacuated casualties. 

In March 1953, Sgt Reckless preformed outstandingly well during the battle for outpost Vegas and was promoted to Corporal. 

During that battle, Reckless Made 50 trips to the front carrying critically needed supplies in, and wounded men out.  During the battle for outpost Vegas, fighting was so fierce that only two men made it out alive and without wounds. Reckless was wounded twice – but kept going. 

Exciting News!  We've Got A New YouTube Channel - Watch, listen and most definitely subscribe and share! 

We've Got A New YouTube Channel - Watch, listen and most definitely subscribe and share!

The Career of Staff Sergeant Reckless with the United States Marines Corps began in 1952. This soldiers' heritage went back to an unlikely origin – Mongolia. 

A bit smaller than most but smart, tough, and fast. Sgt Reckless was proven in battle during the Korean War. 

Reckless was assigned to a Recoilless Rifle Platoon, Anti-Tank Company, in the fifth Marine Regiment, and took on responsibilities in what we now call “logistics”. The Sgt moved supplies and ammunition to the front and evacuated casualties. 

In March 1953, Sgt Reckless preformed outstandingly well during the battle for outpost Vegas and was promoted to Corporal. 

During that battle, Reckless Made 50 trips to the front carrying critically needed supplies in, and wounded men out.  During the battle for outpost Vegas, fighting was so fierce that only two men made it out alive and without wounds. Reckless was wounded twice – but kept going. 

Exciting News!  We've Got A New YouTube Channel - Watch, listen and most definitely subscribe and share! 

We've Got A New YouTube Channel - Watch, listen and most definitely subscribe and share!

I had the privilege of listening to a few of the experiences and insights of an extraordinary man. A man whom most are probably not very familiar with. His Name is Raja Dhaliwal. 

10 years or so ago, Raj was a taxi driver. He was working long hours in a one of the larger cities in Canada, hauling folk to and from the airport. Raj is generally quiet, very respectful, and kind. 

Raj was not born in Canada – he emigrated there to find a better life. 

Raj has olive skin, a long full beard, and he also wears a turban. And, he is most concerned with how he feels in his heart than how he looks to you. 

I heard him speak a year or so ago to a packed house – Tens of thousands of people. His English was not perfect – but he was very conversant and clear. But, communicating with people is something he does quite well – in at least 4 languages. 

What did this simple cab driver have to say that was so appreciated by those tens of thousands who were there to listen to them? 

Exciting News!  We've Got A New YouTube Channel - Watch, listen and most definitely subscribe and share! 

We've Got A New YouTube Channel - Watch, listen and most definitely subscribe and share!