A Decade on the Job

Today marks my 10-year anniversary working for Pentecostal Evangel magazine at Assemblies of God headquarters. My job has changed dramatically in the past decade. Initially I only worked on the monthly missions magazine, taking an overseas trip every couple of months. But I haven’t been out of the country for five years now, as my responsibilities shifted to editing the weekly news section of the domestic edition of the magazine (http://pe.ag.org/).

Much else has changed in the past 10 years of work, of course. In 1999 the Internet didn’t play that big a role in my daily duties; now it’s indispensable. Of course many readers, especially younger ones, have forsaken the printed word for the Web. And the fallout has been tremendous. In just the past year our staff has shrunk from 14 to nine.

Circulation has fallen every year since I’ve been at the magazine, and we’ve lost about 70,000 readers overall in that span. Obviously that trend can’t continue if the magazine is to be around another 10 years.

I’m optimistic that the magazine and newspaper industries will bounce back. Many people like to pick up the daily paper or the weekly periodical, even if the content isn’t free like it is online. I hope that happens; I’d like to keep doing this for awhile.

A Visit to Philadelphia

For a history buff such as me, my visit to the City of Brotherly Love over the weekend proved to be quite rewarding when I had some spare time during a reporting trip. I visited Independence Hall, a 250-year-old building that was the site of the signing of both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. I saw the Liberty Bell, which is in a new structure across the street. And a museum devoted to Benjamin Franklin, a genius in so many ways.

Sometimes we forget what a risk the signers of the Declaration took. Many were prominent and prosperous, yet they risked their livelihood and indeed their lives by proposing tyranny against the king of England. It’s also hard to imagine a time when news spread largely by published works, such as Thomas Paine’s Common Sense. They had no Facebook accounts, no texting, no cell phone or even telegraph.

I also found the National Convention Center nearby to be worth investigating, although, unlike most other sites, there is a fee. The imposing life-size bronze sculptures of the 42 signers around when the Constitutional Convention wrapped up are depicted in an imposing, eerie exhibit. Old white men didn’t really found the country. White and men for sure, but the average age of the signers was 42. These men, too, took a great risk in establishing what has become quite a successful stab at democracy.

Crazed DVR

The DVR went crazy last Friday night. I set it up to record the season premiere of Monk, which turned out to be a better episode than most of the previous two seasons. I didn’t watch the program until Saturday night. By then I discovered that the DVR didn’t shut off after the hour-long Monk episode. It kept recording all night, not only on the USA Network but also on the USA high definition channel.

Consequently, the malfunction wiped out everything I had saved earlier, primarily about 20 TCM movies. Initially I became quite angry at the technological glitch. But putting it in perspective, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. My wife thought maybe even the Lord was behind it.

After a 10-hour workday my customary evening ritual usually involves watching a movie or other recorded program as a way to “relax.” Although the content is good (“classic” movies), the choices available on the DVR also can hold me hostage to the TV. Now I actually might have to do more of other activities, like praying and talking to my wife.

Sudden Death

Sunday night on the way home from church I came upon a fatal accident that had happened 10 minutes earlier on a state highway.

A fire truck with lights flashing stopped traffic at the scene and firefighters milled about the blacktop, but no medical personnel or law enforcement officers had arrived yet. As I slowed my car, I saw another auto parked on the shoulder. The right side of the windshield had cracked into hundreds of pieces, but hadn’t shattered. Blood stains splattered the glass where the windshield and metal frame met.

As I drove on a few yards more I saw the surreal scene of a man laying facedown in the ditch. Just then a firefighter removed a tarp from the truck and covered him up. By now I saw an ambulance in my rear-view mirror with lights flashing. A siren wailed and I wondered why. The man obviously had died instantly.

A few yards further I looked out the window of my creeping vehicle and saw a bare leg, severed below the knee, lying on the gravel shoulder of the highway. It’s a graphic image that sticks in my brain.

Shaken, I immediately called my wife who was still with church friends, and told her to take another route home.

The next day I read in the local paper that a car driven by a 54-year-old woman had struck the 79-year-old pedestrian. The collision occurred on a slight ridge shortly before twilight. The walker and driver probably never saw each other before impact.

Rarely do we get into a car and consider the gravity of the undertaking. As we chug down the road at 60 miles per hour, a sudden movement by us or another driver can mean immediate death.

Sunday night on the phone I told my wife to be careful coming home. Life is precious. And it can end quickly.

Too Early for Politics

It’s a pleasant eight months after the lengthy 2008 presidential campaign season. For more than a year, Americans were bombarded with daily tracking polls on how the candidates were faring in the minds of voters. Ultimately, the predictions proved to be extremely accurate.

I thought we might have another couple of years of rest before the pollsters and pundits began pummeling us with the next presidential race. I was wrong. Rasmussen Reports already is asking people about the November 2012 election. I find that a bit goofy, for several reasons:

• How can people be asked if they favor Mitt Romney or Sarah Palin over Barack Obama when no one will declare a candidacy until 2011?

• The Republican Party is in disarray, so to anoint a front-runner right now seems premature.

• The issues during the next three years will have a lot to do with how people feel about Obama. By 2012, most people will either have him as a financial savior or label him as the man who bankrupted the country. Remember George W. Bush had the support of nearly all Americans in September 2011. By the end of his second term, even his friends didn’t want to admit they supported him.

• Early front-runners have a way of flaming out. Rudy Giuliani had the media tag of can’t-miss GOP nominee a couple of years ago. Despite spending a tremendous amount of money, he ended up withdrawing from the race without capturing any states.

Medical Missteps

My wife and I rarely take any drug more potent than an aspirin; she rarely takes even an aspirin.

We’ve seen the folly of taking too many medications, both firsthand and with friends and relatives. We’ve managed to find alternative herbal remedies — to be taken as needed rather than several times a day for life — for nearly everything for which we used to pop prescription pills.

Pharmaceutical defenders quickly chastise us for living so dangerously. Don’t you know the FDA hasn’t run clinical trials to verify the safety of these herbs, they ask? I guess that’s why FDA-regulated drugs list possible side effects such as blindness, seizures and death.

We have doctor and nurse friends. I had no qualms going to an emergency room when I broke my finger last month. But much of the medical profession, driven by the insurance industry, has become too concerned with profits and not enough about patients. The only time my wife has been to a doctor’s office in the past couple of years was for a urine test — which cost us more than $300.

In the 1980s physicians convinced my wife to undergo a couple of operations that left her in worse shape than before. A quarter century later, she’s still dealing with nerve damage from the carpal tunnel surgery.

Unnecessary surgeries are only part of the problem. We’ve become an overmedicated society. At the slightest sign of discomfort we want a pill to ease it, despite the potentially damaging side effects. Heath Ledger’s death testifies about the dangers of mixing prescription drugs.

Being wealthy is no protection from an improper drug regimen, hospital infections or misdiagnosis. Ask the families of Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger, John Ritter, Maurice Gibb, June Carter Cash, Jim Henson and Natasha Richardson. Better living through chemistry isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

A Navigation Godsend

Recently I flew to Atlanta for a two-day reporting trip that required me to cover two stories in two different cities near the Georgia capital.

The car rental clerk inquired whether I would like a GPS system with the vehicle.

“How much?” I asked. I never had driven with one before.

"Only $10 a day," she replied.

I think God prompted her to ask the question.

I’m not much for 20th century technology. I haven’t felt the need to own a BlackBerry or an iPod. But after a weekend in the company of a Global Positioning System, I’m convinced it’s one of the greatest inventions of my lifetime, right up there with the cell phone, the Internet and the DVR — all devices that save time and relieve stress.

If my wife is with me, one of us can read a road map. But when alone, trying to decipher 18 steps of written MapQuest instructions while getting from point A to point B can be risky — for me and other drivers.

To reach my destinations I had to drive through Atlanta, once going north, the other time south, in the midst of a city that must rank near the top in vehicles per capita. Atlanta and its suburbs have a lot of traffic, and the roads aren’t necessarily straight or logically designed.

But typing an address into the portable GPS resulted in perfect voice results every time to get me to the exact location. Every step of the way a voice prompted me where to go to reach my destination. It spared me from a potential crash, missing a turn or being late.

I don’t understand how the satellite technology works. I just benefited from it. For a brief history of GPS, see: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1900862,00.html