"In the midst of the horrors we call war, do you understand and forgive?"

I talked with a World War II veteran one day. He served in the European theater, in Germany, during the final days of Hitler’s retreat. He told me about walking down dirt roads and seeing German bodies lying in ditches and fields. He told me how some of his fellow soldiers kicked and spat on those German bodies.

He also told me how his fellow soldiers kicked and spat on German prisoners being escorted to camps. They called the
Germans names and beat them.

But this veteran told me that when he looked at the German bodies lying in fields and ditches, and when he walked by the German prisoners going to camps, that he didn’t see “Germans”; he didn’t see “the enemy.” Instead he saw young men his own age who left behind wives and families to follow orders to shoot to kill; young men just like himself. My friend, in the midst of the horrors we call war, understood and forgave.

Listen to life and understand and forgive your enemies today.

Click here to listen to Dr. Joey

"When's your birthday?"

Today is my birthday. Don’t ask me how old I am unless you’ll settle for my standard answer: “Old enough to know better, and still too young to care.”

Yea, I’ve noticed some changes as I’ve gotten older, but I get to choose how I deal with those changes. My attitude is a choice I make that either helps or hurts me as I celebrate a birthday each year.

I had a friend who was nearing 100 years old. She got more and more excited with each passing year as she neared 100. By the time she was 99, she was organizing her 100th birthday party, telling her daughter what to do and how to do it, and confiding in me that she wasn’t sure her daughter was making arrangements properly.

We were talking one day and she said something about “an old lady” down the hall having physical challenges. I asked how old the “old lady” was.

“Well,” my friend said, “I think she’s about 85.”

Celebrate your life and your age with me today and let’s listen to life and make a life, not just a living.

Click here to listen to Dr. Joey

"Are you listening?"

I have an old AM radio in my office. My parents gave it to me. It’s the AM radio I listened to every morning as I ate my Frosted Flakes before school. It’s the radio that Jimmy Francis came on every morning and played my favorite music, and Charles Westbrook gave me the morning news. It’s the radio that I sat praying in front of on those rare winter mornings when the forecast called for snow and on spring Saturdays when I wanted to go fishing.

And you know what? That little radio still works. Sure, I have to wait for it to warm up, but the reception is good and the sound full and rich. Yes, I know technology has gone way beyond AM radio; even beyond FM radio to satellite radio and iTunes and now iVideo. But there’s more to this old radio than just technology. It reminds me of a simpler time in my life, a time when baseball was my first love and Elvis was alive and I worked on my own bike and faith in God brought amazing grace.

Listen to life today and remember what it’s like to make a life.

Click here to listen to Dr. Joey

"Do you forgive and forget?"

Our school system was integrated when I was in 5th grade. Carlton had never had a white friend before me, but we became friends despite the daily bomb threats and riots. We haven’t seen each other since high school graduation, but recently Carlton and I got back together. And he told me this story.

My dad gave me a really nice pen. Carlton loved that pen probably more than I did so I let him take it home one weekend. Well, his little sister found the pen and while playing with it, broke it. Carlton says he was so ashamed and hurt to have to bring it back to me that way, but he did anyway. He explained what had happened, and says that I said, “It’s okay. I forgive you.” And we went on through the next seven years together without my ever mentioning it again.

Frankly, I don’t remember that happening at all and I told Carlton I’d just have to take his word for it. And he said, “Well, that means you really did forgive me. You forgot about it, too.”

Tell someone “It’s okay, I forgive you” today as you listen to life.

"Are you nice, even in the fast food drive-thru?"

I was returning home from an out-of-town speaking engagement. It was supper-time so I stopped by a fast food restaurant to get a sandwich to eat on the road. I decided to go through the drive-thru. And boy was that a mistake!

That was absolutely one of the longest waits I’ve ever had in a drive-thru. I’m normally a patient person, but I was looking around for a phone number to call and complain. I was planning to approach the window and say something crass like, “Congratulations! You’ve redefined the meaning of ‘fast food!’”

But there was no number and I decided against saying something crass. I just handed over my money and took my bag and drink. As I put my drink in the cup holder, the top came off. Well, it was so full that I was afraid to just drive off with the top off. And I couldn’t get it to stay on. And impatient people waited behind me.

The kind waitress said, “Let me put another top on it for you, sir.” And I thought, “If she’s been this nice to everyone, I don’t mind the wait at all.”

Be nice as you listen to life and make a life today.

Click here to listen to Dr. Joey