Posts by Miami Rooftop Prayers

It was party time at the old Jackie Gleason Theater. Now The Fillmore. Major hospital donors and doctors gathered to celebrate. They were there to honor the completion of their new surgical tower, rising high on the Miami Beach skyline.  600 of South Florida’s movers and shakers showed up in their finery to enjoy an…

Today I ask you to step back in time with me to the mid-1950s. We’re going 30 miles south of Buffalo, NY via Route 16. . . . Every good-weather-day in my sleepy hometown of Holland, Bob Lewis sat wheelchair-bound on his front porch. Bob would watch the traffic and the occasional pedestrian strolling by.…

Charles Thomas Studd was an Englishman who inherited a vast sum of money. C.T., as he was known, was also an outstanding cricket player. In 1882, he was part of the English team that clashed with Australia—a legendary sporting match that generated the test cricket series known as The Ashes. C.T. Studd was one of…

The setting for today’s tale is the beautiful Miami coast, early 1990s. What could be so bad? I was invited to serve on the board of our condo association. Because my modus operandi is all about the joy and privilege of serving the Lord and my fellow man, I stepped up to accept the honor—and…

In high school I was decent on a trombone—playing solos at concerts, and even being selected to play in all-county orchestras. The other kids called me Honker. First thing in the morning, as the roosters crowed in our country town south of Buffalo, NY, Coach Haywood tutored me. My basketball coach, who was also our…

Rewind for a moment to the late 1970s. It was Sunday morning in Dallas, Texas and Jean Ziglar asked her husband, “Should I write a new check?”  Zig Ziglar was a successful motivational speaker who brought many to the Lord. Sugar Girl, as Zig used to call his wife, had erroneously written their 10% church…

Picture this. A few minutes before the starting time of your wedding or event, the caterer wants to have a quiet word with you. . . . “Mr. and Mrs. Gotrocks, I’m patiently awaiting the truck to arrive with the food for your event. Traffic has been terrible today! You and your guests will only…

“There will be no churches built in Opa-Locka.”— Glenn Curtiss, mid 1920’s During World War II my dad worked for Curtiss-Wright Corporation, building planes to help keep our country free. Its founder grew up in Hammondsport, NY, only a few miles from my dad’s birthplace in Penn Yan on Keuka Lake. It’s a small world,…

“Ted, it’s Bill Hansen. . . . “I’m unemployed, living with my mother, my credit cards are maxed out, and I need a job.” I’d hit rock bottom, not only financially but emotionally. I got myself in this state after investing in and working for a consulting company that went belly up. I could have…

After blowing my chance to show the hometown fans how great I was at high school basketball, Coach Haywood gave me no second chances. He’d seen enough and wanted to win the game (although I think we lost anyway).  Unlike Coach Haywood, here’s how God gave me a second chance. Church was a part of…