Author Archives: lee

[Note: This is my dad three months after my date of birth, September 14th. Ironically, on that date seven years earlier, he was sent back to the states after WWII. This not about him, it’s about all dads]

Father’s Day brings a wide range of emotions. For some, it is a day of gratitude and warm memories. For others, it brings a quiet ache because their father is gone. And for many, it is a reminder of what they never had. A good father teaches, protects, guides, and gives his children a place to stand. Many of us learned our earliest lessons about life from the man who showed up, who worked hard, who tried his best, even if he didn’t always get everything right.

Some people celebrate today with joy. Others remember a father they lost too soon. Some never had a father present at all but found one in a grandfather, an uncle, a coach, a neighbor, or even in a mother doing her best to carry a dual role. Every one of those stories matters, and every one is seen by God.

Every man is a father, whether he has children or not, because every man influences someone who looks up to him. Fatherhood is bigger than biology; it’s about presence, guidance, and sacrifice. And many of the men who shaped us never carried the title “Dad,” yet they lived out the role in ways that changed our lives.

While earthly fathers shape us in different ways, there is one truth that steadies all of us: every good father reflects, in some small way, the character of the Father who never fails. Not perfectly, not completely, but in glimpses; through protection offered, lessons taught, love shown, and sacrifices made. And for those who feel the emptiness more than the celebration, God steps into that space with a promise that does not fade: “I will never leave you.”

So today we honor the fathers who shaped us, the ones who tried, the ones we miss, and the ones who stepped in when someone else could not. And we give thanks for the One who holds every story, every memory, every wound, and every blessing in His hands.

In a few weeks, America will celebrate its 250th birthday-two hundred and fifty years since the Declaration of Independence. A small group of men pledged their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor to create something new: a constitutional republic built on individual liberty, equal justice under law, and the principle that no king, church, or foreign power stands above the Constitution. The Founders never envisioned this as America turns 250!

Whether born of extraordinary wisdom, divine providence, or both, the Constitution is the oldest continuously operating written national constitution in the world. Most constitutions last less than twenty years. Ours has endured for nearly two and a half centuries and inspired nations everywhere.
Yet in 2026 we are still debating whether states must pass laws to prevent Sharia law from overriding constitutional rights.

How did we reach this point?

States like Alabama, Tennessee, Kansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Arizona, and others have enacted measures to block foreign or religious legal systems from superseding the Constitution. Texas continues that fight today.

The reason is straightforward. Americans see what politicians, media, and activists deny: demands for special treatment, pressure campaigns, double standards, and the clear lessons from Europe. They understand that constitutional government endures only when a people confidently defend their own values.

Look at New York City. It lost nearly 3,000 Americans on September 11, 2001, and promised to Never Forget. Today, amplified Islamic calls to prayer echo across neighborhoods during Ramadan with official approval. Thousands gather for public prayer in Times Square. Organized Quran distributions occur in one of America’s most iconic spaces.

There’s at least another dozen Democratic Socialists running for office, with half being Muslim. Who would have thought the mayor of New York City would be both? The Founders didn’t oppose diversity of people or even thought. Debate was seen as healthy, as was compromise. But we were given a Republic, as one famously put it, if we can keep it. I do not believe for a New York minute the Founders envisioned the United States being where we are today.

Meanwhile, the city has elevated Zohran Mamdani to the mayor’s office. The real question is why any discussion of Islam’s growing role in public life is treated as off-limits. Citizens who raise concerns are branded intolerant, and the conversation itself becomes forbidden.

There are questions people, including people of faith, deal with. Other than faith, how can we know God exists in the world? Many things can reveal patterns and laws that suggest a Creator.

We know the fine tuning of physical constants, like gravity or the strong nuclear force, for life to exist is statistically improbable without design. The complexity of DNA and biological systems resembles a code, spurring discussions of intelligent design. The order and predictability of the universe, governed by consistent laws, indicate a rational source, a designer. So, is the designer God, or is everything by accident?

I look to the wonders of nature. It is all pretty majestic, and with little human interference, it runs perfectly. But I found out something the other day. We have a couple of bird feeders. Those pesky squirrels show up, and it is amazing to watch them make their way up a thin pole to gobble the seed meant for the birds.

So, I am watching this, and it occurs to me that long ago, there were no bird feeders, but there were birds. And there were squirrels. But then people came along. I doubt bird feeders went up immediately. People had to be hunter gatherers to survive. But fast forward, and as people became more civilized, a bird feeder appears. And the birds love it. But then squirrels love it too.

A discovery is made. By adding hot spices to the bird seed, the squirrel palate cannot handle the burning taste. But it doesn’t bother the birds. Problem solved. I found it interesting and mentioned to my wife that people would find what I am going to say odd (I think she did when she heard it), but to me it is proof God exists. Sure, it seems a small point, but I figure He sweats the small stuff, even if He doesn’t want us to.

Since I believe God is forever and knows all that will happen, He knew someday people would have bird feeders and saw the conflict between the two species. So, in His infinite wisdom, knowing there would one day be hot spices, He made the taste unbearable to squirrels but not to birds. He knew people would figure it out, and we did.

Many will read this and roll their eyes. To me it is one more piece of evidence that God figured it out long ago and knew how to handle the problem. But there is biblical support for this kind of thinking. Scripture says creation itself declares the work of God’s hands, that not even a sparrow falls without His notice, and that we can learn about Him by paying attention to the creatures around us. So, when I see something as small as birds enjoying seed that squirrels cannot tolerate, it reminds me that God’s design runs through everything. And in moments like that, I find myself simply grateful that He cares enough to weave even the smallest details into the world around us. 

Today is the 811th year anniversary of the Magna Carta (not Charta), Latin for the Great Charter. It’s a somewhat unusual document because the original was really an agreement between King John of England and the nobility. However, from year to year, revisions were made. Some historians believe the nobility were not simply representing themselves but were, in a broader sense, representing the people of England. What does not seem in dispute is that English colonists carried its ideas across the Atlantic, wrote colonial charters with its principles in mind, and eventually saw some of its provisions echoed in the United States Constitution.

Over time, the Magna Carta became more than a peace treaty between a king and his barons. It evolved into a symbol of the principle that even the sovereign must obey the law , the beginnings of the rule of law. Later generations, especially in the 17th century, treated it as a foundational guarantee of individual rights, even though the original document was far narrower. Thinkers like Sir Edward Coke cited it as proof that English liberties were ancient and inviolable, helping transform a political compromise into a constitutional touchstone.

By the time English settlers arrived in North America, the Magna Carta had taken on a life of its own. Colonial assemblies, charters, and later revolutionary leaders drew on its language about due process, limits on arbitrary power, and the right to judgment by one’s peers. When the framers drafted the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, they borrowed directly from these inherited principles,  especially in protections like habeas corpus, trial by jury, and constraints on executive authority. In that sense, the Magna Carta’s legacy is not that it solved the problems of 1215, but that it planted ideas that would shape constitutional government centuries later.

And here we are, in less than a month, celebrating 250 years since issuing our own indictment of England and declaring independence, leading to the United States of America. The men who gathered in Philadelphia in 1776 did not see themselves as inventing liberty from scratch. They believed they were asserting rights that were already theirs as Englishmen, rights rooted in centuries of tradition, including principles first expressed in the Magna Carta. When Jefferson wrote that the king had violated the laws of nature and of nature’s God, he was also drawing on the long standing belief that rulers were bound by law and not above it.

The Declaration of Independence became, in a sense, America’s own great charter, a statement that government exists by consent, that power has limits, and that people have the right to alter or abolish a government that violates those limits. It was the culmination of ideas carried across the ocean, reshaped by colonial experience, and sharpened by conflict. And just as the Magna Carta grew far beyond its original purpose, the Declaration grew into a universal statement of human liberty, influencing constitutions and movements around the world. For Americans, it remains the moment when inherited rights became self government and when a set of principles became a nation. 

The narrated video below shows footage of the Rubber Bowl torn down; the plan being to bury and cover the site with dirt. It’s a piece of Ohio history disappearing, a stadium that once hosted memorable sporting events and concerts.

On Tuesday, July 11, 1972, the Rolling Stones performed at the Akron Rubber Bowl as part of their American Tour. The video talks about the demolition, but there’s another story connected to that night that many may not be aware of.

Kent State football players often worked security at Rubber Bowl concerts for a little extra money. One of them that night was Bob Bender, who was set to be the starting middle linebacker for Don James’s defense. He was dependable, tough, and the kind of player coaches trusted to run the middle of the field.

Bender was assigned to the front of the stage, close enough to see Mick Jagger’s expressions as the band played. The crowd was loud and restless, the kind of energy only a big stadium concert in the early seventies could produce.

During the show, someone in the crowd threw a bottle toward the stage. It spun through the lights for a split second. Bender reacted instantly and caught it out of the air. Mick Jagger saw the whole thing.

After the concert, Jagger had Bender brought backstage. According to Nick Saban, who told this story years later, Jagger offered him a job on the spot. Full‑time security. Travel with the band. Start immediately. Bender accepted. He never returned to camp.

With the middle linebacker suddenly gone, the coaches had to reshuffle the defense. They moved a tall, intense defensive end into the middle to fill the vacancy.

Enter, Jack Lambert.

Lambert only became a middle linebacker because Bob Bender went to work for the Rolling Stones. That one moment changed Kent State’s defense and eventually helped shape the Pittsburgh Steelers’ dynasty. Lambert went on to become an All‑American, a second‑round draft pick, and the heart of the Steel Curtain and Hall of Famer. 

All of it tied to a night at the Rubber Bowl, a flying bottle, and a split‑second catch that changed football history.

#AkronRubberBowl #OhioHistory #KentState #RollingStones1972 #JackLambert #SteelCurtain

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