Sweet Lorraine

Fred Stobaugh, 96, was married to his wife Lorraine for 73 years. He met her when she served him a meal at his window as a car hop. He said that it was love at first sight. "She was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen." They dated for 2 years, and then they were married. The man loved her deeply everyday thereafter. About a month after Lorraine passed, Fred was inspired to write a song for her. He said that he sat down to write, and the words just came out. The reason that we know about Fred and this song is because soon after penning this song, he saw an ad for a singer-songwriter contest and he decided to mail it in. Fred has never written a song before, and he is tone-deaf by his own admission. I think love for his wife and thankfulness for a life spent with her just spilled over and had to be shared.

Men like Fred inspire me. To hear him talk about how grateful he is for the 75 years shared with his Lorraine tells me that he is well-aware that he has been the recipient of a very good gift that he couldn't earn and did not deserve. You can't earn real love, it has to be given. And this man, flawed just like the rest of us, was blessed with the privilege of a whole lifetime of discovering more and more of the beauty and intricacies of another human being. No one else would ever get to know Lorraine like he did! They shared life's joys and heartaches. She helped him grow into a better man than he was when he first met Lorraine. She was the primary instrument in Fred's life that God used to reveal his love for Fred in real, tangible ways. There is something awe-inspiring about a 75-year adventure with another human being. Think about all that those two have experienced together! How the world has changed, how the two of them have changed, and how they have shaped one another into the people that they were becoming. Incredible.

When I listen to Fred tell his story and see the way he tears up when he hears his song for Lorraine put to music, I think, "Fred is a wise man." Oppositely, when I see highlights from last night's VMA's I am reminded how easily we men are tempted to exchange real treasure for the fool's gold of cheap thrills. Like Odysseus's crew...take heed and prepare for the sirens. They'll kill you. And they'll keep you from discovering a treasure like Fred's.

"[As Jesus modeled sacrificial love], husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it..."

"Sweet Lorraine" by Fred Stobaugh
Oh Sweet Lorraine
I wish we could do
The good times
All over again

Oh sweet Lorraine
Life only goes around
Once
But never again

Oh sweet Lorraine
I wish we could do
All the good times all over
Again

My memories will always
Linger on
Oh sweet Lorraine

The memories will
Always linger on

Watch Fred's story here. 

Who are the "Cowboys of Coronado"?

When I was a kid, my hero was Indiana Jones. So much so, in fact, that I was Indiana Jones three -- count them, three -- years in a row for Halloween. Leather jacket, leather whip, fedora (the original hipster?). I was captivated by the Indiana Jones stories because I loved adventures. I wanted to explore places previously unknown, where danger lurked around every corner. What a fantastic rhythm for life: get an adrenaline dump exploring forgotten corners of the planet, experience several close shaves with death, return with treasures for the Smithsonian and stories for beautiful women. Life was too short for anything more mundane.

In "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade," a young Indiana Jones recovers the Cross of Coronado from a gang of thieving treasure hunters because "that cross belongs in a museum" (a familiar line from Dr. Jones). As it turns out, neither the cross nor Cibola, "the city of gold" from which it supposedly came, ever existed. They were the stuff of legend. Fake. A pipe dream. Conquistador Francisco Vazquez de Coronado, the cross's namesake, was an actual explorer of the southwestern United States in the 1540's, his adventure, however his quest for Cibola and its treasures was a total letdown.

Some Spanish friar told Coronado that he had seen Cibola from a distance, confirming that the legendary golden city was real. And who wouldn't trust a friar? With visions of fortune, fame, and females, Coronado and his men were all in. Two years after the friar reported having seen Cibola, Coronado and his men reached "Cibola" only to find no gold. In fact, all that was there was one little adobe pueblo. And maybe some chickens.

And so it was: an adventure that had promised fame, fortune, and females left these men humiliated, broke, and lonely.

From Adam (the first man) to Vasquez de Coronado to a young boy wearing a leather jacket and a fedora in his grandparents' backyard...all men are on quests for fame, fortune, and females. Or put another way, all men seek fame, fortune, and females because they think that is where they will find what they are really after: purpose, significance, and intimate relationships.

These pages will serve as the annals for exploring and evaluating the adventures of modern man in light of the Gospel.