A Tribute

It is the beginning of week 3 without Issues, Etc.

I was a Johnny-come-lately to the Issues, Etc. listenership. I listened the first time a couple Novembers ago because a relative happened to be a guest on the program and asked me to listen, which I did. I then wondered what they were going to talk about later, and I became hooked. When the same relative was a guest again, I listened via the internet mainly because I wanted to hear the interview live and because I didn't know what St. Louis radio station carried the Sunday Night broadcast.

Soon I became a regular listener. I listened in the car. I listened to archived broadcasts at work. One afternoon I remember switching back and forth between Garage Logic on my computer and Issues, Etc. Then I called in with a comment. It was quite unnerving to be on the radio and hope my comment didn't sound ignorant. I once received a mug (only weeks before the show was eliminated) for an on-air comment.

I had heard a friend or two as guests on the show. I was pleased and a mite jealous when my husband was asked to be a guest. What an honor to be on Issues, Etc. I remember going with him to and from the broadcast live from University Lutheran Chapel in Minneapolis. I was excited to actually see the show live. It was a great show that day. I find it very peculiar that exactly one week after that show the bridge under which we drove to return that day collapsed. I don't think that it means anything, for it was merely coincidental. Yet where did I turn to hear commentary? Issues, Etc.

I have been mentally working on a postmodern project for some time. I often turned to Issues, Etc. as a resource library. Some excellent nuggets of knowledge came from it. I heard of books, people, and topics to use as resources.

I looked to Issues, Etc. for commentary on all sorts of matters, but I loved the show for its unabashedly Christ-centered, scriptural, doctrinal content. It always reminded me that is it about Jesus. (Another mental project is it being all about Jesus.)

Now what do I have to listen to on the drive home? Rock and roll. I like it, but it doesn't give me much to think about; it just gives me cerebreoredundogram (big, long word for getting a song stuck in one's head). I wish I could listen to Issues, Etc. again.

I'm sure this is just one more post for Issues, Etc. that you probably don't want to hear my little emotional rambling, if there is anyone out there even reading this. If no on is reading, just add it to the pile of statements about how much the show meant to us all. I know that for me, this is more than a show of politics. It is personal.