The Lost World Family And Friends 4

[Rachelle Kun]

Thatis just one example from a whole host of fun and quirky holes around both courses. I have to say if you head there, the holes where you have a small ramp to get up are harder than they look. I made the mistake of thinking I had it covered and ended up going up and over the hole a few times.

With clever lighting to deceptively hilly holes, there is so much fun to be had as a family here for morning or afternoon out. However, they also offer adult-only fun in the evenings too so if you want to catch up with friends and family it is a great place to go.

Although we had a great time, I was the only one out of us all not to get a hole in one, which was a tad annoying! There were plenty of moments we all got close, or we misjudged the shot and ended up in the rough at the end of the hole.

When we visited, it was the middle of the Easter break however it was not overcrowded at all. All throughout our time there too, we never felt rushed to get through the course and the customer service attendant when we got there took the time to explain it all and get us set up ready to go.

Have you ever felt unwanted, abandoned, or rejected? If your answer is yes, I relate to your feelings entirely. There was a time in my life when I felt very inferior to everyone else, even though I had no reason to feel this way.

Because I was sick for a prolonged period of time when I was in junior high school, I missed a great deal of school. I especially felt the pain of this loss when it came to the subject of mathematics. As a result, I missed all the essential elements of mathematics that my fellow students were learning. When I finally returned to school, I was far behind everyone else.

Everyone remembers feeling unwanted and rejected at some time or another in his or her life. Some people recover from these experiences; however, the devil has used memories of rejection to keep others in an emotional prison for the rest of their lives. These are the people who never feel wanted and accepted, nor do they feel like they can measure up to other people.

Personally, I am thankful that what happened to me had no long-term effect on my life; in fact, today I even laugh about it. However, I know many people who were devastated by rejection at some point in their lives and never recovered from it.

Rather than let other people affect your self-image and confidence, you need to know who you are in Jesus Christ and hold your head up high. You have no reason to be embarrassed or ashamed. From the beginning of time, the lost world has ridiculed, made fun of, sarcastically accused, and debased the people of God. There is nothing new about this at all.

I confess that because I am in Christ Jesus, I have no reason to be ashamed of who I am. I do not allow other people to affect my self-image and confidence. Because I know who I am in Jesus Christ, I hold my head high and refuse to be embarrassed or to let anyone make me think I am inferior or less than who Jesus made me to be! I am exactly the kind of person God wants to use. He has BIG plans to use me in a mighty way!

The son of Russian immigrants, Kup never lost sight of how far he had come. His father had walked into plenty of restaurants, but only to deliver baked goods. The family-Irv was the youngest of four children-lived in a small apartment at 16th and Kedzie over a grocery store. Bloody clashes among the Poles, the Irish, and the Jews were common, and Kup witnessed his first gunfight when he was 12. After graduating from Harrison High School in 1930, Kup went to Northwestern University on a football scholarship, but he soon got a better deal from the University of North Dakota. An all-star college quarterback, he was good enough to be drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles, but a shoulder injury ended his career before the first season was out.

In the 1990s, even as Kup was fading, he continued to break stories. In 1993, Steve Neal was with him at Comiskey Park when Kup excused himself to talk to a young woman, whom Neal did not recognize. Kup got the scoop that Michael Jordan was retiring (for the first time). The woman was Juanita Jordan.

She had started to cut letters and words out of magazines, composing threatening and profane messages and mailing them to Prine and to herself. (Her fingerprints were later discovered under the tape, and the cut-up magazines were found in her apartment.)

By the 1980s, Kup was making about $300,000 a year from the column, and more from his work on TV and radio. His bosses at the paper knew they were getting a bargain. Kup and the advice columnist Ann Landers (who jumped to the Tribune in 1987) consistently topped readership polls, even outranking Mike Royko when they were all writing for the Sun-Times, says Ralph Otwell. Men especially bought the paper to read Kup, and, even in the 1990s, when both his heart and zest gave out, he still made the paper plenty of money. As always, his column ran toward the back, drawing readers-and thus advertisers-well into the paper.

Early the next morning, when Kup was having trouble breathing, his night caregiver took him to the emergency room at Northwestern Memorial Hospital. His friends figured he would rally as he had so many times before. But he died the following day, Monday, November 10th, surrounded by his family.

But the boat kept drifting and our distance grew. She began getting frustrated. And no matter how clear it was that my feet remained planted on the shore and that her boat was adrift, and no matter how many times I pointed to my feet on the rocks, all she could comprehend was our increased separation.

We watch our unbelieving friends and family head down paths of darkness, sin, and despair. We see them following the world whole-heartedly, changing their minds with each new sinful trend, listening to the culture and taking it all in.

On February 27, 2017, our son Mac joined the team at Gary Sinise Foundation as our Assistant Manager of Education & Outreach. I was thrilled and excited to have him come on board to help me with the mission. His job duties included handling and digitizing our Gary Sinise Foundation archive and managing our Education & Outreach Center, which included hosting events, giving tours, stewarding donors, and outreach with the military service members, veterans, first responders and families who were recipients of our support. With his engaging and upbeat personality, he inspired folks through our Gary Sinise: A Call-to-Action exhibit in the Education & Outreach Center, and he assisted in everyday activities, and local and national events also. As a father, having him as part of the Foundation was a gift. He was a great representative who cared about the mission and those we serve, and I was eager to watch him grow with the organization.

I was always happy to have him join me on the road, and I could see how much joy and pride he shared in our mission. Especially when he could be hands-on with those we serve, like at our Soaring Valor events honoring our nation's WWII heroes, and our Invincible Spirit Festivals, where we bring the Lt. Dan Band to uplift our wounded at military hospitals across the country.

Mac had been playing drums since he was nine years old and was an exceptional drummer. He would substitute for my drummer, Danny Gottlieb, when Danny was unavailable to play our Lt. Dan Band shows. Those were some great times, father and son rockin' out together for the troops.

The summer of 2018 was a particularly challenging time for our family. In June of that year, my wife Moira was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer, and after surgery to remove lymph nodes, she began chemotherapy and radiation. Then, on August 8th, we found out that Mac was diagnosed with a very rare cancer called Chordoma. What was happening? What is Chordoma? I had never heard of this. And two cancer patients, mother and son, within two months of each other? A real punch in the gut. I went online to see what I could find. Chordoma is a one in a million cancer. Originating in the spine, Chordoma affects, on average, only 300 people in the U.S. per year. In 70% of the cases the initial tumor can be removed, and it is cured. But in 30% of the cases, perhaps about 90 people per year, the cancer returns.

Thankfully, after months of treatment, Moira went into remission and has been cancer-free ever since. With Mac, after surgery to remove the initial tumor in September of 2018, and another spine procedure in February 2019 to clear what looked like an infection, unfortunately a follow up scan in May of 2019 would show that his Chordoma had come back and was spreading. This began a long battle that disabled him more and more as time went on. The cancer fight was getting harder, but throughout most of 2019 he was still able to come to the GSF office, until a third spine surgery in November of that year.

While in recovery at home, he was still eager to contribute to the Foundation and he was excited to launch our Gary Sinise Foundation podcast. He was just getting started, completing two interviews, the first with our Gary Sinise Foundation video producer Kip Perry, and the second with yours truly. In January of 2020, the day before he went in for his 4th spine surgery, Mac and I sat down together for his GSF podcast interview with me. This would finish his work with Gary Sinise Foundation. That year, he knew he had to step away to fight his battle. He would have to focus full-time on recovery and rehab, as there would be a fifth spine surgery in June, along with radiation and continuing chemotherapy.

Mac picked a date to record when he knew his sister Sophie was going to be in town. The session was scheduled for July 17, 2023, at the very famous Sunset Sound in Los Angeles. He financed the session with his own money, and Oliver and his father, legendary recording engineer and producer Bill Schnee, hired the contractor who pulled together some of the top studio musicians in Los Angeles. Bill lent his services on the mixing board. (Thank you, Bill).

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