On April 19 of this year, Americans saw firsthand a reality that has been confronting Christians around the world for generations. On that date, a shocking video that showed at least 30 Christians being beheaded, was released by ISIS.
Unfortunately, that event is not an isolated incident for Christians. In over 52 countries around the world, Christians face government policies or practices that lead to Christians being harassed, imprisoned, killed or deprived of possessions or liberties because ...
For nearly a year, our church had been preparing for a week-long youth outreach headed by a well known speaker. Then, shortly before the kick-off date, I discovered there was another event scheduled in our community on the same dates as our planned
youth meetings. Concerned that this conflict would slash attendance and reduce the impact on the youth we wanted to reach, I called the speaker to alert him to the problem.
This time of the year, my thoughts drift back to memories of my maternal grandmother. The Thanksgiving season brought all her special culinary talents to the forefront.
My grandfather had the most important part — he stayed out of grandmother’s kitchen. I have always appreciated that quality of my grandfather.
As November made its debut, everyone in my family eagerly awaited Thanksgiving Day.
One year, contrary to her usual good sense, grandmother allowed grandfather to watch the turkey whi ...
I lost quite a few things in life, but weight has not been one of them.
I see these commercials on TV where people lost tons of weight and invite me to join their program. Investigating some of the programs I discovered all you really lose is money every month. If there is one thing I do not want to lose it is money.
I never took losing weight very serious.
We’ve become an angry people.
Reasons for our anger range from the fear of another terrorist attack, becoming the victim of a violent crime or to what some see as the maddening loss of the American dream.
Anger is a dangerous emotion that affects every area of life; some being more serious than others.
“It is more blessed to give than to receive.”
You’ve heard this well known quote many times but haven’t allowed it to make a difference in your life. And unless you change your view about what really matters, you’ll keep focusing on what you can accumulate rather than on what you can share, missing the point of the promise and the pleasure of its fulfillment.
A man who had discovered he had a terminal illness voiced his disillusionment with life to me.
I do not often get under the weather; after all, as tall as I am my head is usually in the clouds. At least, the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage thinks this is the case. And who is to argue with her. But this time I was under the weather.
My head was stuffed and every other breath I took I had a sneezing fit.
When the phone on my desk rang late, it caught me scanning newspaper ads in search of a used car. I had no idea that call would send me on an unforgettable journey.
The caller told me his sister had given birth that day to a baby boy who lived only four hours.
Whenever anybody says things can’t get any worse, they usually do. No matter how bad something is, there is always a good chance it will get worse. Experience may not be my best teacher, but sometimes it is the only teacher on duty.
This is where I have a wee bit of a conflict with the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage.
Duty called me from the couch where I was watching a college football game, one of my favorite pastimes. We were planning to leave on a trip to New York early the next week so our lawn had to be raked and mowed on Saturday, college football’s game day.
One of the teams in the game I had started watching was a top contender for the national championship, increasing the temptation to leave the leaves to themselves.
