While working in my yard the other day, I was startled by something moving in the bushes. Once I calmed down and saw what was happening, I ran to get my camera. A harmless (to me) garter snake had its jaws around a live toad and over the next half hour gave me a chance […]
A summary of the day’s international news seems especially difficult to absorb. As families and loved ones of the missing 239 of MH370 begin to receive compensation for losses that have no financial equal, conflicts in Iraq, Ukraine and so many other regions represent the real fear and insecurity that stretches beyond all national and […]
The fight will go on today in declared war zones, political debates, and maybe even a blog or two. But an Apostle of Jesus teaches readers of his letters to rise above conventional forms of personal, military, or political conflict. He reminds us that our real struggle is not with flesh and blood (Eph 6:12). […]
Jesus isn’t remembered for saying many predictable things. But the unexpected quote that has had my attention today is when our Teacher suddenly talks to one of his most committed disciples as if he is talking to his enemy. One minute he is blessing Peter and telling him that he (Peter) had been entrusted with […]
A fascinating online science article reports that researchers have determined that the Greenland Shark is the slowest shark in the world, cruising at speeds less than 1 mile an hour. After tagging the GS for electronic data collection, the scientists also learned that it lives in near freezing water (36 degrees) farther north than any […]
As the suffering deepens in the Bama Amr district of Homs, Syria, waves of violent pre-spring storms have caused at least 27 deaths in several US states, with many injuries, whole communities devastated, thousands homeless, and countless traumatized. While most people in the Middle East and US Mid West will enjoy a normal weekend, an […]
While reading the story of WW2 prisoner of war, Louis Zamperini, Devil at my Heels, I’ve found it to be a sickening reminder of our universal human capacity for evil. About half way into a story of suffering, first on a raft, lost at sea, and then in a series of prisoner of war detention […]
Does it make sense for us to think of the devil as a defeated foe—without thinking twice? On one hand, Hebrews 2:14-15 says of our Protector and Deliverer, “Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds […]
The Republic of Yemen lies about 1000 miles to the south of Iraq at the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. Recently racked by the wave of anti-government protests that have swept the region, the country may be facing a worsening crisis. Some observers expect tribal factions to try to gain control of the country […]
Is it right to consider not only whether a law was broken, but why? I’ve been wondering about this after reading how a German court handled the ticketing of a motorist caught speeding by a traffic control camera. When the court learned why the driver had broken the speed limit, charges were waived. Instead, officials […]
