(Genesis 45:1-15) If you are a person of a certain age, there’s a pretty good chance that you have a series of scars on your body that reflect a childhood lived without seat belts, bicycle helmets, elbow and knee pads, and a host of other safety devices designed to bubble wrap kids in safety these…
(Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28) I love time-travel movies and books; maybe you do, too. They are entertaining and a bit mind-bending. They ask the question of what would happen if you could go back in time and change history. Guns of the South is a novel by Harry Turtledove that imagines the changes to our country…
(Matthew 14:13-21) The Guinness Book of World Records says the largest picnic in history occurred in Britain when over 8300 people picnicked together in 2009, well, sort of together. You see, the real story is that the count for this picnic included people in over a hundred different locations in Great Britain. They were ‘together’…
(Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52) When NBA legend Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter and seven others perished in a helicopter crash last January, chances are that most people heard about it when a “breaking news” ticker scrolled across the bottom of their laptops or TV screens. Some programming might have been interrupted with a “breaking news” bulletin…
(Genesis 28:10-19a) Everyone knows that diet and exercise are important to good health. Experts say that five daily servings of fruits and vegetables, along with 30 minutes of moderate physical exercise, are essential to personal fitness. But so is sleep. Miss a good night’s sleep, and you run the risk of gaining weight, becoming depressed,…
(Psalm 119:105-112) Erik Weihenmayer is an amazing athlete and adventurer. He’s kayaked all 277 miles of the Colorado River and through the Grand Canyon, which, according to one source, is “considered one of the most formidable whitewater venues in the world.” He has climbed the “seven summits” of the world, that is, the highest mountain…
(Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30) “To what shall I compare this generation?” asks Jesus. “What’s up with kids today?” we ask ourselves. It’s always been a national pastime – ragging on the younger generation and complaining about their lack of this, that or something or other. “Why, my generation would never …!” NBC news anchor Tom Brokaw,…
(Psalm 13) Like most teens, Jill Price had her share of difficulties — the usual highs and lows. But Price’s world was changing in ways that she didn’t understand. No one else seemed to get it either. Since she was 8 years old, she could remember just about everything that happened to her. And then,…
(Matthew 10:24-39) On Reconciliation Sunday, the leader and facilitator of a workshop at a local Midwest church introduced a discussion by showing two images of Jesus. The first was a painting by Stephen Sawyer, titled “Undefeated.” (NOTE: To see this image, go to “The Iconic Jesus,” January 1, 2006). He depicts Jesus as a boxer…
(Romans 5:1-8) When Rachel Held Evans, a wife and mother of two small children, died on May 4, 2019, at the age of 37, it was not just her family, friends and acquaintances who were saddened. Thousands of people across the nation who’d never met her face to face also felt a deep sense of…