"If I can't come to the office each day, then who am I?" A lesser-known character in the TV series Mad Men (2007-2015) spoke those sobering words after the Madison Avenue ad agency for whom he worked fired him for drunkenness. During the series' nine seasons, the...

A young child's prayer of praise: "Dear God, I didn't think that orange went with purple until I saw the sunset You made Tuesday night. That was really cool!" This article offers a lighter-than-usual touch, focusing on prayers of children, and an eight-year-old...

The closer they are to one another, the more they thrive, the better they grow. The togetherness they experience enables each one to withstand the inevitable assaults of adversaries. Literally, they support one another when threatening circumstances encroach. Their...

As you start this blog, please be aware that it concerns much more than stories about our physical ailments and the meds we take for those maladies.   Life-Saving Medicines Back in 2003, a throbbing pain in my right calf, not caused by injury, prompted a...

When you see or hear the words "holy place," what pops into your mind? The "Holy of Holies" in the Old Testament tabernacle? The proposed spot in Jerusalem where Jesus died on the cross? The wailing wall by the Temple mount, with hundreds of prayer requests folded...

Five minutes. That's all it took for her to change my life. It was what she did and said to start her first-period English class, early in the Fall of my senior year of high school. Before I explain, I need to set the stage for that life-altering incident, which...

What did one of us say, or what happened, that caused anger to boil over between us? Why did we spit verbal venom on one another that day? Why did the argument degenerate into a fist fight? Honestly, I can't remember why.   Scene 1   Spring 1968 Dennis, my...

   Scene 1    6-7 Years Ago It happened out of the blue, as I strolled through the den. An unseen force suddenly penetrated my chest cavity, got a vise-grip on my heart, and squeezed forcibly until tears began flooding down my cheeks. No, it wasn’t a heart...

A man and his ever-nagging wife took a vacation to Jerusalem. While they were there, the wife died. The undertaker told the husband, "You can have her buried here in the Holy Land for only $150, or we can ship her body back to the States for $5,000." The husband...

It is important to know what God's Word does not teach, as well as what it does teach. The late pastor Ron Dunn quipped, “Many people believe the Bible because they do not know what it says.” He referred to misconceptions some folks have about what it does and does...

You know how it is when a particular lure is irresistible. You keep thinking about it until your head throbs. The longer you wait, the more your passion for it intensifies. You cannot rest until you capitulate, and give in. That's what happened to Seth Thomas on...

Centuries ago, before rifles and more modern weapons were utilized on battlefields, a commander whose troops won the battle met with the leader of the defeated army, who had come to surrender. The vanquished foe walked up to the victor and offered him his hand. The...