I grew up in a culture that rarely read the Bible in context. Instead we pieced together ideas by taking a text from here and a text from there. Unfortunately this often leads one to believe they know much about the Bible when they do...
I just had a fascinating conversation where the other person said, “My father taught me to take a stand. Something is either right or wrong. There is no middle ground. If you don’t stand for something you will fall for anything.” “But,” I said, “what...
In the musical “The Music Man” there is a wonderful song called, “The Wells Fargo Wagon.” The words are “The Wells Fargo wagon is a-comin down the street. Oh, please let it be for me. I wish – I wish I knew what it could...
In my human development class I start my lectures talking about prenatal development and end the semester talking about nursing homes and hospice care. I am sure to point out to my young students that they can be very smart and well informed but they...
This weekend I heard someone say, “The reason I come to church is to increase my chances of being saved.” I wanted to cry. This came from the mouth of a regular church goer. Then I wanted to scream. What are we doing wrong? What...
When my students give me excuses for late papers I have no idea if they are telling the truth. Since I am employed to be a teacher and not a judge I choose to believe them. I’m sure that many walk away thinking I am...
Every once in awhile one comes upon a quotation that tastes so good. Today I read the following from John Steinbeck and my mind won’t let it go. He wrote, “And now that you don't have to be perfect, you can be good.” Some of the...
This afternoon I sat at a vantage point where I could study the graffiti on the sides of about twenty coal cars. Some of it was surprisingly good art; not that I’m a critic. However, some were very colorful and the designs were intricate and...
I am rapidly growing to hate Beryl Ives. I’m sure he was a nice man but I have an earworm of him singing Feliz Navidad and he is driving me mad. An earworm is a short piece of something audio, usually music, that continuously plays...
A thousand news worthy things happened in the world today. A hundred personal things happened to each of us today. If the world was asked, “How was your day world?” The world could have selected the hundred really wonderful things that happened and respond, “It...