Translating New Testament Greek into English on occasion leaves us with a text that is difficult to understand. Such a verse is Luke 7:47 in the King James Version. Jesus is being feted by Simon, the Pharisee, when a woman with a forgiven past bathes...
Summer is gone. The direct rays of the sun have moved across the equator. Birds are moving south. Trees are turning color. Coats and jackets are on display. Motorcycles with For Sale signs are in front yards. Yellow school buses slow our commutes to work....
A young lady at a sales counter said to me, “Have a nice one.” Yesterday someone said to me, “Take care.” Last weekend someone said to me, “God bless.” Of course, I think I know what they meant but a horrible streak of cynicism wanted...
This morning I watched a nurse dig around in the back of my hand trying to get a needle into a vein. If I had been five or six years old I would have been deeply puzzled. How can this be? Every time I fell...
Shadows are growing long. We are just a few days until the sun quietly slips across the equator into the southern hemisphere. Night temperatures are pushing into the forties. The hummingbirds are gone. Chrysanthemums are everywhere taking the place of lilies and petunias. Nurseries have...
It was a classic scene that could have been turned into a cartoon with a caption “Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. My mother told me to pick the very best one and that is Y-O-U.” It was the side of a city building with tiered ledges. ...
In Matthew 16 Jesus gave the keys of the kingdom to Peter. It was an awesome responsibility. Usually I do not like to have keys to places. If I don't have a key then it wasn't me that messed up the place. However, there are...
A neighbor down the street who has a professionally cared for lawn stopped to chat with another neighbor who has intensely labored to also have a beautiful lawn. During the course of a short conversation the one from down the street told the hard working...
The fallen hawk lay on the forest floor. He had not been dead long. He was still beautiful and noble. Soon he would return to the dust of the forest to become part of a flower, tree or vine. How high had he flown? What...
While driving to work this morning I heard a wonderful quote from George Washington penned to Parke Custis. He wrote, “I had rather be on my farm than be the emperor of the world.” There is much to be said for a quiet life. Perhaps...