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Serenity Prayer

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” – attributed to Reinhold Niebuhr The 2024 election is over. The people of the United States have elected Donald Trump to be...

Can You Count to One?

“Live so that when your children think of fairness, caring, and integrity, they think of you.” —H. Jackson Brown, Jr. When it comes to important financial investments, we like to spread financial risk across multiple types of investments in order to reduce potential...

Unstrained Mercy

“The quality of mercy is not strained; It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.” –William Shakespeare Kenny Rogers’ old ballad, “Coward of the County,” tells the story of a boy...

FOMO Versus JOMO

“Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these.” Matthew 6:28-29 I suspect that like me, you’ve heard of the acronym FOMO. It seems to have come into usage...

Made in the Streets: An Introduction and an Invitation

On August 3, 1995, missionary educators Charles and Darlene Coulston held an event at a local church in Eastleigh, a neighborhood in Nairobi, Kenya. The event was for kids who lived on the streets, primarily in the adjoining Mathare slums. The Coulstons were amazed...

Export!

I’ve always been fascinated by black holes, which NASA’s website describes as “a place in space where gravity pulls so much that even light cannot get out.” Imagine an object with a gravitational field so intense that no light, matter, or radiation can escape its...

Not All Tears Are An Evil

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” – Jesus, Matthew 5:4 “Those who do not weep, do not see.” – Victor Hugo Consider how quintessentially human tears are. Not basal tears, which nourish, shield, and lubricate our corneas. And not reflex tears,...

Present Grace, Future Promise

What is the best known passage in the Bible? I suppose John 3:16 would be up there. Same with the 23rd Psalm, the Lord’s prayer, and the Golden Rule. Among Bible class smart alecks looking for an easy verse to memorize, it might be “Jesus wept”.  The Ten Commandments...

Faith Versus Science: A False Dichotomy? 

“So vast, without any question, is the Divine Handiwork of the Almighty Creator!” Copernicus, De Revolutionibus, 1543 Since the age of the Enlightenment, when philosophers advocated for reason as the primary authority for knowing any truth, many have pitted biblical...

The Art of Mending

“Which of you desires life, and covets many days to enjoy good? Keep your tongue from evil, and your lips from speaking deceit. Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.”  Psalm 34:12-14 Years ago, Carrie and I got into a spat as we were getting ready...