• Doing Battle With The Dragon

    “The horse is made ready for the day of battle, 
but the victory belongs to the Lord.”  ~~ Proverbs 21:31  As I journeyed with my group along the Silk Road on the fourth day of our pilgrimage, we saw the twin peaked volcano Mount Erciyes, on which St. George of Cappadocia was said to have slain…


  • We Journey By Stages

    “And Abram journeyed on by stages towards  the Negeb.” ~~ Genesis 12:9 “A wandering Aramean was my ancestor” (Deut 26:5) is likely the first affirmation of faith in the Bible. It speaks to a people who began their lives with a call from God to journey in faith: “Go to the land that I will…


  • Merry Stressmas Everybody!

    “The kiln tests the potter’s vessels…”  ~~ Ecclesiasticus 27:5  I was baking cookies all day Friday, my oven never going higher than 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  This is a great test for butter, sugar and flour: leave it in that heated box too long and the smoke detector just outside the kitchen door will start its…


  • Money Can’t Buy Art

    “But where shall wisdom be found? …It cannot be bought for gold, and silver cannot be weighed out as its price.” ~~ Job 28:12, 15 The recent national elections for President, Senate and House seats cost around $6 billion dollars. At the end of all this storm and fury, the Republicans still hold the House,…


  • Death by China: Wesley and Barnum Meet Dr. Who

    Overheard: PT Barnum & the Rev. John Wesley on the Movie “Death by China” Citizens of 1880 and 1760 usually don’t have the opportunity to visit over coffee, unless Dr. Who activates his telephone booth or we use the research tools available to us to bring their ideas together in the same space. “Free Books”…


  • Gifts for Everybody!

    “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit, and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord, and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.” ~~ 1 Cor 12:4-6 In my actively practicing carboholic years, I loved going to the mall…


  • Hard Work, Community & Individual Success

    “To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”          ~~ 1 Corinthians 12:7 “If you’ve got a business, you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.” President Obama lit up the ratio and TV talk shows a while back with this statement because 60% of Americans…


  • Going Onto Beautiful

    “Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one.”                                               ~~ 1 Corinthians 9:25 The 30th Olympics has opened in London complete with fireworks,…


  • 50 Shades of Slavery

    “But take care that this liberty of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.” ~~ 1 Corinthians 8:9 Twenty million copies of 50 Shades of Grey have been sold, earning author E.L. James around $50,000,000 to date—one million per shade of grey, as the wag might say. As a result, the…


  • Pearls and Other Treasures: How Far Will We Go to Find Them?

    “The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls; on finding one pearl of great price, he went and sold all he had and bought it.” ~~ Matthew 13:45-46 In the 1980’s, the price of oil dropped like a stone and the private school in Texas that depended on wealthy oil…