The Other Side Of Thank You
A baby gift came to a young couple who were new parents. They were grateful for the present, so the mom picked up a thank-you card, wrote a nice note, and got it ready to send.
Stay Out Of It!
A Christian man in our community received a promotion that greatly increased his income. His fellow salesmen urged him to upgrade his life through large credit card purchases. Whatever the others did, he did—family skiing vacations, cruises, new furniture, expensive shopping trips.
Don’t Worry
My nephew’s job was soon to be eliminated, so I was glad to hear from his wife that he had just accepted an offer for a new position.
Straight To Heaven
An old spiritual warns, “Everybody talkin’ ’bout heaven ain’t goin’ there.” Since heaven is God’s dwelling place where His presence and glory are manifested in all their splendor, He has the sovereign right to determine who will be admitted and under what conditions. Any other beliefs about the how and why of admission into heaven are sadly mistaken.
New Bodies
In 1728, a young Ben Franklin composed his own tombstone epitaph:
2,000-Year-Old Sprout
In June of 2006, Israeli doctors and scientists successfully germinated a 2,000-year-old date palm seed. Found at the Herodian fortress of Masada on the west bank of the Dead Sea, the seed was tagged “Methuselah” for the man with the oldest recorded age in the Bible (Gen. 5:27). In addition to the challenge of awakening a long-dormant seed, the team also wanted to learn more about the tree praised in Scripture for its shade, food, beauty, and medicinal qualities.
Say No To Self-Help
Early in my editorial career in religious publishing, I was responsible for a line of books referred to as “self-help.” The label troubled me because it seemed contrary to everything Christian.
Losing A Friend
When London’s red double-decker Routemaster buses were withdrawn from regular service in December 2005, many people felt they had lost a friend. The Routemasters had provided reliable service for 51 years, and they were popular with Londoners and tourists alike because of their easy jump-on, jump-off rear access. A few of the old buses still run on two Heritage tourist routes, but in the rest of the sprawling city, they’re gone.
Why We Have Value
In a commencement address to a graduating class at Miami University, columnist George Will gave some statistics that help to diminish our sense of self-importance. He pointed out that “the sun around which Earth orbits is one of perhaps 400 billion stars in the Milky Way, which is a piddling galaxy next door to nothing much.” He added, “There are perhaps 40 billion galaxies in the still-unfolding universe. If all the stars in the universe were only the size of the head of a pin, they still would fill Miami’s Orange Bowl to overflowing more than 3 billion times.”
