Taking No Chances

Some people in Japan find value in many religions and do not adhere strictly to one. So people will wear a cross as jewelry, have a Shinto wedding and a Buddhist funeral. It appears that they are taking no chances: that they are "covering their bets" so to speak. The God of the Bible, on the other hand...

Sacrifice

In September, 1997 newspapers in Wellington, New Zealand carried the tragic story of a young girl who saw a puppy that had been struck by a car. She ran to aid the injured animal and was herself struck by a car and killed. How sad that a person should lose her life in trying to save a dumb animal. Yet the difference between a...

Preparation For The Future

The motto of the Boy Scouts is "Be Prepared." To fulfil that motto they learn how to build a fire, pitch a tent, tie a knot, and follow a trail. "Be Prepared" could also be the motto of the Christian. Jesus often taught us to be prepared for His return. There is that strange parable of the Unjust Steward (Luke 16:1-13) who, having...

One Road

A strange event occurred on September 17, 1997 in Bologna, Italy. Bob Dylan sang and played for Pope John Paul II. The occasion was a religious congress for young people. It was a chance for the 77-year-old pontiff to spend time with young people. When he spoke to the crowd of 20,000 the Pope referred to a classic Dylan...

Lost

William Satchell wrote a novel about early migrant workers going through the forests of New Zealand's Northland province. They followed after the timber cutters looking for the gum from stumps and branches of the Kauri tree (a gum used for varnish and linoleum). They lived a rough and lonely life so the novel is entitled...

Giving

The same newspaper that reported in September 1997 Ted Turner's gift of $ 1 billion to various charities of the United Nations also reported the gift of a Mississippi washerwoman who gave $150,000 for scholarships to a local college. Both were significant. Both are to be praised. But one gave out of his abundance and the...

Fathers

An Australian psychologist says, "Good fathers make good managers." Steve Biddulph, author of The Secret of Happy Childhood and Manhood, says good fathers turn out to be empathetic, listening managers for whom employees enjoy working. That should not surprise us. We have learned that...

Evangelism

In the Peanuts comic strip Sally says to Linus, "I think I would be a good evangelist." "Why?" asks Linus Sally answers, "I convinced the boy who sits behind me at school that...