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It’s good that we have emotions. Without them, we’d be like Spock from Star Trek. How miserable it would be to never experience joy. Of course, you wouldn’t know it was miserable because you wouldn’t be able to feel misery either. But without our emotions, we wouldn’t be human. We get our emotions from God. After all, we were created in His image, and He has emotions. The Scripture speaks of His joy, anger, grief, happiness, passion and sympathy. We are emotional beings, havi

Poor guy. He made his dream escape! And it’s not easy to escape from the Washington State Penitentiary. It took a lot of planning, perfect timing and hard work. But he did it! Then, however, he had to elude authorities. After spending a day on the run, without food or shelter, he came across a cabin in the woods. Perfect! If the place is unoccupied, it would be a chance to catch up on a little sleep, maybe scrounge up some food. If someone is home, he could subdue them, get t

You know I rarely get political. I don’t in this blog and I don’t in my preaching. And I don’t mean to take a political position with what I’m about to say. The politics in it are up for debate. But did you hear the White House’s legal defense of the military’s continued operation in Libya without authorization from Congress? The President claims that this particular operation does not fall under the War Powers Act because our military actions do not constitute “hostilities”.

And now we have it….born again Christians have smaller brains than other members of the population. So says a recent article in USA Today, based on a study at Duke University. But you might want to read the fine print. The study involved the difference in size of the hippocampus region of the brain, not generally viewed as a major contributor to intelligence (if at all). Most Scientists view the cerebral cortex, and it’s related partner, the corpus collosum, as contributing m

Last month in New York City, 45 year-old Harold Luken walked into a Bank of America and announced that he had a gun and was going to rob the place. He then went to the teller line and told those in front of him to carry on their business. When he finally reached the teller, he again announced that he had a gun and told her to empty the contents of her register. Knowing the police were about arrive (since he had given them plenty of notice :-), she refused. So he then gave her

I doubt Joel Dobrin’s dog is, at least not anymore. Dobrin was pulled over a few days ago for a routine traffic stop in Moro, Idaho. He had a stash of drugs stuffed in a sock, sitting next to him, and not wanting the officer to see it, flung it onto the floor of the back seat. Dobrin’s dog saw this as an opportunity for a game of fetch and jumped back to get it. The officer was still in the car awaiting radio response from the license check, so Dobrin reached for the sock to

In the aftermath of Osama bin Laden’s death, I’ve been a bit surprised by the buzz among Christians all over Facebook and Twitter, and in private conversations, over whether or not it was appropriate for Americans, Christians specifically, to celebrate. The arguments against rejoicing go something like this–– “Osoma bin Laden may have been an enemy, but Jesus taught us to love our enemies. The death of any human being is a tragedy, and we should never rejoice over any man’s d

That’s the slogan of the Seabees, that group of over 300,000 courageous, hard-working men first called up during World War II who followed combat units into newly conquered territory. From the island hopping of World War II to the cold of Korea, to the jungles of Vietnam, to the mountains of Bosnia, and now to the desert of Afghanistan, the Seabees have built entire bases, bulldozed and paved thousands of miles of roadway and airstrips, built bridges and military bases and ha

My heart was broken as I read of the two fourteen-year-old girls who died together in a suicide pact last Saturday. Haylee Fentress and Paige Moravetz were found over the weekend, having hung themselves in one of the girl’s homes in Minnesota. Both girls had been struggling in school and saw themselves as outcasts. They were made fun of repeatedly by classmates. The one girl had recently moved from Indiana and was never accepted in her new school, other than by another bullie

Even those who have little interest in the Bible, Christianity or religion in general, have heard the hype, reactions and turmoil surrounding Rob Bell’s latest book, in which he reveals his latest theological thoughts. Bell, always the cutting edge hipster pastor/theologian, has embraced an old form of 19th century liberalism: universalism. He splits hairs with definitions and thereby refuses to call his position, “universalism”, but most of us would be hard pressed to see an

In the eleventh century, King Henry III of Bavaria grew tired of court life and the pressures of being a monarch. He made application to Prior Richard at a local monastery, asking to be accepted as a contemplative and spend the rest of his life in the monastery. “Your Majesty,” said Prior Richard, “do you understand that the pledge here is one of obedience? That will be hard because you have been a king.” “I understand,” said Henry, “The rest of my life I will be obedient to

Things are looking pretty scary. If you are even a casual student of the Bible, you are aware that in the end times, around the world and particularly in the mideast, events will unfold much like we are currently observing. If you know me at all, you know I am not an alarmist. And I’m pretty skeptical of those guys on TV and radio who make a living on convincing their audience that the world is on the brink of Armageddon. (Then the audience in turn sends them a bunch of money

Stuart Briscoe shared the following account in his book, : "I visited a church in Florida, where the congregation had just built a new auditorium that cost $5 or $6 million. With great glee the people told me they had moved in debt free; they had paid for it in cash before they opened the doors. When I asked how they had done it, they told me, "Part of our membership requirement is that people tithe." Then they took me outside and showed me a three-or four-story, $11 million

There’s nothing like a bout with the flu to help you appreciate good health. Brock, Linda and I went to Texas for the weekend, to visit my uncle and cousins. It was a great break from the weather here to enjoy sunny, 75 degree days, hiking and riding trails in east Texas. But one of my cousins came down with something while we were staying at her house. She had a high fever, body aches, chills, stuffed head…..you know what I’m talking about. We soon left her house for her sak

I just learned that another friend of mine is dying. Without previous warning, he began to experience what he thought were mild symptoms that gave him concerns and went for a check-up. Stage four liver cancer. A follow-up CAT scan revealed tumors in both his liver and his lungs. He still is unsure what he will do, but the prognosis offers no hope. Death is all around us. Every time I visit someone in the hospital I am reminded that in that very building, someone is in process

Do you mind if I brag on my Packers just a little bit? Not so much the fact that they just won their fourth Super Bowl and thirteenth world championship….(I believe the Bears have won one Super Bowl and nine championships :-). But I’m more proud of the team for some of the off-the-field conversations they have had and the character they have displayed. For example, Aaron Rodgers: I know some have been saying that they are tired of sportscasters making such a big deal over his

So what did you do on Wednesday? Hailing from Wisconsin, I have seen a fair number of blizzards. The storm of ’67 that so many talk about in Chicago hit us even worse. I was six and still remember being afraid that my dad wouldn’t be able to make it home. In college, my sister and I were once stranded in a tiny town when roads were closed and we were forced to spend the night at the county jail (with about 50 other stranded motorists). About five years ago we were on a highwa

I’m like everyone else. I like to see a real rainbow. It’s a wonderful symbol from the Great Flood in Genesis chapter nine that speaks of God’s promise to protect and preserve His people. While I love a real rainbow, you won’t see any painted unicorns galloping through a multi colored arch in my office or at my house. As far as decorations go, it’s not for me. And that would probably be the case even if the symbol had not been hijacked by those promoting an unbiblical lifesty

Several years ago, Linda and I had were partners in a commercial property investment. Our part was the management of the property, which Linda took care of. But we came across an opportunity to sell at quite an increase for what the partnership purchased it for. The prospective buyer was a gas station/convenience store located next door. We had rented to a competitor and the buyer wanted to get the property to both expand and eliminate their competition. Because of that, they

You’ve probably seen the specials on television news programs on the highlights of 2010 in national and international news. There was the Hatian earthquake and the terrible loss of 250,000 lives, the eruption of Mount Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland which sent 330,000,000 cubic yards of volcanic ash into the atmsosphere and grounding over 100,000 flights in Europe. Who will forget the BP offshore oil rig explosion and the ensuing spill that continued to flow for three months? The