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Have you heard about Orlando Shaw, the Tennessee man who is being sued by 14 women for back child-support of his 22 children? He says that he loves all of his kids but just can’t afford to support them, largely because he says that his criminal record prevents him from finding a decent job.      There is something to be said about the foolishness on the part of the women who bore his children, but let’s stick with Shaw. In a brief interview with WTVF News, Shaw said, “I was y

Brock, my youngest son, loves to watch the Discovery Channel's, “Storm Chasers.” It follows several crews of tornado chasers who look for and follow storms that are likely to produce tornadoes. You’ve probably seen the news accounts of the tragic death of three men who were featured on the program, Tim Samaras and his son, Paul, along with colleague Carl Young, were all killed when the vehicle they were using to follow an E3 touchdown, was crushed by what is believed to be

In Matthew 6:16-18, Jesus told his followers to fast differently than the way a lot of people of his day fasted. It seems a number of people enjoyed attention from others for their “sacrifice” of fasting. They made it obvious that they were sacrificing food, and they took on the appearance of being weak, disheveled and hungry. And of course, they let every one know what they were going through.     Jesus said, “Don’t do that.” You don’t need to let anyone know you are making

The tornado tragedy in Oklahoma is heartbreaking. The idea of an elementary school being leveled by an E5 tornado is horrible.  And then you hear first responders recount how they found remains of three children huddled together under the body of the teacher who had been attempting to shield them. Wow. The loss of life, property damage, and lots of individual stories make the situation difficult to follow on the news. I have a hard time watching it.     Then we ask, “How coul

This has been quite the week of scandals in American politics. President Obama has, for the most part, enjoyed the goodwill of the mainstream press. But that appears to be interrupted this week. Major questions of credibility are now being asked in lieu of the Benghazi talking points affair, the procurement of Associated Press journalist telephone records, and the IRS maltreatment of conservative organizations. It does remind us of the fickle nature of political favor. And no

Horrified.      That’s how we felt as the details emerged of the plight of those three young women who had been kidnapped and imprisoned in Cleveland for over a decade. And the details are just beginning to come out. They will worsen in the weeks ahead, no doubt.      Will these young women ever be able to return to normal life?      Many psychologists being interviewed on news television programs emphasize a need for lengthy and careful “debriefing”. I think it’s going to t

There is quite the commotion in the media over the recent NBA player who has come out publicly to announce that he is gay. And there is even more clamor over Chris Broussard, the ESPN announcer, who said that because of his Christian faith, he cannot condone homosexual behavior. For that, his job is now in jeopardy.     I wonder if a high profile Christian were to say that adultery is not compatible with Christian values, would he be censored for saying that? What if he said

I struggled with baptism. For six months I held off getting baptized. I had grown up knowing only of babies being sprinkled as baptism. The idea of a person my age getting fully immersed as a metaphor of what Jesus did for us was foreign to me. The first time I heard about it, I thought it was weird.      Even after I started reading the Bible and seeing baptism being practiced as an immersion for adults, or people old enough to request it, even then it was a struggle. After

Flooding in Des Plaines has become a fact of life. My introduction to the northwest suburbs came three weeks after we moved here in 2007. The people we bought our house from insisted it had never had water in the basement. But our first month in Des Plaines a storm knocked the power out for ten days and brought about six inches of water into our basement. Canoes were making their way down River Road (which becomes literal every time it floods).      The flooding has repeated

Did you hear about the woman in Texas who lit her house on fire last month? While raking and cleaning out her yard, she encountered a snake. Her response is a bit perplexing, because hitting it over the head with the rake handle would have worked just fine. But instead, she grabbed a nearby gasoline can and doused the snake, then threw a match on it. The inflamed snake slithered into a brush pile next to the house, and before she knew it, the brush pile and the house were eng

Several years ago, one of our newer office assistants complained that her computer shut down and wouldn’t turn back on. I was the resident “go-to” for tech issues, so I asked, “What happened when it shut down?”     “I dropped my mouse,” she said.     That normally wouldn’t turn off a computer, so I assumed something else had happened. “Check all the wires behind the computer and try turning it on again.” She did, and it didn’t respond.     “Where did you drop your mouse?” I a

Should it matter to us now what heaven will be like?     I should say so! After hearing and reading from both church and non-church people what their assumptions are of heaven, having a Biblical understanding of what God says our ultimate home will be like, does matter. If heaven is really the place (or lack thereof) that many people think it is, it does not offer much incentive for people to want to find out how to get there. After all, the Bible describes it for a reason! O