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Here it is….Christmas season! Are you ready? Decorations up? Gift list completed? Shopping started? Plans for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day settled? Let’s talk about that. While most everyone talks about Christ being left out of Christmas, I find that Christians are as guilty of that as anyone. While we say Christmas is about Jesus’ birth, we get our kids more excited about the myth of Santa than we do about the truth of Jesus (and in doing so causing a lot of later dou

They often are not. Really. I recently visited a couple of locations where television programs are regularly taped for the History Channel. I was surprised both times. Television can be very deceiving. Some of it is due to the nature of camera lenses and TV screens, and the way our imagination fills in what is past the camera’s periphery. But a lot of it is intentional deception written into the director’s instructions to give a desired illusion. All-in-all, these two locatio

In 1830, a man named George Wilson killed a government employee who caught him in the act of robbing the mail. He was tried and sentenced to be hanged. However, then President of the United States, Andrew Jackson, sent him a pardon. But Wilson did a strange thing. He refused to accept the pardon and no one seemed to know what to do. So the case was carried to the Supreme Court. The great Chief Justice John Marshall wrote the opinion. In it, he said, “A pardon is a slip of pap

A paramedic was asked on a local TV talk-show program: "What was your most unusual and challenging 911 call?" "Recently we got a call from that big white church at 11th and Walnut," the paramedic said. "A frantic usher was very concerned that during the sermon an elderly man passed out in a pew and appeared to be dead. The usher could find no pulse and there was no noticeable breathing." "What was so unusual and demanding about this particular call?" the interviewer a

I was standing in line registering for a college class when two life-changing events occurred. First, my wife Linda and I had our first extended conversation (we were in line together). Second, I saw my first personal computer. Don’t get me wrong. Meeting Linda and getting to know her was a big deal. But that would be a different blog. This one is about computer that computer. So while standing in line waiting to enter the Academic Dean’s office to get permission to t

Last week, a man in Gallatin, Tennessee, walked into a Wal-Mart dressing room with a new pair of designer jeans. (They have designer jeans at Wal-Mart?). Anyway, he took off his old tattered jeans and put on the new ones from off the rack. They fit good! So, he ripped off the tags and walked out…..all they way out of the store. Thinking he got away with it, he met up with his girlfriend in the parking lot and the two of them headed to the nearby Longhorn Steakhouse. After a g

Have you heard of the Zeus Trojan internet virus? The story this week about the international internet based identity theft ring is the makings of a pretty good movie. The FBI, in cooperation with Scotland Yard in Britain and Europe’s Interpol, made multiple arrests this week breaking up an international organization of at least sixty cyberthieves, who have already emptied the bank accounts of thousands of unsuspecting victims. Using the Zeus Trojan virus (name that comes

There are a lot of reasons I am excited about the Greg Laurie Chicago Harvest at the Allstate Arena this weekend. I am looking forward to the music. Some of the finest Christian musicians will be displaying their gifts in worship and we will be privileged to join them in singing. I’m looking forward to the excitement of having that many people together with a common goal of reaching the lost and worshiping our God. I am certainly excited about the way Pastor Greg will

The first attempt to dig the Panama Canal across the Isthmus of Panama was made by a French company. Thousands of men and tons of machinery tackled the remote mountains and thick jungles. After millions of dollars had been spent, however, the project was abandoned, not because of the mountains but because of the mosquitoes. Yellow fever from mosquitoes killed thousands. It was not until American doctors found ways of protecting people against mosquitoes that the project was

My youngest son, Brock, is studying American History. It’s the one subject I can help him with, and I enjoy it. I love history! He is currently learning about the incidents that led to the Revolutionary War, and while helping him study, I became fascinated with how much of an influence Patrick Henry was on the thinking of the early colonial patriots. It’s hard to imagine the revolution without him. Long before the revolution, Henry was a prominent figure in the colonies,

Bill was buying a car. The dealership was offering an unbelievable rate, so he elected to finance it. He now says it was the worst decision he ever made.

The screen on my phone is cracked so I took it in to get it replaced while it is still covered under its extended warranty. So I have a loaner phone. I’m kind of a techy, but since I only have the loaner for a couple of weeks, I am not bothering to learn how to use it too well. I wasn’t even able to answer it the first day. I now know the basics, but I think I’m even missing voice mails. But I’ve discovered something. The break has been nice. My other phone can pretty muc