Fooling Ourselves About God
“Your shoestring’s untied!” “Your shirt’s unbuttoned.” “There’s a fly in your soup.” You are likely to hear any of these on the first day of April as early risers seek to dupe those who fail to remember the Day of the Fool. Although practical jokes and pranks have been around…
What Goldilocks Can Teach Us
Most of us are familiar with the story of Goldilocks. This precious little girl went for an unsupervised walk in the woods and happened upon the home of three absentee bears. After sampling their porridge on the table, she gobbled up the portion belonging to the baby bear because it…
Anti-Semitism Wears Many Cloaks
Last weekend many Jews celebrated the Festival of Purim which remembers God’s miraculous deliverance of their people through the courage of young Queen Esther. In this Old Testament book, an evil man by the name of Haman hatched a plot to annihilate the Jews through a craftily worded executive order…
Spring Bulbs Remind Us of God’s Activity
Thanks to an unusually early warm-up, crocuses and some daffodils are now in full bloom. The vibrant purples, yellows, and whites brighten up the landscape that is largely still dominated by browns and greys. These early harbingers assure us that spring is indeed on the way and that winter is…
Loving Children and Their Parents
We have had an unusually warm winter in the Shenandoah Valley this year for which we can be most grateful. Our monthly budgets are breathing a sigh of relief with an easing of heating bills as are VDOT’s snow removal allocations. Even with the warmer temperatures, however, there would still…
Breaching a Dam is Dangerous Business
Over the last few weeks, residents who live downstream from California’s Lake Oroville have endured fretful times wondering if their homes and families will suddenly be washed away. Reversing a drought that had plagued the area for several years, recent heavy rains have filled the lake to unanticipated levels and…
Mom’s Story: Preparation Provided Peace
This account was originally published in early 2015 soon after these events occurred. It is reprinted in honor of Mom’s birthday which was February 19. About 8:30am on Christmas Eve, 2014, our mother, Violet Bowers, had a serious accident with her gas cook stove resulting in third degree burns over…
Good Marriages Require Teamwork
In September of 2014, my wife and I attended the wedding of a young couple in Germany. The groom’s mother was Nancy’s best friend when she was stationed there in the 1980s and it was a real treat for her to see the whole family again. It was even more…
Working For Peanuts, And More
Most of us have enjoyed eating peanuts at a ball game, zoo, or theme park. Even more of us have satisfied our hunger with a sandwich smeared with peanut butter and filled with grape jelly, bananas, tomatoes, or other tasty additions. Peanuts are one of God’s great gifts to humanity…
New Leaders, New Heads
The wisdom and foresight of the framers of our Constitution have been proven yet once again with another peaceful transition of power even in the midst of great contention. It struck me that at 11:59 last Friday morning, former President Obama still had control over nuclear codes, pardons, legislation, homeland…