Champion athletes are always asked, minutes after winning, “Can you do it again next year?” Vegas lays odds almost immediately on a repeat victory. But there are so many variables. So many things change between the end of one season and even the beginning of the next, let alone another…
Mud
On the opposite side of the equator, spring comes in August and September. And the monsoon rains in the mountains bring a flood of water down the Nile to Egypt. As we all learned in grade school, the desert stretches for hundreds of miles in every direction, but the banks…
Gifts
For years, the commercialization and secularization of Christmas has expanded at an ever-increasing rate. From companies that try to compete for this year’s “must have” gift to retailers putting out more and more Christmas merchandise earlier and earlier, there is no doubt that Christmas has become about all the wrong…
Crosses
Have you ever watched young children play? Really, truly, watched them, not just been in the area as a token adult while surfing on your cell phone, but observed them, listened to their conversations, marveled at their imaginations and creativity, heard their laughter and squeals of pure joy? How often…
Family
With October comes the changing of the seasons, the falling of the leaves, and the coming of the holiday season. Some of us are already making plans for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s. And with those plans, we’re already thinking of who we’re going to be seeing, and when thinking…
Choose
So there was God, Creator of the entire Universe, and He was laying out Eden. He created four rivers and put them in their place. He created fruit trees and arranged them in an orchard. And the tree of knowledge of good and evil, He put that right in the…
Two Brothers
There was once a man who had two sons. He did everything he could for them, helped them both as they needed it, and did his best to raise them both to be good men. Twenty years after his first wife passed away, he remarried. The man’s oldest son was…
What We Deserve
All too often, before a championship game one of the players being interviewed says something to the effect of, “We have worked harder than anybody else and overcome all sorts of adversity all season. We deserve this title. We deserve to win.” Meanwhile on another channel, a player from the…
Cast Iron
Anyone who is serious about their cooking will tell you: nothing cooks like a cast iron pan. It can sear a burger or gently cook an omelette. It can withstand the heat of a broiler, and keep things warm off the stove long after it’s been removed from heat. Bacon,…
Mothers
May is the month of mothers, when we give special appreciation to our moms by bringing them flowers, taking them out to dinner, and buying them gifts. After all, our mothers gave us life, came to our aid whether we wanted her help or not, and gave us each words…