I love some of the old Hollywood movie battle scenes where the wagon train gets attacked by Indians, when the cavalry defends its fort, when there’s a big Roman army battle or a cowboy gunfight. But what I soon learned is that Hollywood movies are not very accurate in their history.      For example, I grew up in the 1950’s watching TV, so there were NEVER any cowboys who were black. Years later, I found out that 25% of cowboys were black. I was shocked!      Wagon trains were another example of inaccurate history. Hollywood always shows the big white cloth covered Conestoga wagons travelling in a single file.  But Conestoga wagons weren’t used in wagon trains as their center of gravity was too high and a good stiff plains state wind would blow them over. They used regular wagons without the big white cloth covering them. And they only traveled in single file when going thru the mountains or a very narrow pass. Travelling single file would have kicked up a tremendous of dust for… Read More

     Why has the Star Wars film franchise been so successful? Superior writing, good storylines, great acting, etc. are some of the things that make for a good movie.  But one thing really stands out to me is our love for the underdog. Whether the underdog wins, lives to fight another day or dies for his ideals, we just love rooting for him or her.      That’s why the Horatio Alger stories of a few generations ago were so popular. Something deep within our souls resonates with the underdog, especially when they triumph over incredible odds. How many of you remember the 1980 U.S. Olympic team? They weren’t expected to do very well at all, but they went on to win the gold metal.  They even made a TV movie on it called “Miracle on Ice”. Then Hollywood made a full length movie on them called “Miracle”.      The TV show, America’s Got Talent, always seems to have one contestant that the judges don’t think will do very well. That contestant then blows them away with their talent.  While I don’t watch the show regularly, I love watching the youtube video clips of their auditions. One of my favorites… Read More

                             Dan and I have breakfast together often. We’ve both been married about 40 years. One time we were just laughing about some of the things that took us years to learn about our wives. Like when your wife talks to you about a problem she’s facing. You offer her some GREAT advice. Instead of graciously and willingly accepting your ‘pearls of wisdom’, she pushes back at you, and you cannot figure out why she’s not accepting your wise counsel. I mean, she came to you for advice and now she’s not taking it.  An argument ensues.      It took us years to learn that our spouses didn’t want to be “fixed”. They just wanted to invite us into their process of solving their problem themselves. What they saw as something intimate, we saw as a problem to be fixed. All we guys had to do is listen to them, offer some words of encouragement, and hug them at the end. That’s it….nothing more! No figuring out how to solve their problem. Why did it take Dan and I, like 10 years,… Read More

                     All the church is concerned about is money. Why don’t they take some of that money and help their communities? They’re not doing what Jesus would do. How many times have we heard this refrain? Is it true? Do churches benefit their communities? Are they ministering outside their own walls?      Are you aware that many food banks were started by Christians and/or churches? Our local church food bank is so big that we service several other smaller churches from it. Twice a month we give food away at our church to 250 families. Then we send out 3 mobile food banks to areas where people have trouble getting transportation to our church. This serves several hundred more people. We also have a backpack of food that we give to several area public schools to distribute as they see need. We even grow our own vegetables in a garden on church property.      We have paid people’s electric bills. One church changed car oil for single mothers for free. Many churches provide free or reduced rate marriage, substance abuse or sexual addiction counseling and support groups…. Read More

   What a little magnetism can do        He was born on March 16th, 1936. He studied violin at the world famous Juilliard School of Music when he was 15. Out of 100,000 applicants, he won the Ford Foundation Scholarship, which enabled him to go to college.      He got his B.S. degree in mathematics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1956. He received his M.D. degree from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1960. He later did graduate work at Harvard in biophysics. He then became a professor at the State University of New York-Downstate medical Center where he taught until he founded his company that manufactured magnetic resonance imaging machines (MRI’s).      He initially became interested in MRI in the late 1960’s. In 1970, he noticed a difference in MR signals between cancer and normal tissue and then differences between normal tissues. After years of work, he developed a working MRI scanning machine and started his own company to manufacture them.      In 1988, he received the National Medal of Technology award along with Dr. Lauterbur for developing the MRI scanner. In 1989, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of… Read More

                 If you believe in evolution, yes there are 4 different human races that all descended from a common ancestor. But the bible speaks of only one race – the human race. It NEVER speaks of separate races but of separate people groups. Acts 17:26 says all humans are of ‘one blood’.      Some people say there are different races because of the racial characteristics such as hair texture or eye shape. But the truth is that these are minor physical differences. If you take two people from anywhere in the world, their genetic differences would be no more than 0.2%. And the difference in skin color or eye shape, etc. would be 6% of this 0.2%. That amounts to a genetic difference of 0.012% among the various people groups (blacks, whites, Asian, etc.). There is more variation within one people group than there is between people groups. So these racial differences between blacks, whites, Asians, etc. are trivial.      Then why do some of us have dark brown skin, white skin (actually pink skin), or mid-brown skin? Skin color is governed by a lot of individual genes of… Read More

                                                                           The Power of God to Change a Heart:      It was the only thing I had ever won. And it was a whopper. I won a trip for two to Hawaii. We stayed on Oahu on a hotel at Waikiki beach. We rented a convertible and toured the whole island. I’m a WWII buff, so we went to see Pearl Harbor. Before a boat takes you to the Arizona Memorial, they have you listen to a 30 minute film about that fateful day of December 7th, 1941…a date which lives in infamy…the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.      After we watched the film, while we were waiting for our boat to take us to the Arizona Memorial, I noticed a frail, 80 year old man dressed in his full Navy uniform. He appeared to be looking for someone. I went over to him and offered my assistance to help in any way I could. He informed… Read More

                                                                                      What is Your Legacy?        Legacy – something left by or received from an ancestor or predecessor. What thing or things do we want to pass on to our children and grandchildren? What do we want to be remembered for? What do we want them to say about us at our funeral?      There are many things that we would like to pass on to our kids/grandkids, like money, possessions, and good memories. To the Christian, the most important thing we can pass on is our faith in Jesus Christ. We must “walk the talk” with those closest to us. But there are practical ways we can do this. Our small home group, made up of mostly retired grandparents, came up with the following relational and spiritual ways. While these apply to grandparents, you could also apply them to your children with a little creative thinking. Relationally: – take them out… Read More

                                                       Warning: This article contains graphic descriptions of torture & death      S-21 was an interrogation, torture & execution center. From 1975-1979 the communist Khmer Rouge forcibly took over Cambodia. Of 14,000 prisoners who entered S-21, only 7 are known to have survived. Out of a population of 8 million people, 2 million were killed. Out of 11,000 university students, only 450 survived. 9 out of 10 doctors were killed. They killed anyone who was educated so they wouldn’t be a threat to them.      In 1976, the Khmer Rouge converted a high school complex into S-21. The head of it was Comrade Duch (pronounced DOIK). He was an extremely efficient killing machine. He kept detailed records of every torture session, every murder. His henchmen would hang prisoners upside down with their head in a bucket of urine and feces. Throats were slit, heads were bashed with a shovel, necks were broken with a hoe. Babies were killed by swinging them by the legs and smashing their heads against… Read More

     This is one hard topic to talk about. Emotions run so high that rational, civil, respectful discourse is often impossible. With malice toward none and love toward all, let’s start out by finding out what the Bible says about homosexuality. Homosexuality for this discussion will be any same sex physical relationship, whether it be man-to-man or woman-to-woman.      What does the Bible say about homosexuality? -it is a sin  Romans 1:18-32, 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, 1 Timothy 1:9-10, Jude 7, Leviticus 18:22 & 20:13 “Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty of their error” (Romans 1:26-28). “Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with other men….will inherit the kingdom of God” (1st Corinthians 6:9). “We also know that the law is made not… Read More