August 2020

Ben Franklin’s Request for Prayer Benjamin Franklin  (1706-1790) (and death mask) ———————      The Constitutional Convention of 1787 held its meetings in secret, and its members were expected to keep the details of their discussions and debates confidential.  The official papers of the Convention sat in the State Department offices, untouched, until 1818.  When […]

Old Man on His Deathbed,  Gustav Klint, 1897 ———————- IN THE HOUR OF DEATH by R. D. Blackmore (1825-1900) —————— In the hour of death, after this life’s whim, When the heart beats low, and the eyes grow dim, And pain has exhausted every limb– The lover of the Lord shall trust in Him. ——————-

Pharaoh’s daughter finds the infant Moses while Miriam watches from a distance —————————-       (…continued)  Moses is thus not only saved from certain death, but he is allowed to live in the palace.  His own mother is hired to care for him and will be paid out of the king’s treasury to raise

     John Parker had the worst seat in the theater.  He was attending a popular comedy and could hear the audience roaring with laughter.  He could hear most of the lines being said, so sometimes he knew what everyone was laughing about.  But he could not see the action and was missing out on

   Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961) —————–      One of the toughest tough guys of all time was Ernest Hemingway.  He was a soldier, adventurer, big-game hunter, and deep-sea fisherman.  Hemingway was also a ladies man, world-class drinker, fearless bar-room brawler, and in his spare time, a writer, and winner of both the Pulitzer and Nobel prizes

——– By Kathy Burgdorf, a good friend of a good friend ————————–      Our cat was very afraid!  He did not know what was happening.  I had just been holding him and he was all snuggled in, a tiny purring machine.  But it was time to put him in the cat carrier to take

People were bringing little children to Jesus in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them.  But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of

————————————–      When I was a senior in high school I read Why I Am Not a Christian by English philosopher Bertrand Russell and it almost destroyed my faith.  The next year in college I had the good fortune of being introduced to the writings of C. S. Lewis, whose books restored and strengthened

    (…continued)   The end of the story is what counts most, says Ecclesiastes, and the Bible is big on happy endings.  The Bible is realistic about the suffering in the middle of the story, but teaches us to view the suffering in light of the end.  Sometimes, as in the book of Romans, that

     Walking by her son’s bedroom, a mother was astonished to see that the room was clean and the bed was made.  She had not seen that for a very long time, so she figured something must be wrong.  Then she saw an envelope, propped up so it could be easily seen, and addressed