Hobnailed Boots & Heaven
For several years I had a free literature table in the university’s student union. My son-in-law Chase and our friend Dom continue the practice each Tuesday from 12 till 2. Those who visit find them winsome and engaging. It’s intended to...
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“There’s a Crown on your Head!”
TV commercials from the 1960s included some by Imperial Margarine. Mom and Dad are gathered with their family around the dinner table. I know, ancient history, right? Mother has purchased a new spread for their bread. Not butter—margarine fit for a king....
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The Book
“Of making many books there is no end,” said the wise man. (Ecclesiastes 12:12) Nobody knows how many books have been published throughout history, but the Library of Congress houses over 32 million titles, and the number keeps growing. Only one, however,...
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Who Wrote The Book Of Life?
In 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick proposed the double helix structure of DNA for which they won the Nobel Prize in 1962. The discovery was based on work by chemist Rosalind Franklin for which she received little credit. But on...
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The Door Marked “Exit”
If there’s one thing we learn from detective novelists, it’s that there are endless ways to shuffle off this mortal coil, as Hamlet would say. But even they would be unwilling to use these stranger-than-fiction departures in their books. On July 25,...
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How Are The Mighty Fallen!
The title gives us King David’s sentiments when he heard Jonathan and Saul had been slain by the Philistines on the slopes of Mount Gilboa. Saul sealed his own fate by his impetuous headlong plunge away from the Lord. Jonathan, on...
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Righteous Gentiles
I had little interest in touring Bible lands. I’d seen too many slideshows by those with no idea what they saw, confessing, “I ran where Jesus walked.” I had zero desire to see old churches and hear imaginary tales. “This”—pointing to...
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Aiming at Nothing
The Pacific Garden Mission, founded in 1877 on the notorious Whiskey Row in Chicago’s South Loop, is the oldest continuously-serving rescue mission in America. It was the first place I preached after my honeymoon more than 50 years ago. Following the...
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Fickle Fortune
Not long after crossing from Louisiana into Mississippi on Highway 969, near Pinckneyville, you’ll find a monument to fickle fortune. It isn’t inscribed that way on the roadside plaque. It’s never that obvious. Instead, it indicates the unmarked grave of Oliver...
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