A fast-food loving black bear stole a $45 Taco Bell order from the front porch of a home in the Orlando suburb of Longwood moments after the Uber Eats driver delivered it, an Orlando television station reported. This is no Florida man story, as there’s no evidence a Floridian dressed in a bear costume stole the food. Rather, the […]
Read More Beary HungryIn 1738, the literary giant Samuel Johnson wrote in his diary: “Oh Lord, enable me to redeem the time which I have spent in sloth.” Nineteen years later, he wrote, “Oh mighty God, enable me to shake off sloth and redeem the time misspent in idleness and sin by diligent application of the days yet […]
Read More ResolutionsThe Italians have a legend about a woman named Befana who lived along the dusty road that led to Bethlehem. She was her village’s best housekeeper. Meticulous. Which was no small task with all that dust. Late one night there was a knock at the door and she opened it to find three kings in search of […]
Read More too busy for christmasSu Zhu Yuan thought Americans celebrated Christmas as part of their patriotic duty. Relatives gave gifts. Neighbors prepared feasts. Storefronts in Chinatown advertised sales. But during her eight years in the United States, no one told her the biblical story behind Christmas–until this year. On Sunday, Yuan celebrated the birth of Jesus for the first […]
Read More Christmas rebirthChristmas is the season of choice. If you want to buy a food processor, Amazon offers you 2,000 types. Or how about a drill—there are more than 40,000 options. No, I’m not making those numbers up. Choices can be glorious, and confusing, and empowering, and overwhelming, all at the same time. And in the West […]
Read More FINDING CHRISTMASIn 2018, when Dale and Julie Marks bought their home in the Beaverdale community of Des Moines, they were excited because the community is known for its elaborate holiday lights on all its homes. Julie said, “It was like a dream come true to buy a house here. I’ve wanted to live here since I […]
Read More Christmas miracleThere is a Japanese word, kintsukuroi, that means “golden repair.” It is the art of restoring broken pottery with gold so the fractures are literally illuminated—a kind of physical expression of its spirit. As a philosophy, kintsukuroi celebrates imperfection as an integral part of the story, not something to be disguised. The artists believe that when something has […]
Read More Golden RepairThe rock star, Sting, in his autobiography Broken Music, tells how he bought his first bass guitar. In a local music shop, in the middle of all the shiny new guitars, he saw an old Fender bass. is a careworn relic of the sixties, the paintwork ruined and the varnish flaked. Among all the shiny others on the […]
Read More Made newOne hot afternoon, a certain woman walked to her neighbor’s produce stand to buy grapes. The line was long. And each person seemed to get special attention. But she waited patiently. When she finally made it to the front of the line, the owner asked for her order. She asked for grapes. “Please excuse me […]
Read More Waiting . . .One of my favorite studies about gratitude is the “Count Your Blessings” study conducted by the psychologist Bob Emmons. In his study Emmons had participants do the simplest thing: At the end of each day take a moment to count your blessings by writing them down in a journal. And you know what happened? At […]
Read More ThankfulA few years ago, The Edge, U2’s guitarist, took his son out trick-or-treating in L.A. Both The Edge and his son dressed in The Edge’s trademark black beanie, black leather jacket with a guitar slung around his neck. As they walked away from one door, they heard the couple in the house say, “That’s a […]
Read More trick or treatMary Daniel hadn’t seen her husband for 114 days due to coronavirus restrictions at the senior care facility where he lives. Her husband, Steve, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s seven years ago and moved into a care facility in Jacksonville, Florida. She said she had been visiting her husband every night and would get him ready […]
Read More DESPERATE TO BE TOGETHERIs what you are following leading you in the right direction?
Read More STUCK WITH A GPSWhen a man went to purchase a PlayStation 5 (PS5) from a reseller, he was unsure about the legitimacy of the listing because of its low price. After speaking to the reseller on the phone, his curiosity increased, as it sounded like the woman on the other line didn’t know much about video games, and […]
Read More DECEPTION v. Integrity (and a PS5)Sometimes safety doesn’t look like what we expect.
Read More SAFE AT SEAA tourist was once travelling through the area where the famed Rabbi Hofetz Chaim was living. Being a great admirer of the rabbi, he made inquiries whether he could visit the rabbi at his home. He soon got a reply that he was welcome to visit the rabbi anytime. The young tourist thereafter arrived at […]
Read More JUST VISITINGMost rescue dogs are claimed from pet shelters, but Richard Wilbanks rescued his puppy from the jaws of an alligator. Wilbanks was out on a walk with Gunner when he heard a brief yelp of distress. Wilbanks recalled, “I looked around and saw the alligator out swimming in the pond with him. I just wasn’t […]
Read More RESCUEDBristlecone pines are the oldest living things on our planet, with approximately eighteen living examples that are over 4,000 years old. Surprisingly, this species lives under the harshest conditions imaginable. They are located at an altitude of more than 9,000 feet above sea level on the east side of the Sierra Nevada in the White […]
Read More ARE YOU GROWING OR DYING?Maybe “making the best use of my time” begins with stepping back and cutting off.
Read More The Time suck in my pocketWhen James Free looked inside the donation bin, he saw something that he normally sees: a pair of shoes. Free was volunteering with Portland Rescue Mission, the organization that helped him to stabilize and get back on his feet after a season of addiction and houseless living. In his role helping to sort donated goods, […]
Read More The Recycle BinA 1941 artwork by Dutch abstract artist Piet Mondrian has been found to have been hanging upside down in various museums for 75 years. An honest mistake since the piece features interlaced red, yellow, black and blue adhesive tape strips that subtly thicken at the bottom. But a photograph of Mondrian’s studio shows the same […]
Read More UPSIDE DOWN
Pursuing God 