In the Zone

A few years ago I read the story about a Dairy Queen in Danville, Ky. Apparently, someone came in and ordered $2 worth of ice cream and paid for the order with a fake $200 bill.  The fake currency had a picture of President George W. Bush on the front and an photo of the White House filled with lawn signs on the back.  The cashier accepted the bill and gave the person $198 in change. Obviously, $200 bills do not exist.  President Bush is not on any form of currency.  However, the bill was green and the numbers looked like monetary numbers on U.S. currency.  The cashier got hoodwinked and Dairy Queen was robbed of $198. Sometimes it's hard spotting a fake.  Forgeries have gotten better and better that untrained eyes might be fooled.  It's not just money either.  Knock-off toys, purses and clothes sell for much higher than they are actually worth.  Counterfeit items imitate the real thing, but are not. U. S. Treasury agents memorize the...

In my job, I see lots of pain. I see children hurt by the pain of divorce.  I witness students struggling with parental relationships.  I comfort students who have broken up with a boyfriend or a girlfriend.  I console someone in the death of a loved one. Pain and suffering are very real.  Even believers in Jesus feel pain and suffering, often in great amounts.  However, as believers in Jesus, we rely upon the strength of Christ to get us through the dark, lonely and tough times.  I don't understand how people deal with pain without the presence of Jesus. Buddhists are very different.  Buddhism believes pain and suffering come from desires.  In order to end suffering, a Buddhist seeks to find an existence without desire.  When they finally find this peace, they no longer reincarnate but cease to exist.  Jesus teaches a very different solution.  He tells his followers pain won't decrease.  In fact, he tells them to expec...

"There are many paths to God, choose one." That's the slogan on a barn in Walton, Ky. near where I grew up.  It's written with reflectors so when the headlights hit the barn, the message lights up for all to see.  Every time I passed that barn, I grew angry.  How many souls believe that and end up in Hell? That idea is false.  It started primarily through the Hindu religion.  Hindus worship more than 330 million gods.  They believe people die and are born again in a cycle that only ends once your karma--or bad things you've done--balances out.  In Hinduism, you pick a few gods to worship and through good deeds and suffering, you will eventually find god after enough lifetimes. Scripture, though, teaches a different story. Hebrews tells us we are appointed once to live and then to die and face judgment. Deuteronomy tells us there is only one God. Jesus, in John 14, assures us there is only one way to heaven--through a relationship with him...

I'm preparing for hostilities I'm not talking about open war or riots or murder.  In fact, I won't be the hostile one.  Instead, I believe it now my mission to prepare my students for the hostile world that awaits them. What do I mean? Well, with the Supreme Court decisions on marriage this week, coupled with the Texas filibuster that kept an abortion bill from passing (and the praise that senator received), it is inevitable that Christian teenagers will grow up in a world where their beliefs in scripture will make them outcasts. I've seen it already.  I read several blogs praising the decision and labeling Christians who believe homosexuality is a sin as backwards, outdated, wrong and hatemongers.  Popular opinion is not on our side. Then again, it never was. In Jesus' day, he attacked popular opinion.  Time and again he called out the religious leaders for teaching a secularized version of scripture.  In Jewish culture, during the exile, the r...

As I type this, my desk is literally covered with piles of permission and medical forms. In less than a week, we leave for youth camp.  In less than a month, we depart for our mission trip to St. Louis.  In six weeks, we take our children to kids camp. All of those trips include lengthy medical forms that must be filled out.  On the forms, allergies, medicines and health conditions have to be listed.  Insurance cards and numbers must be included.  Signatures from parents are required.  In the past, some of those forms even needed to be notarized. To take students to camp or mission trip requires a fairly detailed, finely-worded process that must be signed off by parents or the student cannot attend or participate.  (I once misplaced a form and was told that student could only sit in the dorm room until the form was found and faxed.) Yet, thanks to recent court rulings and now the Obama administration backing off of their appeal of tho...

Last week, at Disney World, I went to retrieve our stroller from the stroller parking section.  As I searched among the hundred or so strollers, I finally found mine and started to move it.  As I pulled, it snagged on a woman's garment.  Panicked, I looked up and saw it was a Muslim women in full Muslin dress.  Her body was completely covered.  Only a slit for her eyes was visible.  I was careful not to yank, and I tried to apologize as the hook of the handle caught part of her garment.  She didn't say a word and we both quietly went on our ways. As I walked away, I felt pity on her.  For one, it's Disney World in June in Florida.  I strode along in shorts and a very thin T-shirt.  Both were soaked in sweat.  I had already consumed two bottles of water and still felt weary.  She was dressed head to toe in heavy garments.  I can't imagine how hot she was pushing a stroller with two kids through a mass of people in hum...

Today is almost like a holiday for me.  It's vacation-eve.  To celebrate, I wanted to give you a sampling of what I've read the past six months. In the past, I've done this list just prior to Christmas.  However, between seminary and my own personal reading, my book reading has grown exponentially.  So, with no lesson on the schedule for this week and my mind halfway on vacation already, I decided to put this list for your perusal. My goal in doing this annually is two-fold.  1.  I want you to see what I'm reading.  2.  I want to give you some ideas for either personal reading or as gifts for Father's Day, Anniversaries, or even for vacation.  As always, this will not be a comprehensive list.  It's just some books I want to highlight that I hope you are interested in as well. Just a note, for the first time I can remember, I'm now reading most of my books in the Kindle format.  Of the books I list below, only two w...