In the early 16th century, much of Europe was under the power of the Holy Roman Empire. There were the princes and kings of the nations, who saw their divine right to rule as confirmed by the Holy Roman Emperor, who derived his power by the authority of the pope.

Short story by Henri Duvernois, a French author who lived in the early 20th century. It is about three criminals planning to rob a house. Two of them would actually do the job, and the third, named Tango, would stand out front wearing a stolen police uniform — the idea was that no one would suspect a crime was being committed because they would think there was a policeman standing right there.

A number of years ago, a relative of mine stated that they had stopped reading the news. They noticed that they had begun spending more and more time reading about all of the bad that is happening in the world and it was casting a shadow over their whole life.

I had every intention today of sharing a story about my school experience. It was centered around my understanding of how math works, the evidence being in the answer.

We all love a story with a happy ending, and today we have two stories with two happy endings... except, as we heard, not everyone is happy with the endings. It turns out that determining if a story has a happy ending or not is subjective.

Patty and I served as missionaries in Taiwan from 2002-2005. In preparation for this we participated in a gathering event at University of Chicago with others preparing for service from Lutheran, Episcopalian and Presbyterian churches.

We have three hummingbird feeders at our house. They are beautiful and marvelous little creatures. It amazes me to think of how rapidly those tiny muscles must be constricting and releasing to make their wings beat so fast.

Arguing with Heath about the tree in his front yard. I commented that it is a Live Oak. He said it was Willow Oak. Live Oak trees are only on the coast. No, I said, they are spread throughout the south and here is proof: you have one in your front yard. He insisted it was not a Live Oak.

Last week it fell to me to cook dinner, and I decided to try a new recipe that Patty had found online for Orange Chicken. The list of ingredients was not in the same order of appearance in the instructions, so I was jumping back-and-forth on the screen to get things together.

Listen, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

Listen, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.

If you know what it is like to feel — or to know — that you don’t know what you are doing; if you have ever had the experience of guessing correctly — or of being sure you knew what you were talking about when you did not; If you have ever been saved from a bad situation because of the good judgment of someone else — then you will understand how wonderful is God’s faithfulness to you, and how wonderful is God’s grace.

Me behind slow car — tried to take shortcut to get ahead — ended up on the wrong road.

“If you have ears to hear, listen.” Of course, the people to whom Jesus was speaking had ears. They just weren’t using them.

Pardon me if I’m a little groggy today — I just returned last night from attending the wedding of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce at Madison Square Garden, and I am just worn out! Whew.

I don’t remember all of the details. But I remember the details that matter. The five of us — my parents, my brother and sister and myself — were on our way home from a visit with my grandparents. We lived in northern Indiana and my grandparents were in the bottom half of Florida, so the trip was about 1,100 miles. My dad often drove it straight through.

I was seated in the front, passenger seat of a police car. It was near the beginning of our shift — around midnight — and the police officer with whom I was riding that night had pulled into a parking lot. I had been the chaplain for the police department for less than a year, and I had discovered that being accepted by police officers was a tough nut to crack.

In Japanese mythology, there was once a woodsman named, Visu, who lived on a barren plain with his family. One night, while sleeping, he was awakened by a great “crack” from deep within the earth.

The Blue Ridge Parkway is one of the most beautiful drives in our country. Beautifully maintained, it curves gently along the ridge line of the mountains, offering incredible views of the surrounding country. It’s peaceful, too.

This morning I had a piece of cheesecake from Camino Bakery in Winston-Salem. I often read something when eating breakfast and for lack of anything better to read today, I read the ingredient label on the cheesecake.