In 1582, an Italian Jesuit priest named Matteo Ricci arrived in Macao, an island on the south shores of China. China was a famously insular country that vigorously resisted the influence of outside cultures. For centuries, outside religious influences were strictly prohibited.

I remember my grandfather’s flashlight. It was chrome and long, with a big round lens at the end. It woke me up as Grandpa shined it through the car window, and I heard him laugh, “hello there!”

Patty and I met in June, 1984 at a church camp where we were both working. I’d like to tell you that it was a romantic event -- that I was smitten at first sight . . . but I was actually a little slow . . . That summer, I decided to “date” someone I already knew. Someone whom I had actually dated a few years earlier, but then she dumped me for her old boyfriend from High School. She eventually saw the error of her ways and came crawling back that summer.

Maybe you’ve heard the story before. A man is sitting in a boat on a lake with a fishing pole. He has been there for a long time, without

When I was young there was a game we enjoyed playing in our neighborhood called, “ghosts in the graveyard.” I’m not exactly sure why it was

In ancient Greece, a method was developed to handle a dangerous or unpopular citizen considered to be a menace to the state. The citizens

In the year 325, Bishop Alexander of Alexandria lay on his deathbed. Earlier that year, the First Council of Nicaea had met, producing most

We are victims of the Greeks. The Greek Empire stretched over the known world of the Bible lands, for about 200 years, during which time

Yesterday Patty and I did some work around the property that we’ve been putting off for a while. Mostly, clearing a tangle of downed trees

cient Greeks were great students of human nature. Their wisdom has been passed down to us through the great philosophers, like Aristotle,

You may be aware that vision is subjective. One can only see what one’s eyes can reveal. Honey bees, for example, cannot see red — which

President Theodore Roosevelt was a fascinating personality. A great outdoorsman and nature lover -- the first National Park was established

The Word of the Lord comes to us today with a message of comfort and assurance in a world so often lacking in these. We are safely held in

My mother, Sylvia, had the Jewish gift of Prophecy. I think she had this gift even after she converted to Catholicism. I only know she had

When Jesus and his disciples attended the wedding celebration at Cana, he was just a local rabbi who was probably a friend of the family.

The light shines in the darkness. We have heard this statement many times. We need to hear it new again -- and again. The light shines in

Some years ago — when our daughters were ages 7 and 3 — we were watching a movie -- a Christmas movie from a story by Charles Dickens:

You may have seen the scene in A Charlie Brown Christmas, where Sally asks Charlie Brown to help with her letter to Santa Claus by writing

You don’t often hear sports analogies from me, but today I have two — both of them from my hometown of Fort Wayne, IN. In the 1980’s there

“It’s more fun when you’re not alone.” When Jesus told his disciples about the end of time, there was a lot for them to be worried about.