the good life
On the occasion of billionaire Ted Turner’s 75th birthday last year, a CNN profile opened with these poignant words: “What will matter most about Ted Turner’s life story when they roll the final credits? That he started the first 24-hour news network? Built a fortune once worth $10 billion? Was Time magazine’s Man of the Year? Received a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame? Made The New York Times best-seller list? Maybe it was that time he raced a sailboat faster than anyone else. Or the year his baseball team won the World Series. Impressed yet?”
search for significance
I have to admit, with some shame, that I’ve Googled my own name. I know, I know—it’s immature and narcissistic. I think I—and others like me—do this because we want some living proof that we’re significant and important in some way.
three wishes
If you were granted three wishes, for what would you wish? Would you wish for the eradication of global poverty? Would you wish for financial security? Would you wish for good looks, good health, and long life? The question itself isn’t as important as how we answer the question; for our answers reveal our character and what’s important to us.
forgetting the reason
One of the main reasons why I love taking photos is because I can try to portray God’s handiwork. I try my best to show God’s creation, knowing that all I’m doing is merely trying to show the house through a peephole.
I have been guilty of forgetting the reason why I am snapping pics, but now I’ve been harshly…
invisible hand of God
While her mother-in-law was out of town, my friend was given the keys to her luxurious car. Later, my friend said to me, “The leather seat seems to be made just for your body shape. And the car cruises silently along the highway. Wow, such luxury is intoxicating.”
no other god
In his fascinating book, Modes of Faith, Theodore Ziolkowski reviews the lives of 19th-century European writers who had lost faith in God. What Ziolkowski finds is this: While these authors had dismissed the God of the Bible, another ‘god’ had soon taken His place.
Ziolkowski found five “gods” to be most attractive to these men and their readers. Art was raised…
okay to be great?
Is it a sin to be great? Over the years, I’ve heard statements that imply it is. Some have said, “It’s not about me. It’s about God.” Or, “People need to see God, not me.” Yes, we should avoid self-promotion, but I wonder if believers in Jesus can take it too far?
To those who think it’s a sin to…
one-hit wonders
A recent TV special on one-hit wonders—pop music performers who had one hit and then disappeared—fascinated me. Old footage from their prime showed them to be arrogant, bold, confident, outrageous, and young!
Now, 20 to 30 years later, the TV crew caught up with many of them. Some had moved on with their lives, raising families and enjoying obscurity. But…
building personal altars
Every Friday night a group of us get together to share what's going on in our lives, read the Bible, and pray. We're a diverse bunch, with a mathematician, a musician, a lawyer, a public speaker, and even an amateur political activist in the ranks.
Recently we read the Tower of Babel account and were struck by the builders' motivation.…
