Yesterday NASA announced they’d been wrong for decades. There aren’t 200 billion galaxies in the universe. There are more like 2 trillion. In the mid-1990s, astronomers arrived at the 200 billion figure with the help of the Hubble Space Telescope. Recently, however, a University of Nottingham team led by Christopher Conselice took another look. They concluded that more than 90 percent of …
Tyranny, Time and Trust
So it’s 9:53 pm and I’m writing tomorrow’s blog post. I procrastinate. A lot. Or maybe I just have four children. Everything that is not bleeding, hungry, crying, yelling, or broken gets pushed to the bottom of the list, and a blog post tends to be very quiet. Invisible, even. Until I realize it’s Thursday night and something needs to …
The Problem of Pain
I got a migraine last night—I don’t know how. I didn’t miss any of my doses of my preventive medicine, and there’s not a storm coming that I know of. But before the pain med kicked in I was literally in tears. The medicine will dull the throbbing but it will still last two or three days, and can make me sleepy. It’s …
Let Everything That Has Breath … Make Noise!
M is for movies. Specifically chick flicks. I like those sappy, silly, mindless movies where everything works out and the boy gets the girl and people end up happy. Yes, I know very well life isn’t really that way, but I like watching them anyway. My girls will walk in and say, “Oh, mom, you’re not watching those again.” “Well, …
How Far for Some Jack-in-the-Box?
J is for justification. Justification is God removing the guilt and penalty of our sin while at the same time declaring us, as sinners, righteous through Christ’s atoning sacrifice. Christ’s righteousness is credited to our account through faith alone. I live between Washington, DC and Baltimore. Justice, in a legal sense, is elusive. Wrongs committed often go unpunished, leading to frustration, …
A Threefold Cord Is Not Quickly Broken
G is for girlfriends. I have a group of friends I met soon after we moved here, 18 years ago. We’re all still very close, although we see each other less now than we did when our kids were all in kindergarten. Now we either have teenagers, and/or are working to pay for those insanely expensive college educations, and it’s just …
What Exactly Was Jesus’ Crime?
The last night of Jesus’ life he ate with his disciples. Judas left to betray him to the Jewish leaders, and then Jesus left to pray. Sometime after midnight, He was arrested. Between then and nine (the third hour) the next morning, when he was crucified, he was the defendant in six illegal trials. Before Annas, the former High Priest and father-in-law …
“We Three Kings Of Orient Are?”
When Jesus was born, he was visited first by shepherds, and then by what have become known as the “Three Kings.” These men brought gifts to the baby: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. However, the Bible never says there were three, and they are never identified as kings. It has been assumed the since there were three gifts, there must have …
Away in a Manger?
Every child who has gone to Sunday school in December knows the traditional Christmas story: Mary and Joseph arrive in Bethlehem just in time for Mary to give birth to the baby Jesus. A heartless innkeeper turns away the pregnant woman and her apparent husband, who are then forced to seek refuge in a stable or even a cave. Luke …
Do A Little Shopping, Do A Little Good
We can’t solve all of the world’s problems, but we can do something. And doing something–even just a tiny something– will always be better than doing nothing. If you live in the metro DC area, take some time on Saturday morning (November 8) and show up at the “Do a Little Good – Holiday Shop.” It will be held at First Alliance …