Never an Original Thought

Other than Jesus’ resurrection, there is only one miracle common to all four Gospels. Jesus feeds thousands of people with only a few loaves of bread and some fish. In Mark’s account of this miracle, Jesus has compassion on the crowds because “they were like sheep without a shepherd” (Mark 6:34). Jesus begins to teach them, but as the afternoon gets long, more practical concerns take precedence. He tells the apostles to give them something to eat. They scoff. The price

Leadership can make or break an organization, a business, a school, a church, or a community. Over the years, much has been said about the topic. A simple search on Amazon’s website will reveal tens of thousands of titles. There are books about the leadership styles of such varied practitioners as Attila the Hun, Abraham Lincoln, and Jean Luc Picard of the Starship Enterprise. We are drowning in leadership advice, but we continue to struggle with the idea. For Christians

I once attended a wedding reception where the couple had a champagne tower. It was an amazing sight. Champagne glasses were stacked on each other. Moving upward from the bottom, each row had fewer glasses. At the top was a single glass. During the festivities, the young couple took a bottle of champagne and poured the alcohol into the glass at the top. After the glass had filled, the champagne spilled from that glass into the glasses below. When that row was filled, th

“But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: be holy, because I am holy” -- 1 Peter 1:15-16 During the Christmas holidays, we see the repeated arrival of movies and shows that dominate our televisions. A Christmas Story , The Grinch Who Stole Christmas , and A Charlie Brown Christmas are perennial favorites, but for many of us, Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life is required viewing for the season. In 1946, that movie starring Jimmy

This summer, between pandemic lockdowns, our family took some vacation time in New Orleans. It was a nice escape. The people were wonderful, the jazz was incredible, and the history was fascinating. Our goals for the trip were few, and we honestly let whimsy take the lead. For example, a conversation about New Orleans food led to a discussion of Bananas Foster, a dessert made of bananas, butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, and rum. The confection was invented by the Brennan f