I used to wonder why my wife Lori and her family are such avid weather watchers. Whenever we are in a storm warning in Kentucky, my mother-in-law in Oklahoma usually knows about it before I do. Not long ago she called me on my cell phone: “Are you okay?” I had no clue why she …
Stories about dying, going to heaven (or hell) and selling books about it has become a veritable cottage industry these days. Two pastors, Don Piper and Steve Sjogren, both wrote about visions of heaven in their death or near-death experiences. Piper’s 90 Minutes in Heaven, (2004) was followed by Sjogren’s, The Day I Died (2006). …
My family followed traditional American Easter traditions, so when I was a child—in addition to preparing for the Sunday morning worship of the resurrected Christ—we anticipated the Easter event by dyeing Easter eggs for the family Easter egg hunt, sending Easter cards, and exchanging little chocolate Easter bunnies. Dad was a dentist and candy was …
I was at one of my favorite restaurants, Jason’s Deli, when I noticed the man sitting at another table, eating with his wife and three young children. He was a big, raw-boned, burly guy, who towered over me when I walked by him, both of us on our way to sit down. He plopped onto …
What causes us— normally restrained, responsible people with jobs and families—to lose our minds, whoop and holler, jump up and down, pump our fists in the air, and shout “YES!” as we high five each other? It’s March Madness, of course, the NCAA Division I basketball tournament which results in the national champion. And if …
Read more “Are you out of your mind? Or is it March Madness?”