Keeping Your Final Appointment
Author: Jim Elliff

I once read this arresting 300 year old epitaph while sauntering through the cemetery at the Old Tennant Meeting House in Manalapan, New Jersey. . .

Man Killed by Armed Bird at Cockfight. . . and other illustrations of the nearness of your death
Author: Daryl Wingerd

35-year-old Jose Luis Ochoa of Lamont, California, never imagined that his death would come at the hands (or feet) of a chicken armed with a knife.

My Darkest Night; Hopefully Not Yours
Author: Jim Elliff

Not Fit For Noah's Ark
Author: Daryl Wingerd

Some people may have a soft spot in their heart for warthogs, but I think they are the ugliest animals on the planet.

Piles of Junk
Author: Daryl Wingerd

Just outside of the town where I live, on a beautiful country road, are a number of stately homes surrounded by forests and farmland. During the warmer months, natural vegetation renders several of these homes nearly invisible from the road. If one slows down to take a look, the properties appear almost Eden-like. Were it not for my awareness of the millions of ticks and thousands of copperhead snakes that call these lush properties home, I would think they were, well, perfect.

Powerfully Kept
Author: Jim Elliff

It is the mistaken idea of many religious people that the security of the Christian is found in how tightly he or she can hold on to God.

Seek and You Will Find: The Investigative Spirit that Leads to Salvation
Author: Daryl Wingerd

When Jesus finished giving this simple farming illustration, He did not explain to the crowd what the parable meant in terms of spiritual realities. Instead He said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (v. 8). It was as if He were saying that only some had the ability to understand the parable, while others did not. Only some of the people listening had “ears to hear.”

If you had been in this crowd, what would you have done when Jesus finished with this strange comment about “ears to hear”?

Sincerity Doesn’t Count
Author: Jim Elliff

Suppose we have an altercation about the straightness of a wall. “It’s not straight,” I say. “It is straight,” you say. Our argument goes through stages: firmness, pleading, tears—but no resolve comes out of our attempts to convince. What should we do?

There is only one way to solve this difference of opinion—the plumb must be dropped.

The Difference Between Moths and Cockroaches (The Anatomy and Importance of Desire)
Author: Daryl Wingerd

What is it that you want the most? What are you irresistibly drawn to? What do you prefer over everything else? These are not inconsequential questions. The answers reveal who (or what) you really are.

The Great Molasses Flood of Boston
Author: Jim Elliff

We've all heard of 150 mile-per-hour hurricane winds, but have you ever heard of the 35 mile-per-hour molasses flood?

It really happened. In 1919, a wave of molasses, then the country's main sweetener, escaped from the Purity Distilling Company and slid its way down a North End Boston street at 35 miles-per-hour. It was not simply a humorous incident. At least the 21 people who were killed and 150 who were injured did not think so.