Treasure In Clay Jars

I read a very interesting article yesterday in the New York Times on the topic of the shrinking birth rate in Europe over the past few decades. The article outlines the demographic danger facing Europe with the high likelihood that several countries (Italy, Spain and Germany among others) will see their native populations decrease by up to 40% by 2050. According to the article, the replacement birth rate necessary to maintain an equal population size from generation to generation is 2.1 children born to each woman. In Europe according to the article the rate is well below 2.0, with some countries closer to 1.5 and dropping. It is a lengthy and very interesting read that sheds some light on a phenomenon that in all likelihood will reshape the face of Western Europe within 100 years. The interesting thing about the article is that it was published after extensive research and interviews with many experts and it offers various possible explanations for why this situation has developed....

I was watching a television commercial the other night and the thought occurred to me how similar this world is to a television commercial. I was thinking specifically about the image that the commercial producers want you to see versus the information that they don’t want you to focus on. I have a tendency to focus on the small print that appears on most TV commercials just to be humored by the true costs, disclaimers and other very pertinent negative pieces of information that accompanies the “glitzy” and “eye-catching” product that usually draws many people to the stores. You should try it once. You might find that when you do, the product doesn’t seem as attractive any longer. The Bible states very clearly that for His purposes, God has given control of this world over to Satan (but only for a time): Satan, who is the god of this world, has blinded the minds of those who don’t believe. They are unable to see the glorious light of the Good News. They don’t understand this message ...

I happened to be at Sea World in Orlando today and was able to catch the killer whale show titled "Believe". It was a terrific show with wonderful divers sharing the big pool with the magnificent and talented Orca Whales. As I watched the show, it was an awesome opportunity to marvel at God’s creative magic, as I visually took in the wondrous evidence of His creative powers! Seated at the very top row of the stadium, I was able to take in not only the whales and performers, but the entire packed crowd in the stadium as well. As I canvassed the scene, my thoughts drifted to the reality that the one true God of the Bible created every living thing that my eyes could survey. The beauty and majesty of these huge and beautiful black and white creatures; the earnestness and enthusiasm of the people watching the show, the talent and passion of the divers and performers who were swimming and co-mingling with the whales. Even the tiny little birds that perched at the edges of the w...

Presidential candidate Barack Obama presents himself as Christian. As a candidate in the 2008 Presidential Election, it has become a pre-requisite for people to know that you are a “person of faith”. In the last election, it was widely reported that Democratic candidate John Kerry lost because the Bible belt voted overwhelmingly for President Bush. So in 2008 we have Mr. Obama clearly stating that he is a “man of faith”. Therefore (presumably), the Bible belt should be comfortable with him. As such, it was with bemused interest recently that I read about Mr. Obama while addressing a decidedly non-Christian audience in San Francisco, was taped saying (and I paraphrase) - that because of hard times, bitter small town voters “cling to religion among other vices..” as a result of government abandoning them and allowing their jobs to be shipped elsewhere. I find it revealing and very much consistent that a candidate like Mr. Obama would view “religion” (which is the politically sanitized wa...

I was speaking with a co-worker today (who represents himself publicly as a Christian) and he happens to be telling me a story of an incident that occurred recently on a plane ride. During the flight, a man seated across from him had a heart attack. To make a long story short, the plane was diverted from it’s ultimate destination and the stricken man was removed (alive) from the flight. My co-worker in finishing up the story remarked…”all I could do was pray for him”. When he said that, it brought to my mind similar sentiments that I have heard from other people, usually stated such that there was nothing ‘more’ that they could have done, so prayer was all that was left. Now I know that my co-worker had nothing but the man’s best intentions, and he offers to pray for people’s circumstances quite often, so this post is certainly not meant as a critique (far from it), but it does raise a point that I think is emblematic of a persistent ‘negative’ on the part of some of us Christians. Why...

Today is the anniversary of the death of Dr. Martin Luther King. It is a day of remberance of one of the most significant men in American history. By the sheer force of his will, intellect, love for his fellow man and (by today’s standards) an uncharacteristic adherence to the Word of God, Dr. King blazed the trail for the social and economic improvements that African Americans now enjoy. He rightfully should be honored by an entire nation whose sense of self was made better due to his efforts. As I read the transcript of his 1968 speech “I See the Promised Land” it was remarkable to feel his eloquence and humility as he addressed a public audience for the final time the day before his assassination. His was a movement grounded in the ways of God. His call for social justice for African Americans was based on the spiritual law of God that all men are created equal in the eyes of God, and as such should be treated equally without regard to race. But I am sure that the freedom that Dr. ...

I was watching an episode of Law & Order the other night where a young girl with some type of “cognitive disability” was a main character. She was a witness to an attack on her mother. The girl’s disability rendered her incapable of deception, so the cops used her as their star witness because she would not lie. Watching her in this episode was such a refreshing diversion from the sick, disingenuous and perverted world in which we live, and which so realistically is portrayed on virtually all Law & Order programs. This terrific little girl was so endearing and honest, as she exposed the deception of her father (who was not the attacker), and the people that her adulterous mother allowed into their lives. There was a scene in which she in the most innocent and pure personality imaginable contradicted her father to the police (while he sat present in the room), and then when finished, she ran over to him and gave him a big bear hug smiling in his face, her true love for him compl...