The Unknown Comic
A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. Proverbs 17:22 One of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence was a comedian? His name was Matthew Thornton. Thornton came to America when he was four years old. His path to success wasn’t exactly one of ease. For […]
Was He In It For the Money?
“Always set a good example for others. Be sincere and serious….” Titus 2:7 Sam Adams was the “poster boy” of American independence. So writes Denise Keirnan in the book Signing Their Lives Away. Why? Because once he set the course for independence he saw it through. It could have been otherwise. Adams was so influential […]
The Real Handicap
Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility…. Zephaniah 2:3 Some might see humility as a roadblock to success. The Bible teaches just the opposite stating in a number of places that pride, not humility, is the real handicap. Indeed, humility can enable success […]
Dogma
And it came to pass in those days a δόγμα (dog-ma) went out from Caesar Augustus. Luke 2:1 Dogma, according to Webster, is “something held as an established opinion especially : a definite authoritative tenet.” It wasn’t an opinion or a tenet that went out from Augustus, of course. It was a demand. Anyone who did not compile was in peril […]
One Virtue of the Internet
While reading the Gospel of Luke in Greek I came upon the passage where Joseph and Mary go to the temple to offer the sacrifice required for the firstborn: a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. τρυγόνων (tru-gon), the word for turtledove was new to me, used nowhere else in the New Testament. […]
Blue Jays and Pregnant Women
Since I came to a basic understanding of the classical languages, I’ve also become interested in the Linnaean (some say Scientific) names of birds. A Blue Jay crashed our feeder today, scattering the Passer Domesticii (Sparrows of the House). I’d never learned his Linnaean anme so I looked up and found it is Cyanocitta cristata. Kύανος (ku-an-os) is ancient Greek for […]
Devoted to Public Service
Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms. 1 Peter 4:10 For some people, success seems to come easy. But if you look closer, you will usually find that their was a great deal of hard work behind it […]
Too Quick to Quarrel
It is to one’s honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel. Proverbs 20:3 Author Denise Kiernan slams Elbridge Gerry (a founding father who held many political positions from Governor of MA to VP of the United States): If he received a performance evaluation it would have read “does not work well […]
A Remarkably Generous Man
Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. 1 Timothy 6:18 On my book shelf sits “Stretch,” a 1997 issue Ty Beanie Baby Ostrich that was given to me as a gift from the faculty and staff of Bass Memorial Academy while I was […]
Anxious Moments
“I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.” Ecclesiastes 3:12-13 Historians tell us that Rhode Island’s William Ellery was nearly the exact opposite […]