Think About It

The other day I was listening to an oldies station (maybe I should change that to a way-oldies station – not the 90’s oldies, but the 50’s oldies). The voice coming out of my speakers sounded a lot like Dean Martin, but I didn’t recognize the song. When I looked at the information, I realized it was Al Martino. This led me on a quest – the voices were familiar and the stage names were close, but they were not related. Al Martino was really Jasper Cini from Philadelphia and Dean Martin was really Dino Crocetti from Steubenville, Ohio. After doing a little reading, it became apparent that I wasn’t the first or the only one to expect a connection between the two men. You may be wondering what these two crooners from days gone by have to do with 2023, but hear me out. How many of us who claim to be Christians sound so much like the world that people are convinced we are related? Do the words we use or the principles we espouse seem so close to the secular world that people have to...

We have a problem with truth in our world. Actually, we have a few problems with truth. First, it has become so easy to lie (and be unaffected by it even if we get caught) that telling the truth is not as common as a reliable society needs it to be. Second, opinion has taken the place of truth as the accepted standard of society. We hear, “Well, that’s just your truth.” and we don’t blink an eye. Truth is no longer viewed as an absolute that must be accepted by everyone. When truth fluctuates, is there any way we can have consistency? Interestingly, this issue leads us to a question: upon what do we build truth? To accept that truth exists, we must be willing to agree on an immovable standard. Will truth be based on science? On history? On legal principles? While this is an issue in today’s world, we need to remember that we aren’t the inventors of this quandary – a Roman leader asked, “What is truth?” centuries of years ago. Interestingly, a truth that is immoveable, is ba...

Several years after they were married, a husband and wife were discussing their relationship. The wife looked at her husband and said, “Do you remember when we were dating and I used to sit next to you in your old car? Why don’t we do that anymore?”. The husband, rather sheepishly looked at his wife and asked, “Well, who moved?”. In an era where most cars have bucket seats this can be a rather dated story, but it reminds us of what can happen to our relationships when we lose that zeal we had at the beginning – especially with God. There are times when we feel so close to God that we can’t imagine anything coming between us; then there are other times when we just don’t feel that same closeness. When this happens, we need to ask ourselves, “Who moved?”. God is always there – reliable and dependable. We are the ones who have the tendency to shift. If we are looking for a solid relationship with God, let’s make a commitment to stick with Him through thick and thin. The Apostle P...

Christopher Columbus has come under a lot of a criticism in recent years. To many, the 15th Century explorer represents the European imperialism that came to the new world centuries ago. What was once viewed as advancing civilization has come to be viewed as occupation and a lack of understanding of traditional cultures. I do understand how different people can view history in diverse ways, but one thing I have to admire about Columbus and his contemporaries is their bravery. In a time when scientist were discussing what lay beyond the horizon, Columbus and other explorers from his day were willing to venture out into the unknown to see what was just around the bend. When they did, they encountered a great big glorious world. While it is a misnomer that they “discovered” places where others had lived for centuries, they opened up vistas that were unknown to their contemporaries. As I thought about this, I got to thinking about how easy it is for people to get stuck in what is fam...

Most of us are familiar with the phrase, “You never get a second chance to make a good first impression”. The idea behind the adage is that people tend to remember how we make them feel when we first come in contact with them. By nature, we make judgements early on – sometimes, we may get the chance to reverse what people initially believe about us, but that is not guaranteed. I was visiting with a reception clerk at a major hotel the other day and he echoed this sentiment. He said it was amazing how many people come up to him demanding something from him; but the people that make his day are those who start the exchange with a smile. Most of us have been taught to tip at the end of our encounter; but the thing that will more likely provide immediate attention is the kindness that comes with a genuine caring smile. Sure, we might feel like people are hoping to get a generous tip if they treat us right, but it is our attitude early on rather than our potential generosity that produ...

Something has happened to our ability to disagree – we have become disagreeable. Maybe I just thought it used to be this way, but I seem to recall times and places where we could share conflicting thoughts and ideas with respect and, if we were fortunate, we might even learn something from someone else. We (willingly) exposed ourselves to different ways of thinking so we might be able to become more well rounded in our own thought processes. We didn’t enter into a debate to merely “win” it, but to exchange ideas. Again, maybe that didn’t really exist, but I’d like to think that sometime, somewhere it did and hopefully it is still practiced. It has become popular to grow louder and more incensed when we sense disagreement. It’s almost like we get style points for being obnoxious. However, I don’t know many people who have moved to the other side of an argument just because the person on the other side was meaner and nastier that we were. In fact, if anything, we are more turne...

I like being an American. I realize that we in the United States have not perfected the human experience, but we do have it very well. I also believe that many of the values we have in our nation fit well with my worldview of how life should be lived. Now, having said that, I do enjoy traveling internationally. First of all, I like seeing new things and meeting different people. There is a great big wonderful world out there and the more I can experience, the more I come appreciate just how grand our world is. Another reason I like to travel is that it reminds me of how good I have it here. When I interact with parts of other countries it reminds me of the affluence and freedoms that we can so quickly take for granted. Pretty soon, my “first world problems” seem to be less dire! Years ago I heard a story of a young lady who came to the U. S. and was shocked to find that each person in her new home could have their own bar of soap! The ability to have and use your own bar of so...