Monthly Archives: December 2013

(This post has received the most views of any post during 2013 and 2012)

Monday was a historical day.  On MLK day our first black President was sworn into office for a second term.  But there was something else.  For the first time in an Inaugural speech, a President used the word “gay” to address sexual orientation and promote same-sex marriage.

President Obama  also invoked “Stonewall” a gay bar in Greenwich, where in 1969 a police raid sparked riots.  He placed it the same category as 1848 Women’s right convention in Seneca Falls, and the 1965 civil rights March in Selma, Alabama.

And what is my response? 

(This post was the second most viewed by our readers in2013)

I’ve said it before.  I hate death.  I hate the sorrow it brings.  I hate the emptiness it leaves.  I hate the relationships it ruptures.  I hate the burden it bears.

And Death ever lurks.  Looking over our shoulder.  Sneering. Leering.  Waiting to strike.  Leaving its hurt.  And about the time we’ve had some healing, death invades our homes and hearts again.

It seems to be happening all too often lately.  Last Sunday I received one of the calls.  I knew by the voice.  The tone.  The words that said, “Have you heard…..”  This time is was my friend Ted Brewer.

(This post received the third most views of 2013)

There is a sad story in the Old Testament about the death of King David’s infant son. When the baby became ill, David fasted, prayed and wept for six days. On the seventh day, David’s servants came with the anguished news, “He is dead.” David’s response is remarkable.

(This post received the 5th most hits from our readers in 2013)

Aaron and Melissa Klien have been the subject of protests.  Boycotts. And Public outrage.   In fact Oregon’s Bureau of Labor and Industries has launched an official investigation.
“Everybody is entitled to their own beliefs, Commissioner Brad Avakian told The Oregonian but that doesn’t mean that folks have the right to discriminate.” Presumably in referring to the Klien’s, Avakian also said,  “The goal is to rehabilitate.”

So who are Aaron and Melissa Klien?  And what intolerable offense did they commit?

“There is a preacher of the old school, but he speaks as boldly as ever. He is not popular though the world is his parish, and he travels every part of the globe and speaks in every language. He visits the poor, calls upon the rich, preaches to people of every religion and no religion, and the subject of his sermon is always the same. He is an eloquent preacher, often stirring feelings which no other preacher could in bringing tears to eyes that never weep. His arguments none are able to refute, nor is there any heart that has remained unmoved by the force of his appeals. He shatters life with his message. Most people hate him; everyone…

(This post was the 7th most read in 2013)

The Old Testament Patriarch, Job, observed over 3,000 years ago, “Man that is born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.”

I have been reminded of that this week.  Again.

Rescue teams have been searching the Barren River in Bowling Green, Kentucky, looking for Adam Smelser, missing since Sunday afternoon.  Evidently he went for a run.  Then a swim. And hasn’t been seen since.  I feel the grief and heart-break of his parents, family and friends.

(During the Holiday season we are reblogging the top 9 post of 2013.  Based on the number of “hits” this one came in at #8)

From Pakistan to Egypt.  From Kenya to Syria.  And all across the Muslim world it has been an “open season on Christians.”  Seventy-eight people professing Christianity were slaughtered Sunday by twin suicide bombers at a church in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad.

In a Kenyan shopping mall, a gang of Islamic extremists from Somalia murdered at least 68 workers and shoppers.  Reportedly they shouted for “Muslims to get out-of-the-way so they could specifically kill Christians.”

(Note:  We are taking a “holiday break” and re-posting the top 9 posts in 2013 based on the number of hits.  Although only posted a month ago, this one came in at #9)

“We are not a vulgar culture,” said Bill Cosby in a speech at Tuskegee University earlier this month.