There is a story about a young man who wished to become a monk in the deserts of Egypt. He went to a monk's home in the desert and knocked on the door. The monk inside ignored the young man, so the young man knocked again. After a long...
Everyone remembers Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol." It was published in 1843 and it captured the imagination of generations since. It made the name "Scrooge" synonymous with stinginess and self-centered bitterness. But what made Scrooge have a change of heart? Do you remember? Exactly, it was the visit by the...
The young man was very frustrated. His dad had just gotten him a new hunting dog and this was the first time the young man had to train the dog himself. The process was a lot tougher than the boy realized and he was out of answers. You see every...
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend." The quote has been described as an Arabic proverb, but more likely it comes from advice given in India by a leader who died under mysterious circumstances. This attitude that my enemy's enemy is my ally has been used countless times in...
I really like to write and I enjoy public speaking, but I had a hint of my tendency to wordiness when my first stent in seminary produced a comment from one of my favorite professors. I had just finished a fairly intensive philosophy paper for his class and was...
"I'm sorry, but you don't belong here." With that the usher informed me and my family that we were in the wrong spot. This area was reserved for VIP's, not for the regular folks! Ouch! It reminds me of an old saying my grandmother taught me: "Sticks and stone can...
All I can say was it was embarrassing! I could have sworn the person I ran up to in the store was a buddy of mine from High School. I just knew this was going to be a fun reunion, and we'd laugh about that time we all... and...
There is a story about some Christian missionaries going to a place in the African continent to a tribe of people who had never had missionaries before. This tribe also had no written language and no knowledge of the Christian message. So, the missionaries started out learning their language and...
OK, so one of my most favorite movies in the whole world is "Princess Bride" and one of my most favorite scenes in the movie is when Vincent keeps using the word "inconceivable!" Finally, after so many times of hearing this word from Vincent, Inigo Montoya responds "You keep...
I laughed out loud when a comedian started talking about words that seem to contradict each other. Phrases like "Jumbo Shrimp" and "Military Intelligence" and "Government Efficiency." They just seem to cancel each other out! On a more serious note, St. Anthony the Great, the desert dweller, once said: "A...
