After all the joy of Christmas Day the following day felt like a letdown We rsquo d stayed overnight with friends but hadn rsquo t slept well Then our car broke down as we were driving home Then it started to snow We had abandoned the car and taxied home in the snow and sleet feeling blah We rsquo re not the only ones who rsquo ve felt low after Christmas Day Whether it rsquo s from excessive eating the way carols suddenly disappear from the radio or the fact that the gifts we bought last week are now on [... more]

It rsquo s a quiet riverside park on a Saturday afternoon Joggers pass by fishing rods whirl seagulls fight over fish and chip wrappers and my wife and I sit watching the couple They are dark-skinned maybe in their late s She sits gazing into his eyes while he without a hint of self-consciousness sings to her a love song in his own tongue carried on the breeze for us all to hear This delightful act got me thinking about the book of Zephaniah At first you might wonder why In Zephaniah rsquo s day God rsquo s people had [... more]

When the roof of Paris rsquo Notre-Dame Cathedral caught fire in April its ancient wood beams and lead sheeting created a furnace so hot it couldn rsquo t be contained After the cathedral rsquo s spire dramatically fell attention turned to its bell towers If the giant steel bells rsquo wooden frames also burned their collapse would bring both towers down leaving the cathedral in ruins Pulling his firefighters back for safety General Gallet commander of Paris rsquo Fire Department pondered what to do next A firefighter named Remi nervously approached ldquo Respectfully General rdquo he said ldquo I propose [... more]

In the tenth century Abd al-Rahman was the ruler of Cordoba in Spain After fifty years of successful reign ldquo beloved by my subjects dreaded by my enemies and respected by my allies rdquo al-Rahman took a deeper look at his life ldquo Riches and honors power and pleasure have waited on my call rdquo he said of his privileges But when he counted how many days of genuine happiness he rsquo d had during that time they amounted to just fourteen How sobering The writer of Ecclesiastes was also a man of riches and honor Ecclesiastes ndash power and [... more]

Cuthbert is a much-loved figure in northern England Responsible for evangelizing much of the area in the seventh-century Cuthbert counseled monarchs influenced state affairs and after his death the city of Durham was built in his honor But Cuthbert rsquo s legacy is great in more ways than these After a plague ravaged the region Cuthbert once toured affected towns offering solace Readying to leave one village he checked if there was anyone left to pray for There was mdash a woman clutching a child She had already lost one son and the child she held was nearing death too [... more]