The Barker family Christmas video was perfect Three robe-clad shepherds the family rsquo s young sons huddled around a fire in a grassy field Suddenly an angel descended from the hilltop mdash their big sister looking resplendent except for the pink high-top sneakers As the soundtrack swelled the shepherds stared skyward in amazement A trek across a field led them to a real baby mdash their infant brother in a modern barn Big sister now played the role of Mary Then came the ldquo bonus features rdquo when their dad let us peek behind the scenes Whiny kids complained ldquo [... more]

A commercial jingle of the s inspired a generation Created as part of Coca Cola rsquo s ldquo The Real Thing rdquo ad campaign a British group called The New Seekers eventually sang it as a full-length song that climbed to the top of music charts around the world But many will never forget the original television version sung by young people on a hilltop outside of Rome Whimsical as it was with visions of honeybees and fruit trees we resonated with a songwriter rsquo s desire to teach the world to sing with the heart and harmony of love [... more]

In a young Russian artillery officer viewed the battlefield carnage occurring far below his cannon rsquo s hilltop placement ldquo It rsquo s a funny sort of pleasure rdquo Leo Tolstoy wrote ldquo to see people killing each other And yet every morning and every evening I would spend hours at a time watching rdquo Tolstoy rsquo s outlook soon changed After seeing firsthand the devastation and suffering in the city of Sevastopol he wrote ldquo You understand all at once and quite differently from what you have before the significance of those sounds of shots which you heard in [... more]

Douglas MacArthur once said ldquo There is no substitute for victory rdquo Moses knew that truth as Israel faced its Amalekite enemies And from that conflict of old come principles to assure victory in the battles of our everyday lives In this message we find more lessons from the life of Moses on ldquo Fighting to Win rdquo nbsp Click here to listen Duration [... more]

The clouds hung low blocking the horizon and limiting visibility to only a few hundred yards The minutes dragged on The effect on my mood was noticeable But then as afternoon approached the clouds began to break and I saw it beautiful Pikes Peak the most recognizable landmark of my city flanked on each side by the mountain range A smile broke over my face I considered that even our physical perspective mdash our literal line of sight mdash can affect our spiritual vision And I was reminded of the psalmist singing ldquo I lift my eyes to the mountains [... more]