With the advent of D-Day, troops got serious about preparation. That’s a helpful way to better understand Advent, as well as Lent.

Immunization. The occupational hazard of Thanksgiving is giving thanks. It’s like Prayer Breakfasts – lots of food yet very little prayer. Is this bad? Be honest – what makes gratitude so special? Well, it might improve cardiovascular and immune functioning, save face, extend life and – get this – beat back the worst disease that…

Wisdom from wildness. He led a troubled teenaged life that included shacking up with a woman at age 17. They produced a son a year later and lived together for the next 13 years. At 19, he rejected his mother’s Christian faith because he felt the Bible, translated in simple Latin prose, paled in comparison…

Evangelism as sex. The best sex is the fruit of a marriage, not the focus. It’s a thermometer not a thermostat. In fact, we have words to describe those who make sex their primary focus or solicit it outside of marriage, but they’re X-rated. All of this isn’t breaking news. Yet it does explain why…

Magic and monsters. With the collapse of Yugoslavia in the late 20th century, small-scale independence movements formed along ethnic and religious fault lines in the Balkan region. Croats and Serbs separated from one another and retreated into religious ghettoes. This "Balkanization of Europe" led directly to Bosnian and Serbian ethnic cleansing in 1992.

Magic and monsters. With the collapse of Yugoslavia in the late 20th century, small-scale independence movements formed along ethnic and religious fault lines in the Balkan region. Croats and Serbs separated from one another and retreated into religious ghettoes. This "Balkanization of Europe" led directly to Bosnian and Serbian ethnic cleansing in 1992.

Enlightenment and entertainment. An essential architectural feature is missing in most American churches. At one time it helped people become more purposeful – a quality sorely lacking in many Christians today.1 What’s the missing element? Is it fewer crosses, hymnals or the disappearance of pews? Nope. It’s the loss of graveyards.

Continuing an experiment. Does anyone remember how trumpets playing from a passing train save lives? When Christian Doppler arranged this experiment in 1845, he discovered that the trumpet pitch was higher when the train was approaching and then lower as the train passed and moved away. It’s called the Doppler Effect. His experiment is the…

Imagine this. Here’s an easy way to see the disconnect between Sunday and Monday. Ask a friend to draw the first five images that come to mind when he or she hears these words: worship, work, ministry, the arts and service. If a picture’s worth a thousand words, we now have five thousand words depicting…

Florist shops. Today’s universities are florist shops selling cut flowers. Ask any business, political science – or any science – major. Every discipline was originally rooted in Christian theology. Yet we’d be hard pressed to find a college student who appreciates this. Today’s colleges “offer students neither a coherent view of the point of a…