The late Ted Kennedy enjoyed retelling the story of his first run for the Senate when he was 30 years old. During a debate with his opponent, his political adversary questioned his fitness for office, pointing to the fact that Kennedy had lived a charmed life, and had never held...Read more
The famed Amos Alonzo Stagg coached at the University of Chicago until he was seventy years of age. In fact, in some form or another he coached football teams until finally retiring at the age of ninety-one. Although he sensed a call to the ministry early in life, he soon...Read more
During his freshman year at College, a student, due to commitments and circumstances was unable to get home for Christmas. Thinking about his father and Christmas morning, the young man decided to send to his father a set of inexpensive cuff links through the post with this accompanying note: “Dear...Read more
In his book “Heavenly Rewards,” my friend Mark Hitchcock tells the story of Arthur Barry, considered to be one of the world’s greatest jewelry thieves. Over his criminal career in the 1920’s he committed 150 robberies, mostly jewelry, with an estimated worth of $5 to $10 million (a tremendous amount at...Read more
G. K. Chesterton was a remarkable individual who belonged to the early twentieth century. His genius combined the abilities of a novelist, critic, poet, popular theologian, and writer of detective stories. Toward the end of his life in 1936 he turned his attention, and considerable ability to the writing of...Read more
In his excellent book on the Protestant Reformation, “The Unquenchable Flame,” Michael Reeves tells the odd and fascinating story of the marriage of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. While on assignment as a priest in Lutheran Germany, Cranmer married, which was still forbidden back in England. Being recalled back to England, and...Read more
In his book “A Call to Spiritual Reformation,” New Testament scholar D. A. Carson writes about a wonderful man of God and servant of Jesus Christ Bishop Stanway. Bishop Stanway had been an instrument in God’s hands in furthering the work of God in East Africa, where in Tanzania alone...Read more
I like the story of the coat shop in Nottingham, England, that posted the following notice in the window of its store: “We have been established for over 100 years and have been pleasing and displeasing customers ever since. We have made money and lost money, suffered the effects of...Read more
In May 1940 the British Army was pinned down on the beaches of Dunkirk with a German Panzer Division tightening the proverbial noose around its neck. Escape looked improbable if not impossible for the 365,000 British soldiers, death or capture the sure outcomes. Yet, in the midst of this crisis...Read more
They say that you cannot be in two places at once, but that is not strictly true when it comes to the Christian. A look at Paul’s introduction in his letter to the Colossians points to the fact that every church and every Christian has two homes, and two habitats....Read more