LES SILLARS SAYS WE SHOULDN'T FORGET THE KHMER ROUGE

In the name of utopia millions of people were put to death in Cambodia. Click here to read or listen to Les Sillars essay on living in a crazy upside down world.  

DOWN TO THE RIVER TO PRAY

The Bethel College sings this beloved hymn in a grain bin.  Great acoustics!

HOW BEAUTY IS MAKING SCIENTISTS RETHINK EVOLUTION

A male Indian peafowl.

The extravagant splendor of the animal kingdom can’t be explained by natural selection alone— so how did it come to be?  The author of the article asks (about the sounds a certain bird projects), "But why would females be attracted to those particular sounds in the first place?"

To Prum, (the scientist he is interviewing), it was a question without an answer — and thus a question not worth contemplating. “Not everything,” he said, “has this explicit causal explanation.” 

Could this be Intelligent Design?

Philosophers, scientists and writers have tried to define the essence of beauty for thousands of years. The plurality of their efforts illustrates the immense difficulty of this task. Beauty, they have said, is: harmony; goodness; a manifestation of DIVINE perfection; a type of pleasure; that which causes love and longing; and M = O/C (where M is aesthetic value, O is order and C is complexity).

Click here to read the New York Times Magazine article discussing beauty. 

CHRISTIANS ARE EXPERIENCING AN HISTORIC NEW SEASON OF HOPE IN THE MIDEAST

Joel Rosenberg is an author and entrepreneur.  He lives in Israel with his family.  Here is a link to his blog where he writes about a new season of hope for Christians in the mideast.

MANANA IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME

Grandma and Grandpa in Mexico

Summer is my favorite time of year.  At one time I thought it was my favorite because my birthday is in the summer.  I've tested my theory by asking others about their preferred season. Surprise, it isn't always around their birth month.  

When I think of summer I remember long lazy days on land or sea.  My dad liked the saying that, "Manana is good enough for me."  Maybe that is one reason why first my grandparents, and then my parents, visited Mexico.

Mexico 1948 with relatives

After Chris and I were married our family was fortunate to enjoy several trips to Mexico.  The weather and ocean in Mexico are superb from January to June.  Life moves as slowly as a turtle knitting a sweater. The following pictures were taken during several trips to Mexico in the 1990's.

Sailing in the Sea of Cortez

 Laundry duty

 Old Town in Mazatlan with friends

 Heather and Jes enjoying the sun

 Chris in a country town near Mazatlan

 Sea of Cortez

 Potluck on the beach in the Sea of Cortez

 Dock at Marina De La Paz

 Chris with vegetable man at Marina De La Paz

 Heather  and Jes enjoying a fiesta

 A big surprise that all of this food found storage on the boat

Heather and Jes enjoying the ocean

1 Timothy 6:17 Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.

DREAMING A GOOD DREAM

My dream is that all the people will call on God in prayer for all those in authority in government, in the military and police, in the media, in business, in education, in the churches, and in families.  Each day I lift up these centers of influence.  But it was after the beheading of the journalist James Foley by ISIS that I realized that not only were our police and military in danger, but also our journalists, not to mention our teachers, churches, families, and legislators.  We need to pray for all of these more than ever.

Today I read this blog that points out what influence our media can have to spread the gospel.  

Above is a news story about my brother as a radio journalist.  Below are pictures Chris took as a photojournalist.  God can use any means to spread His word.