Last year, Daniil Korotkikh, a 13-year-old Russian boy, was beachcombing on the Curonian Spit when he stumbled upon an old bottle poking out of the sand. He picked it up, uncorked it, and discovered a letter written 24 years earlier. Frank, a German boy on a ship to Denmark with his family, had... read more »

Spam email. It’s the frustrating downside of being able to send an instant letter anywhere in the world. I’ve grown somewhat accustomed to the high rate of spam that enters my published email address, and a series of carefully constructed filters helps to skim off any offensive ones. I found it... read more »

A chimera is a bizarre-looking character found in Greek mythology. The fire-breathing female is composed from the parts of a lion, goat, and serpent. Recently, a religious leader used the term chimera to describe the philosophy of education in his native Sweden. The highly secular country has told... read more »

In the days before the printing press, the Old Testament books were copied by hand. The scribes developed a stringent set of rules to keep errors from occurring. First, they would count all the letters on the page. Then, after they had copied the page, they would count the letters on the copy to see... read more »

In 1957, a remarkable story written by Colonel William Draper appeared in Look magazine. The article was published under the title: “I Fly the President.” Colonel Draper said that worry was his business and US President Eisenhower’s safety was his reward. To achieve that safety, 33 specialists... read more »

In Isaiah 59 the prophet was bringing it! He was not holding back. All around him, he saw people who were not living in truth (Isaiah 59:15). There was a decided lack of justice and righteousness in his world. Just like you and me, he longed for truth to save the day. Perhaps unlike us, however, he... read more »

As a youth pastor’s wife, I have plenty of opportunities to practice conflict resolution skills with those in our ministry. Especially in working with the girls. Gossip, however, is not limited to the female gender or to young adults (as my husband and I discovered at a dinner party a few weeks... read more »

With steam covering the bathroom mirror, the outline of a group of words became apparent. Trying to clear the view so I could finish getting ready for work, I had been initially surprised when the image appeared. But I smiled as I remembered why it was there. Far from a supernatural occurrence, the... read more »

One Web-based company creates and sells personalized lies. For a few hundred dollars, this company helps job-seekers create phony references for résumés, and then provides telephone operators to verify the bogus information. While most of us would never dream of lying so brazenly, statistics... read more »

If making your guest squirm uncomfortably is the measure of success, then the TV journalist performed magnificently. Referring to the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the reporter asserted to a religious leader: “Either God is all-powerful and He doesn’t care about the people of Japan and their... read more »