Guidance!
I don’t know if you’ve noticed it, but whenever the rotund despot of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, makes site visits, he is surrounded by highly bling-ed military officers, all carrying tiny notebooks in which they are manically scribbling.
What in the world was going on, I wondered.
He’s watching women conducting a rocket launching drill. Notebooks and pencils. He rolls around a fishery station. Notebooks and pencils. He gives lackeys a pep talk. Notebooks and pencils.
Aid?
Dogs are clever (OK, maybe cats, too). Parrots are smart. Even pigeons are pretty astute. Of course, there are the primates and elephants and dolphins and such. Not to mention goldfish and other co-denizens of ours on this earth that can perform some amazing feats.
But horses?
Japanese cognitive scientists Monamie Ringhofer and Shinya Yamamoto from Kobe University decided to take a look. And they found something pretty impressive.
They tested eight thoroughbred equines in
Missing!
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) is buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-on-Avon.
At least, most of him is.
In the 1800s there was a rumor that his skull had been stolen from his grave. That was dismissed as a myth for more than century.
But now, four hundred years after the bard died, archaeologists believe that claim is true. Using ground-penetrating radar to scan the grave, it appears that there is no skull with the rest of the skeleton. And there are signs that
Destination?
Dutch teenager, Milan Schipper, planned to backpack Down Under before heading out to college this fall. Enjoy its coastal landscapes, beautiful cities, fabulous beaches, etc., starting in Sydney (pop. 5,000,000).
But, unfortunately for Mr. Schipper, things didn’t pan out that way. He ended up 10,000 miles away from aforementioned capital of New South Wales and the most populous city in Oceania. In a snow-covered, frozen land. Pop. 32,000. Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada!
Confessed
Genesis 38:1−30
Agents of God’s blessing are selflessly concerned about others and humbly aware of their own fallibility.
In Genesis 34, Simeon and Levi, because of their impetuosity and bloodthirstiness had disqualified themselves from leadership; in Genesis 35, Reuben—the mandrakes and incest guy—also had been disentitled. The next in line was Judah. And in Gen 37, it appeared that Judah’s brothers had begun to follow his lead over Reuben’s. It appears that in Gen 38 Judah
Together!
I learnt something about the Portuguese man o’war the other day (called so, because of their resemblance to a Portuguese war vessel of the 18th century). These things are found in the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans. Their tentacles bear a venom that can be quite painful and cause a severe dermatitis; sometimes, though, the stings can be fatal, causing beaches to be shut down if these bad ‘uns are located in the vicinity.
What I discovered (thankfully not by contacting
Abe Kuruvilla is the Carl E. Bates Professor of Christian Preaching at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY), and a dermatologist in private practice. His passion is to explore, explain, and exemplify preaching.