Works!
A few years ago, an enterprising writer for The Atlantic, Philip Bump, decided to tackle a laborious task. Does Santa really work hard?
I decided to figure out how many, how big a task Mr. Claus faces as he races west across the face of the globe, staying ahead of the sun. And I did. Or, anyway, I came up with a pretty solid estimate.”
Spoiler: He does work hard.
Assuming, of course, that he exists and that on Christmas Eve he canters around the globe (or his reindeer do)
Loneliness?
The holidays are lonely times for a lot of folks, especially this year of the pandemic, what with lockdowns and distancing. A 2018 study from Cigna found 54 percent of Americans confessing loneliness. In a couple of years that had grown to 61 percent!
But there is good news: loneliness may actually be good for you!
So claim scientists from McGill University in “The Default Network of the Human Brain is Associated with Perceived Social Isolation,” published recently in
Nociceptive?
All kinds of nerve endings on our skin pass specialized information on to our brain. Most have specialized “end-organ structures,” nerve endings shaped and adapted to respond to temperature, chemicals, touch, position, vibration, etc. Then there are also free nerve endings—that just end in the skin without any “end-organ structure”—these are the commonest nerve endings in the skin. For over a century, these free nerve endings had been thought to transmit pain
Height!
The Nepalese call it Sagarmatha, “Peak of Heaven.” The Tibetans, Chomolungma, “Mother Goddess of the World.” Most others call it “Everest,” after Sir George Everest, the British Surveyor General of India in the mid 1800s. Though it was an Indian mathematician and surveyor, Radhanath Sikdar, who was first to discover it was the highest mountain in the world, at 29,029 feet.
Said Roxanne Vogel, 35, one of the more recent of Everest’s conquerors:
That’s
Ephesians 2:1–10
Believers, once in dire straits, but now sharing Christ’s exaltation, demonstrate to the universe God’s mercy, love, grace, and kindness as they undertake good works.
Prior to regeneration, the sphere of the Ephesians’ life was governed by evil influences (Eph 2:2–3), so much so, unbelievers are referred to as “sons of disobedience.” These are people characterized by disobedient lives. They are rebels against God, and their fate is divine punishment: the “sons
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.