RaMbLeS
Welcome to RaMbLeS, a collection of weekly musings on life and Scripture. It all began in 2005 on Google’s blogspot as the aBeLOG (a name now recycled), a semi-autobiographical devotional that attempted to keep well-wishers abreast of my activities as I relocated to Scotland for a few years. Since my return, I’ve continued my RaMbLeS, and here’s its most recent incarnation on Homiletix, as random reflections usually based on current news articles and travel experiences and whatever else takes my fancy!
Bite!
The other day, Susie Torres of Kansas City, MO, thought she had something inside her left ear.
I woke up Tuesday hearing a bunch of swooshing and water in my left ear. It was like when you went swimming and you have all of that water in your ear.”
Well, Susie went to the local ER. She was in for a surprise when a nurse checked her out.
Said Torres:
She ran out and said I’m going to get a couple more people. She then said, ‘I think you have an insect in there.’”
In
Untangler!
If you haven’t yet figured out what your true vocation in this world is, there’s still hope for you. Take a look at this.
The other day, Tesco, the multinational, UK-based groceries and general merchandise retailer, advertised a job opening for—get this!—“a Christmas light untangler.” To start “as soon as possible” for the festive season.
Apparently, Tesco is going to invite customers to bring in their tangled (and un-untangleable) lights. [Yup, we’ve all
Funeral!
If you have ever wondered what your own funeral would be like and wanted to experience it yourself, well, you can. You don’t have to wait till you die. Just head to Seoul, South Korea, to the Hyowon Healing Center.
They have a program including an instructional lecture and video, and then you are led to a dimly lit, chrysanthemum festooned hall. You sit by your own casket and tearfully pen your last testament to someone. Then comes the best part.
You put on a shroud and
Depravity!
Josef Levkovich was a teenage slave laborer in the a Nazi concentration camp.
I was working at the Plaszow concentration camp, dismantling the remnants of a Jewish cemetery. The cemetery’s wrought iron fence—all 150 tons—was needed to make weapons for the Nazi slaughter of millions across Europe.”
Josef was high atop the fence, removing some bricks, when Austrian SS chief Amon Goth rode up on his horse.
Up on the fence, my job was to carefully remove each brick, then
Gratification!
What’s it about old guys and football?
There’s forty-something Tom Brady and Adam Vinatieri. And those getting close to the fifth decade of life: Eli Manning, Philip Rivers, and Terrell Suggs. They’re still playing! (Or they were, the last time I watched football which, admittedly, was a while ago.)
But it’s fascinating. In a sport that is extremely physical and fraught with danger even for those with good reflexes, the fact these old geezers (!) are still around
Born?
Earlier this year, a Mumbai businessman, Raphael Samuel, 27, declared that it was wrong to bring children into the world.
Said that worthy:
It wasn’t our decision to be born!”
Well, guess what he did? He sued his parents!
That’s enough to cause major trouble within any family. Samuel, however, confesses, he gets along well with his parents. (BTW, both his parents are lawyers.)
Said mother, Kavita Samuel:
I must admire my son’s temerity to want to take his parents
Diagnosis?
LetsGetChecked, a company that offers at-home testing for patients, polled 2,000 of their American customers the other day. Apparently 65% of those confessed that they self-diagnosed themselves by Googling their symptoms, before seeking professional help.
And 74% of those who turned to Dr. Google for help were stressed out by what they uncovered in their searches.
But LetsGetChecked also discovered that the answers found by those seeking refuge in the internet for diagnosis
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. 