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!
Cleaning!
You hate cleaning? Well, now you have a scientific reason to do so.
So says a bunch of researchers in a broad international coalition. They proclaimed this cheerful finding in “Cleaning at Home and at Work in Relation to Lung Function Decline and Airway Obstruction,” published recently in the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
It is known that cleaning tasks may imply exposure to chemical agents with
Fruit?
If you can tell an apple from a mango, you may be better off than 40% of the citizens of ye olde United Kingdom. A recent poll of 2,000 adults commissioned by Yeo Valley, a family-owned dairy and yogurt-producing enterprise in that fair land of HM QRII showed that a sizable chunk of those good folks could not tell the difference.
The study tested the knowledge of subjects about both common and non-so-common fruit.
70% apparently couldn’t tell the difference between
Peace?
Dovey the Shar Pei, belonging to Scott Rogers and his wife, of Edmond, Oklahoma, was pretty peaceful. She found peace. Not only was the canine cute and cuddly, she was peaceful.
It was only when certain household items began to go missing during the past few months did the Rogers family understand the secret of Dovey’s placidity.
Said Scott:
We have a 6-month-old baby and, you know, we have binkies in the house because of the baby and over the past five months, we’ve
Overtaken!
A few months ago, I had the privilege of visiting a spot on this globe that has been on my bucket list for a long time: Angkor Wat (“Capital Temple”), in Siem Reap, Cambodia. This is the largest religious monument now existing, located on over 400 acres, and made up of a vast complex of temples, all in various states of ruin. Originally built as Hindu temples in between the 9th and 12th centuries, they were transformed into Buddhist shrines as the politics
Copyright!
Copyright issues are tricky. Here’s a particularly odd one …
You better be careful when photographing the Eiffel Tower on that celebrated trip to Paris that you take, as one of the seven million that visit it each year. Well, at least photographing that venerable edifice at night.
The European Union copyright laws cover artistic works—music, art, videos, buildings, etc.-for the lifetime of their creators plus 70 years. Now, Gustav Eiffel died in 1923.
(He, BTW,
Steal!
If you had been detained in the Cameron County (TX) Juvenile Justice Department between 2008 and this year, you might have wondered why you weren’t served fajitas. Well, the answer is simple: the facility’s cafeteria doesn’t serve that delectable item.
But guess what? Since 2008, aforementioned Juvenile Justice Department has been paying for fajita deliveries.
It was only in August 2017 that the matter was cleared up. Apparently, the Labatt Food Service tried to deliver
Anxiety!
All kinds of reasons in life to be anxious about. Jobs. Government. Wars. Disease. Death. Children. And so on. And so forth.
And you can take Valium or Xanax or some other to relieve yourself. And many do. Many. 12 percent of adults are on antidepressants, 8.3 percent on anxiolytics, sedatives, and hypnotics!
But a recent study from the University of Cork, Ireland, is interested in the role of bacteria in your gut on your mental health.
There is this entity called miRNA (micro
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. 