Christmas can be a difficult time if our focus turns to the godless hustle and bustle and we lose the meaning and purpose behind all our activities. Advice is plastered everywhere in November and December on reducing stress, simplifying, streamlining and embracing imperfection. Good advice, considering the first Christmas was anything but 2019 perfect.

How many times do you say thank you a day? Alot right? At least we are supposed to.

But the United States didn't make the top ten list of the friendliest, or most polite, places to visit. Michigan shares a border with a country supposedly legendary for their politeness. Michiganders have always raised our skeptic snow covered brows at that one. We are nice too...aren't we? Turns out, Canada made the list and Michigan didn't.

I love fall. It's a time of gathering and bringing in, from fields, orchards, gardens and tucking away and celebrating. Even we gather. Warm cider around the fire. Goodies shared whether gooey with caramel or as soups and chowders or roasted to perfection. For my family and probably yours gathering means food. And we all like to cook because we all like to eat. This is best outdoors. Under trees gleaming in color. Dressed in flannel and wrapped in red buffalo check wool.

I recently heard someone say the Bible can't be trusted because there are missing verses in some versions and it has been added to. Mark 16:9-20 was the particular culprit in that conversation. The claim is that it was not part of the original text written by Mark. Therefore it was added later and should not be part of the Bible. It is a well known and often quoted section. If it is not original, then Christians around the world have been deceived. 

Perhaps you didn’t know elephants lived in Israel? I admit, I never really thought about it, but the animals had to pass through there from Ararat to Africa somehow. Anyway, there are two sites mentioned in the article, one near the Golan Heights and the other near Kafr Qasem, about ten miles northeast of Tel Aviv. Why should this matter to Christians?

Identity is a big issue today. We research our history with DNA. We claim ethnicity and gender, sometimes by fact, sometimes by feelings. We point to neighborhoods, regions, diplomas or rap sheets as qualifiers and forecasts of futures. But who builds the fences to plot the territory of our potential?