What do you want for Christmas? You’ve been asked that question in the last few days, I know. There are still people in your life who plan to bless you this week with a gift. They aren’t looking for an excuse – the economy; inflation; porch-pirates – to take you off their list. Maybe you’ve […]

For the rest of 2024, here’s the headline over your daily pursuits: It’s all about the gifts. Come January 2025, let me prophesy the honest appraisal of the year-end, for most: the gift effort will have underperformed its potential. Will you be among the losers? The Crush is on. Until the 24th, there will be

  Can you hear it? Like you, I’ve been surrounded with Christmas music since Thanksgiving. My SiriusXM Christian music channel – The Message – has been playing “only Christmas music” since December premiered. For the last month, I’ve heard from Bing Crosby more than I’ve heard from my family. For the next 10 days, we’re

  Last Tuesday was a big day for our American culture: it’s tagged “Giving Tuesday,” and – for some – it was fashionable/trendy to find a charity and make a contribution. The result? $3.6 billion given to non-profits during that 24-hours. We’re a week late… and more than a dollar short. We stayed out of

Update on your Operating System. “Click here” to download the current version. It’s pretty routine, and you know what to do when you’re notified of the upgrade. Stop whatever you’re doing and put the reset into action… You need to stop right now and update your personal operating system; specifically, your calendar feature has been

I think we may have a branding problem. Christ. Christmas. Christian. Lots of significant concepts and constructs springing from one person’s identity. When Jesus of Nazareth was still operating in his humanity, his nametags were mundane: Jesus son of Joseph or Jesus the Nazarene were his recurring monikers. When his identity was exposed to his

History runs on a straight line, but life seems to happen on a carousel. Charles Dickens wrote these words 165 years ago: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the

  Are we having fun yet? That one-liner is our generation’s cultural code phrase for “this is a real bummer.” I wish I’d had it in my vocab arsenal in our early years of marriage. Cheri and I started this “til death do us part” journey over 50 years ago; we didn’t have the lifetime

  Thank you, men and women who have worn the uniforms of the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force or Coast Guard. On Memorial Day, we honor the fallen; on Veteran’s Day – today! – we honor the living who have given their time, talent and forsaken the pursuit of treasure to defend our country and

  I’m not sure if you’ve heard about it, but there’s an election tomorrow. That’s the big deal for Tuesday; what’s in store for Wednesday? The campaigns for the Top Spot have devolved over the last few weeks; they were already bouncing around the lowest common denominator, but in the race to the finish, the