Ah, Easter is over! It's been a busy time and I'm sure you're looking forward to things slowing down and getting back to normal. But maybe that includes dealing with a problem you have been happily distracted from by the activities of the season.

Before you pick up that problem again, consider this quote that came across my desk recently:

"The way that we see the problem is the problem."

I'm not sure who said it, but I know that Einstein said something...

They were first, foremost and always Muslims. They fought the unbelieving and conquered hostile land, always in the name of Allah.  They called themselves the "Protectors of Islam" as they built an empire that bridged three continents and solidified Islam as the predominant religion of the Middle East.  They were the Ottomans, rulers of a vast empire whose existence changed the course of world history.

Equipped with endurance, self-discipline and foresight, the...

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Saint Catherine of Bologna

From Visionaries, Mystics and Stigmatists

Perhaps, one of the greatest Miracles is the incorrupt body of our Saint, seated on a regal throne in a Chapel to the left of the main altar in the Church of Corpus Domini in Bologna.

It remains intact, never having decomposed for over five hundred years!

In the beginning, after they realized they could not place her body in the grave, four nuns...

INTRODUCTION:

Christianity just like Islam Judaism and Buddhism are all religions. All these religions have their own sets of beliefs that they use to guide them in their day to day lives. They might either belief in a supreme being above human understanding or even in earthly idols that they revere and worship as their overall caretaker not only for preserving their lives but also to guide them in their daily work as well as bless them with earthly riches as well as eternal...

When the gospel was first introduced to me, I felt like my life for the first time had purpose and meaning and that I was invincible because of my new relationship with God. The more I studied God's word and applied it to my life, the more I wanted to become a preacher.

God had a different plan for my life and not preparing properly for it, I soon fell by the wayside. It would be another 15 years before I totally committed myself to Christ Jesus before it would "stick"....

I don't have many fond memories of my childhood. My mother was and is a practicing alcoholic, while my stepfather was a practitioner of 5 out of the 6 known forms of child abuse. You see, growing up, I thought my stepfather was my real father. It wasn't until I was 16 years old that I found out differently. That's when everything started to make sense.

My memories of childhood start for me at age five. Standing on two of my mother's empty beer cases, I would wash, dry and put away...

Does God hear my prayers? If He doesn't, what must I do? If He does, why isn't He answering?

My youth was filled with violence and abuse so I never really prayed all that much unless of course I needed something. I would call upon God for some sort of favor or if I had a specific need to be filled. When I prayed, there were always conditions offered like You give me this and I'll give up doing this or that.

Or, You owe me this for putting up with everything You've been...

The Bible says that Hezekiah prayed before Jehovah and said: "O Lord, the God of Israel, who sits above the cherubim, you are the God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.

Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; and hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God.

And the Lord God said: 'I have dug wells and drank foreign (strange) waters, and I dried up with the sole of my foot...

I was sitting here in my office this morning working on my income tax return. As I was looking over some figures, I thought about a phrase my dad used to say. He said, "There are only two things you have to do in this life: pay your taxes and die." I think what he meant was that when it comes to paying your taxes and dying, there was no way around either of those two.

Now of course it goes without saying that we all know that there have been plenty of people who have...

Once upon a time in a religion now far from me I used to live by BLIND FAITH primarily because that's what I was taught pleased God. Then I discovered that because 90% of the people believe in God isn't always a good thing. You know, you have to ask the follow up question, "What kind of God". Ah, now that's where the subject gets a bit dicey indeed!

Too many today live on secular slop and religious regimes that produce little real nourishment.

Unfortunately it's...