When Gary Richmond, a zookeeper at the Los Angeles Zoo, was given keys to every cage in the zoo, he was cautioned sternly to guard them with his life and to pay exacting attention to which doors he opened and which doors he closed. “Richmond,” the supervisor said, “these keys will let you in to care…

| In my experience, signs follow decisions. The way you overcome spiritual inertia and produce spiritual momentum is by making tough decisions. And the tougher the decision, the more potential momentum it will produce. The primary reason most of us don't see God moving is simply because we aren't moving.…

The Rich Man’s Reward There is an old story about a very wealthy man who died and went to heaven. An angel guided him on a tour of the celestial city. He came to a magnificent home. "Who lives there?" asked the wealthy man. "Oh," the angel answered, "on earth he was your gardener." The rich man got excited.…

Jack took a long look at his speedometer before slowing down: 73 in a 55 zone. Fourth time in as many months. How could a guy get caught so often? When his car had slowed to 10 miles an hour, Jack pulled over, but only partially. Let the cop worry about the potential traffic hazard. Maybe some other…

Stefania Fraccalvieri now knows that tongue piercing costs a lot more than expected. Just after she had a metal stud put through her tongue—a popular fashion trend among teenagers—Stefania began to experience sharp, stabbing pains in her face that lasted up to half a minute, 20-30 times a day. Doctors…

Psychologist and researcher Judith Wallerstein spent 25 years studying the results of the shift in divorce laws that occurred in the 1970’s. No fault divorce swept the nation beginning in 1969, and by 1980, the divorce rate had doubled. Wallerstein was asking the question, “what about the children?”…

According to a news report, a certain private school in Washington was recently faced with a unique problem. A number of 12-year-old girls had begun to use lipstick and would put it on in the bathroom. That was fine, but after they put on their lipstick they would press their lips to the mirror leaving…

True story - the first place winner in the recent criminal lawyer's award contest. In Charlotte, North Carolina, a lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars and then insured them against- many other things - fire. Within a month, he had smoked all 24 of these great cigars and without yet…

\\ Their Sacrifice, Our Freedom Fifty-six men signed the Declaration of Independence. Their conviction resulted in untold sufferings for themselves and their families. Of the 56 men, five were captured by the British and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost…

A visitor at a zoo noticed an attendant crying quietly over in a corner. The visitor asked another attendant what the man was crying about, and he was told that one of the elephants had died. Touched by this, the visitor then said, "I assume he must have been particularly fond of that elephant!" And…

Four friends were so confident that the weekend before finals, they decided to go up to Dallas and party with some friends up there. They had a great time. However, after all the partying, they slept all day Sunday and didn’t make it back to Austin until early Monday morning. Rather than taking the final…

In 2012, several students at Burns High school in Lawndale N.C. were looking for something to do. They decided to play a prank. Their target? The high school football field. Their weapon? Goats. That’s right. The students released a dozen goats on to the football field in the middle of the night. Because…

“You make what seems a simple choice: Choose a man or a job or a neighborhood – and what you have chosen is not a man or a job or a neighborhood, but a life.” - Jessamyn West The Way of Transition, William Bridges, page 58

He who chooses the beginning of a road, also chooses its destination. Braudets Handbook of Stories, Jacob Bruade, page 66

In 2012, the cruise ship Costa Concordia struck an uncharted reef adjacent to the small Island of Giglio, off of the coast of Tuscany, Italy. However, this wasn’t the first time the ship had sailed dangerously close to the tiny Island. According to satellite tracking information given to the BBC the…

CHOWCHILLA, Calif. — Susan Atkins, the terminally ill Charles Manson follower who admitted stabbing actress Sharon Tate 40 years ago, lost what was likely to be her last bid for freedom. Atkins, who suffers from brain cancer, slept through most of the four-hour hearing Wednesday during which her husband-lawyer…