IMAGE A middle-aged rock group in Britain was able to score their first musical hit in 15 years by performing an artificial facelift on themselves. The group known as The Alarm, gave themselves the pseudonym The Poppyfields and hired a group of teenagers to take their roles in a new music video. While…

WORTH Do you like watching the Antique's Road Show? On those shows, an expert on antiques looks at a person's prize possession and places a monetary value upon it. The value varies based upon its condition, uniqueness or who owned it. But ultimately, value is determined by the amount someone is willing…

In his book, Shaped by God, Max Lucado writes ”When God sets out to shape us in His image, he often uses the heat and pressure of our daily lives to temper us and craft us into beautiful instruments He can use.” Shaped by God, 175 James 1:2 (HCSB) “Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience…

IDENTITY In the motion picture, Beverly Hills Chihuahua, Chloe is a dog living the good life. Her days are filled with lounging by the pool, sunning herself, shopping, and trips to the beauty shop. She belongs to an owner who panders to her every need, so Chloe feels free to look down on others around…

IDENTITY In an act of kindness, Actor Kirk Douglas pulled over to the side of the road to pick up a Sailor on leave who was hitchhiking. When the Sailor recognized him, he said to Mr. Douglas, "Hey, man, do you know who you are?" That's a great question that everyone of us should ask ourselves from time…

GLORIFYING GOD In his book, "Don't Waste Your Life", John Piper says one of the primary differences between humans and animals is that human beings are given the opportunity to make choices about their work based on motives that can either honor God or dishonor Him. Piper writes, "No beaver or bee or…

Michael B. Jordon shares a name with one of the most famous basketball players of all time. Living with a famous name is not easy. “I hated my name. I wanted to change it,” Jordan, who is an accomplished actor says. “But it gave me a healthy chip on my shoulder. One of my goals is when people hear ‘Michael…

Michelle Wilkins, a 26-year-old Colorado woman answered a Craigslist ad for baby clothes. When she arrived she was attacked by a woman who cut her seven-month fetus from her womb. The mother survived the attack, but the baby did not. The suspect faces eight felony charges, including unlawful termination…

Oliver Chanler of Geneseo, NY explained why no one had ever cleaned a portrait of George Washington that hung in his parents’ home. “I suspect that’s because no one thought it was of great value.” The family had always supposed the portrait was a common copy. Recently appraisers have declared it an original…

TRANSFORMATION In his book, Satisfy your Soul, Bruce Demarest writes, “The goal of Christian spirituality is not information; it is transformation into the likeness of Christ.” --Satisfy your Soul, 96. Illustration by Jim L. Wilson Romans 12:1-2 (NKJV) “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies…

In the book, Forgiveness and Health: Scientific Evidence and Theories Relating Forgiveness to Better Health, the authors write, “Findings indicate that state forgiveness (i.e., forgiveness of a specific offense and offender) and trait forgivingness (i.e., a general disposition to forgive) are both inversely…

In the movie Mall Cop, Paul Blart is struggling with self-esteem issues. During the second scene, he is sitting around the dinner table with his mother and his daughter who are both encouraging him to begin dating again. Blart, a discouraged divorced parent, disguises his loneliness as his family is…

In the book, Forgiveness and Health: Scientific Evidence and Theories Relating Forgiveness to Better Health, the authors write, “Research indicates forgiveness can promote resilience (Worthington, 2005) as well as physical and mental health (Thorensen, Harris, & Luskin, 2000) and, thus, forgiveness can…

“Greed is a basic part of animal nature. Being against it is like being against breathing or eating.” Ben Stein, quoted in FoxBusiness.com While Mr. Stein may be correct about it being a part of our animal nature, the Word of God calls us to rise above the animal nature to the image of God in which we…

Value Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? Mark 8:37 (NKJV) Value is not always determined by how much something is worth. Almost ten years ago, two friends and I took my 14-foot boat out on the lake. Actually, it was the very first time I’d launched the boat after moving to New Mexico.…

An online survey of new parents has found that more than half say they regret the name the gave their child afterward. The survey found that from 1,000 respondents 54 percent said they wished they have given their child a different name. 26 percent of the parents said the name they selected had become…

SELF ESTEEM Gary Zukav has been sharing his spiritual insights with Oprah since the fall of 1998. In a recent episode, he responded to the following question: “How does one heal the inner feelings of worthlessness and low self-esteem?” by saying, “This is the core issue of the human experience. Low self-esteem…

In 2014, the National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline received reports of 5,042 potential human trafficking cases. Almost one-third of the cases involved minors. The department of justice believes about 300,000 children in the United States are trafficking victims. Shannon Forsythe is the founder…

A Florida man recently took a picture that has a lot of people in the Tampa Bay area talking. Oscar Hendrix was taking pictures of rainbows while driving near Lake Okeechobee. Though Hendrix is not a professional photographer, he says the [picture stunned him. It shows a white cloud against a darkened…

A European Parliament committee has approved a resolution granting legal status to advance robots as “electronic persons,” with specific rights and obligations. The purpose of the resolution is aimed at protecting humans by keeping robots from achieving too much power as the science of artificial intelligence…

Officials in one state in India recently noticed a big difference in the ration of boys to girls, and decided it was time to take action to change prevalent thinking that considers baby girls as unwanted or undesirable. The central district officially held a renaming ceremony giving 285 girls with names…

Scientists are beginning to debate the necessity of giving robots rights. Denying the existence of a God in whose image man is made requires scientists to admit that consciousness is a result of completely material processes. Therefore, just as humans have rights because they are conscious beings, so…

An 81-year-old Michigan man recently discovered a son he didn’t know he had. In 1959 Tony Trapani’s ex-lover sent him a letter to inform him he had a son in Pennsylvania, but he never received the letter. His wife intercepted the letter and hid it from him for more than 50 years. When she died in 2014,…

In speaking of the need for salvation, award winning author Steven James makes an interesting statement. “If I believe our world is a pretty good place and we are pretty good people, then we just need a Savior to get us over the hump. But we believe and confess that we are desperately fallen people in…

POTENTIAL In "Star Trek: Nemesis", Captain Jean-Luc Picard is speaking with the holographic image of Praetor Shinzon of Remus, his own clone. Captain Picard is literally to face to face with himself. Picard urges Shinzon to turn away from his plans to destroy all life on Earth. Despite the years of abuse…