The case for not voting

The case for not voting

ByHal Hammons

I have a friend, a brother in Christ, who appears from his Facebook posts to be very much in favor of Hillary Clinton for president. I find that position appalling, astonishing, and completely irreconcilable with the life of a Christian. I thought about messaging him and asking him to explain it (that is to say, questioning his commitment to Jesus), but I knew what he would likely say — “What, so Donald Trump is any better?” And as far as non-answers go, I have to say that one is pretty good.

 

Accompanists

ByHal Hammons

I have always felt a bit sorry for accompanists.  You see some famous entertainer on television or whatever, singing a “solo.”  But there are two people on stage — the singer, plus a piano player, or violinist, or accordion player.  (Bad luck with the last one there.)  They both give it their all, and the…

Stork

ByHal Hammons

Most references to “love” in the New Testament use one of two Greek nouns — agapao or phileo.  (Hide the children!  Hal’s faking a knowledge of Greek again!)  But there is another Greek word included in the compound word astorge, which is usually translated “unloving.”  The root storge is generally defined as “family love,” that…

Sympathy

ByHal Hammons

Tis the season, I suppose.  Everyone is posting self-righteous admonitions to break into cars that have pets inside who, supposedly, are dying in the summer heat.  What would you do?  What would Jesus do?        Well, apparently I’m in the minority, but I would leave the window alone.  I like to think I would have…

Weather

ByMark Watson

The forecast called for a 100 percent chance of weather, and as usual it was right on the money.  One day last week I drove through a steady display of what I have taken to calling “Florida rain,” a barrage of tiny droplets completely unlike anything we ever saw in Texas.  (Raindrops in Texas, on…

Pistachios

ByMark Watson

It’s probably just as well that it can be a bit of a challenge to open up pistachios.  Because once you get them open, they’re kind of gross looking.  But you think to yourself, “I’ve come this far, I might as well eat this thing.”  And you do, and it’s actually pretty good.  Good enough…

Handwriting

ByMark Watson

And I thought all the emphasis Mrs. Fritsch placed on handwriting in third grade was wasted.  Turns out, it’s important career guidance.  For instance, recently a would-be bank robber failed largely because the teller could not decipher his illegibly scrawled “This is a robbery” note.  And thus another village has occasion to give free room…

Freezing

ByMark Watson

A young woman attended a concert last week in Milwaukee, and then an afterparty.  She was wearing shorts, fishnet stockings, and a tank top.  Good party clothing, I suppose, if you don’t care about modesty or giving boys the wrong (right?) idea.  But not so great for winter in Wisconsin.  By the time she left…

Fired

ByMark Watson

Have you ever been fired?  If so, it was probably for non-performance, or misbehavior on the job, or company-wide austerity measures.  Not fun, but understandable.             Have you ever been fired because people gossiped about you?  Probably not.  But preachers get it all the time.  Let me try to explain how it happens.             Someone…

Elephants

ByMark Watson

I believe elephants hold first place for number of mentions in The Final Word for an animal species.  (Neither Max nor miniature schnauzer are “species,” technically.)  Here’s another:  Two circus elephants who had been separated for twenty years were recently reunited.   The connection — or reconnection, I should say — was obvious from the beginning. …