Though I speak with the tongue of a national, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.

I sat in a coffee shop one morning and saw a “Coexist” bumper sticker on a car in the parking lot. As a radical committed Christian who has spent years in Muslim evangelism, I fully agree with the concept of "coexist", of accepting others the way they are. We should definitely do that.

In the far Northwestern corner of Pakistan is the picturesque valley of Chitral, bordered on the north by the Hindu Cush mountains, and by Afghanistan on the west. During our years in Pakistan, we made several trips to Chitral and developed some close friendships among the Kalash tribes. The following account is the result of one of those visits.

Looking back at our years in Pakistan, I am filled with memories—mostly pleasant memories. Pakistan is a friendly place, a relaxed place. Oh, yes, it may be hot, dusty, and lack many conveniences that we are so used to here. But the people are very friendly and the atmosphere is peaceful...

Most of the time.

This in no way is a criticism of those who watched the 2004 movie, The Passion of the Christ, or even of the movie itself. If you were blessed by watching it, praise the Lord. This is an explanation of how it affected me.

It was 1985, in the heat of the summer in Peshawar. The previous summer we had spent a week in the cool mountains of Chitral among the Kalash people. There Lois had helped a Muslim lady take care of her little girl who was very sick.

In a previous post I tried to explain some difficulties in relating the Gospel to Muslims. In this post I would like to shed light on the one huge stumbling block that Muslims face. They are confused and very offended when we call Jesus the Son of God.

The war in the Middle East has again thrust us into the Arab-Israeli conflict. We are seeing both raging anti-Semitism and hatred of Muslims in our cities and on university campuses. Unfortunately, we are also witnessing the persecution, even murder, of Palestinians in this country. This is abhorrent. How should we, as Christians, respond to these situations? How can we interact with Muslims we may come in contact with?

In most churches we partake of the Lord's Supper every month by eating a small morsel of bread and drinking a tiny cup of grape juice. We use it as a time of meditation, but do we often think of the significance of those two elements?

What is the longest verse in the Bible?

Esther 8:9 is generally considered to be the longest verse in the Bible. It contains about 71 words, depending on the transition.

Revelation 20:4 is the second longest verse, with 68 words.

It's a strange name. Jehovah, the God of Israel, revealed this name to Moses when he stood before the burning bush, with his shoes removed. The name, I'm sure, was very significant to Moses at that time.

Let’s consider time for a while.

Time is the basis for all measurements. The basic unit of length is the distance light travels in a unit of time. Power is defined as the work that can be done in a unit of time.

Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity gives the relationship between mass and energy and shows that they can be changed into each other. The equation, e = mc² is the basic principle behind the atomic bomb.

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” (Ps 19:1)

If we look to the heavens, our solar system and the universe beyond, we begin to get a glimpse of the majesty of God.

I went to school as a young boy. They gave me this textbook called "All about numbers". I studied that book and learned it. I learned all the numbers from 1 to 10, I could write them all and recognize them. I knew all about numbers.

Clay pots, or pottery jars. They are not used much anymore. We used to see them when we lived in Mexico. As a school boy, standing on a corner on cold mornings I would buy a cup of hot chocolate from a street vendor who  kept steaming hot chocolate in a clay pot.

An original humorous hymn by one of our elders. Enjoy!

Too often those who are familiar with the Bible, those of us who grew up in Sunday School and heard Bible stories read at home every night, will unconsciously substitute our traditional Bible story for what the Bible actually says. Somehow, we manage to read the words while our mind replaces the text with a modified fanciful story. Here I will try to look at four common Bible stories that many of us get wrong.

We have adopted three children whom we love very much. It's not a normal thing for people to do when they are in their seventies, and had we known that within a year of adopting them Lois would have cancer we might have hesitated. I'm glad we didn't know then, because since these children were infants, we have known them and have grown to love them. We could not imagine not having them as our own.

In Pakistan we worked with a relief organization that had interesting names for their vehicles. There was a tiny Daihatsu jeep that they named the bouncy Tigger. There were two Toyota Dinas that our kids had the joy of naming Dina Might and Dina Soar. Then there was a large green Toyota Land Cruiser affectionately called the Jolly Green Giant.