Salvation – Perpetual Adoration

October 30, 2021

Bic Lighters and a Message for your Soul

It happened on a Wednesday evening in October 1975. That was the day I went to my first concert that featured a nationally recognized band. I was a freshman in college and the concert was in an arena that was located near the college campus. The band that played was the Beach Boys. They toured the country that year and performed in 100 concerts throughout the United States.

September 25, 2021

A Rebellion Against Creation

There’s an old movie that came out in 1966, when I was nine years old. I didn’t see it until a few years later, when it was shown on TV for the first time. The name of the movie was The Bible: In the beginning. . . One scene from the movie popped into my mind recently when I was thinking about how children and students in our public schools are now being taught that homosexual behavior is “normal” and that the students have a right to change their gender any time they want to, as long as they have a desire to do so. This teaching is supported by our mainstream media, evil politicians, corrupt executives that run our global corporations, prominent celebrities, and “influencers” on social media.

August 7, 2021

He Called Me By My Name

My wife and I took a few days off last week and drove to Branson, Missouri, for a short vacation. It was our third trip to Branson. Our last trip there was more than 15 years ago. One of the reasons we wanted to go to Branson was because we had heard about a Broadway-quality musical show about the life of Jesus that was playing at one of the theaters. The title of the show was Jesus.

July 10, 2021

Sticks and Stones . . .

When I was in grade school during the 1960s, there was a common phrase that my classmates and I were encouraged to say when people called us names or said derogatory things to us:

April 3, 2021

A Plantation Hymn for Catholics

Did you know that there’s an old plantation hymn that Catholics traditionally sing in church on Good Friday? The hymn was composed in the 19th century by African American slaves and was first published in 1899 by William Eleazar Barton in his hymnal, Old Plantation Hymns. Here’s the first verse of the hymn:

March 27, 2021

The Skilled Assassins Who Murdered Jesus

During the mid-1980s, there was a weekly television series called The Equalizer. The show aired on CBS for five seasons, and was about a former CIA spy who had a mysterious past and used his knowledge and skills to obtain justice for innocent people who had no one else to turn to.

March 20, 2021

The Road to Heaven is Paved With . . .

I had a dream last week about my grandmother, Effie Williams. I have a lot of fond memories of Grandma Effie. She passed away more than 34 years ago. She was smart, tough, resilient, industrious, organized, and patient.

March 6, 2021

Shut it Down!

I graduated from high school in 1975 (45 years ago). The school I attended was in a rural area of Peoria County. Most of the students in the school were from families in which at least one parent worked in a blue-collar job, such as manufacturing or the building trades. I came from one of those families.

January 30, 2021

From Trix Cereal to Iron-Willed Discipline

The spring semester of my junior year in college (1978) was the best semester I ever had as a college student. It was also the most challenging. I had a full load of 300-level classes in accounting and business, and competition among my fellow students was very high.