Well, I think it’s about time that I delved into the history of Christmas. I know everyone has been waiting for me to tackle this one. The truth is, overdone displays notwithstanding, that I really love the Christmas season. On those rare occasions when I’ve been in the chips I have taken a good deal of pleasure in finding gifts for the people I love. I love everything about Christmas. I love the songs. I love the lights. I love the sappy Christmas movies. I never get tired of It’s a Wonderful Life. And Love Actually is one of my new favorites. I proposed to my wife right before going in...

Back around thirty years ago, I was in a bad way.  I had hurt my back, and as a result of this injury, found myself out of a job.  Then, my wife at the time asked me to leave the house, so I was homeless.  It was lucky for me that my parents lived close by.  They bought a little travel trailer in the same mobile home park in which they lived so I could have a place to live.  It wasn’t much of a trailer.  You could literally sit at the dining table and stir a pot of soup at the same time.  It was tiny.  It was so small I had to get a folding toothbrush. So there I was, broke, lonely, and...

Before there was Jesus there was John the Baptist. John was quite an interesting character. Unfortunately, he pretty much gets lost with all the hoopla over Jesus and all. But John is not just any old goof, you know. The Roman Jewish historian (or is it the Jewish Roman historian) Josephus writes much more about John the Baptist than he does about Jesus, mentioning him by name which he never does exactly about Jesus. In fact, John is a pretty significant dude in at least three religions besides the big C. John is a pretty important figure in Islam, where he is held as one of the prophets of God....

On the way home from Phoenix last week, we stopped at the Flying J Travel Center to get gasoline.  I love Flying J Travel Centers.  They have lots of strange merchandise you just don’t see anywhere else, blue denim rodeo jackets with real country-western designs on them, for example, or little toy electric weasel looking creatures that roll around on the floor around a plastic ball.  You just don’t see that stuff around anywhere else.  You see a lot of interesting people there, too. While we were stretching our legs, walking around in the desert right behind the store, we looked down on...