Source: Mike Krukow says the worst part is falling down. “There is nothing more humiliating than falling in front of people,” says the longtime Giants broadcaster. “The biggest, most stressful thing is thinking about being on the field and falling in front of 40,000 people.” It seems unbelievable. The former pitcher spent 14 seasons in the big leagues, with stops at Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco. A strapping 6-5, 200-pound right-hander, he won 124 games, had a 20-win season in 1986 and... Read more

I had the privilege of being in Oxford last week (UK! not OH or MS). The picture to the right was taken from the top of the University Church of St. Mary the Virgin. You can click on the image for a larger version. I’d never been to Oxford before and the town and University are impressive. The highlight of the week, though, was not the place but the people. I was in Oxford for a workshop with grantees from... Read more

God’s manifold mercy, God’s lovingkindness that embraces us in our manifold needs, is the hope of the psalmist in the next section (waw-section; 119:41-48). His prayer: “May your steadfast love reach me.” That lovingkindness is understood here as “deliverance” (v. 41b), and that deliverance is understood as “an answer for those who taunt me” (v. 42). God’s mercy is manifold: it comes to us where we are — in all our concrete particulars. Moms and dads, men and women, children,... Read more

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Source: (Straight from the heart of James Kennedy’s turf.) Over the last 30 years, the Religious Right has replaced Christianity’s foremost message of the Gospel with that of a political movement, argued the current pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church. “We’re well known for saying things, ‘We exist to reclaim America for Jesus,’ and stuff like that and in the process what has been lost, is the message which I trumpet in [my book] One Way Love, which is God’s inexhaustible... Read more

An increase in persecution: In one city, the population of Christians has gone from 100,000 to about 200. (Reuters) – Islamist insurgents have issued an ultimatum to northern Iraq’s dwindling Christian population to either convert to Islam, pay a religious levy or face death, according to a statement distributed in the militant-controlled city of Mosul. The statement issued by the Islamic State, the al Qaeda offshoot which led last month’s lightning assault to capture swathes of north Iraq, and seen... Read more