Who has seen the fantastic trilogy Lord of the Rings? Better yet, read the books! Maybe fantasy isn’t your thing, but this story has a lot of gold nuggets hidden (or not so hidden) along the way. It's a classic written by J.R.R. Tolkien I highly recommend. The main character, Frodo Baggins, is an unlikely hero. His mission is to take the evil ring of power to the mountain of Mordor and destroy it by casting it back into the fires from which it was made. Of course there are fo

Do I have the courage to die? This is a question I occasionally ask myself, especially after hearing a story about bravery in death. I’m awed by the dedication and unwavering faith of martyrs, missionaries, and “ordinary” people who have been imprisoned for what they believe; but, honestly, the thought of torture terrifies me, even though the chance of that happening is minuscule. To escape these morose and unreasonable fears, I reel in my thoughts: “Get real…this is never go

Sitting on the patio in the early morning, the dull roar of traffic is usually an annoying backdrop to the gurgling sound of water fountains. But not today. It’s quieter for some reason—so quiet that I caught the shrill sound of baby birds. It feels like an oasis in the midst of a desert—an oasis surrounded by houses in the middle of a subdivision, in the middle of a city. It’s the next best thing to being surrounded by forests or a greenbelt. Several months ago I hung a bird