Hanukkah is the last feast in the Jewish calendar and tells a remarkable story of the deliverance of Israel from the control of the ancient Greeks in 164 B.C. The Seleucid Dynasty had assumed rule of the area through a political and military struggle after Alexander the Great died.
On Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2017, there was a significant spiritual shift in the universe as the US President Donald Trump reaffirmed and formally declared that the U.S. will recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. This is the first and most necessary step toward another major milestone, moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.
My wife and I have four daughters, and I was in the hospital room for each birth. There was a normal amount of blood, but no serious complications. Our oldest took forever to be born. Our second was in such a hurry that we thought she might end up on the floor of a hospital hallway. Our third tied her umbilical cord in knots in the womb. And our youngest calmly slipped out as if to say: “OK, I’m born. What’s next?”
Every year since the 1950s, San Jose has had a proud record of honoring Christmas with a grand display of Christmas trees. This year, however, a controversy has arisen over some trees.
Allegations of sexual harassment pile higher every day in Washington. Senator Al Franken, the Democrat from Minnesota, has been accused of groping women, while Michigan congressman John Conyers has stepped down from the House Judiciary Committee because he paid $27,000 to a woman who accused him of inappropriate sexual behavior. And a Texas congressman, Republican Joe Barton, is in the hot seat because he texted nude photos to a woman.
Last week I was preaching in Canada, and my hotel was only two miles from the host church. But it took almost 30 minutes to drive that short distance because road construction crews in Toronto had blocked all but one lane in a major intersection. Orange traffic cones were everywhere. Traffic was at a standstill.
