Every Stitch in the Tent

Luke documents that Paul initially worked as a tentmaker when staying in the city of Corinth. Making tents paid the bills so that every Sabbath, Paul could be found in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks that Jesus was the Messiah. We don’t have any further detail, but it sounds like he may have plied his secular trade as many as six days a week during this period.

That was before the invention of sewing machines. If his fingers got sore, it was not from flipping the pages of one too many Bibles.

Tracking True

So it was my birthday, and a friend says to me, “Why don’t we go sailing on the big water?”

I’d sailed in a small way before, but that sounded good. So off we set.

My friend let me take the tiller while he went up to the prow deck and relaxed in the sun. “Just keep your eye on the compass in front of you and trust that,” he said. “So long as it says what it says now, we’re going to be on course.”

Too Hot to Handle: More Than Me

In which our regular writers toss around subjects a little more volatile than usual.

This topic is considerably less incendiary than the current Palestinian situation or the question of whether or not churches should be led by one man, but when Squidoo.com posted its list of “ultimate questions” and asked which ones its audience considered most important, this one finished second:

“Why do people insist on looking outside themselves for a reason for their life?”

Tom: Immanuel Can, what do you think about that: is there more than me, and why should I care if there is?

Divine Multi-Tasking

A teacher once told me about a student who couldn’t walk and chew gum at the same time. He didn’t mean it literally, of course; it was a comment on the student’s intelligence. We assume the smarter a person is, the more things they are capable of doing at the same time.

A juggler keeps multiple balls in the air simultaneously. It can be impressive to watch a skilled multi-tasker at work. But human beings have upper limits on our juggling ability. The maximum number of items ever juggled is either 13 or 14, depending on who you believe. The case has been made that the laws of physics make juggling 15 items impossible. At least, nobody alive can do it.

Tracking True

The most recent version of this post is available here.

Too Hot to Handle: More Than Me

The most recent version of this post is available here.

Tracking True

The most recent version of this post is available here.

Too Hot to Handle: A Reason Outside Ourselves

The most current version of this post is available here.