Today is “World Naked Gardening Day.” I kid you not. It is a day whose proponents invite people “to tend their portion of the world’s garden unclothed as nature intended.” I enjoy being naked in the shower, but I ‘m  pretty sure I don’t want to tend my daisies as bees buzz around...

  Over the past few weeks, I’ve been downsizing my magic inventory, selling tricks and props that I haven’t used in quite a while. In the process, I’ve discovered that magic items are a lot like new cars: once you drive off the lot, their value drops like a rollercoaster....

  Did you hear? Cracker Jack will no longer bury prizes in their snack boxes. Instead, consumers will find a digital code that will link to a “baseball-inspired mobile digital experience.” The famous sailor boy mascot and his dog, Bingo, will also get an update. The public reaction was swift and brutal....

  Last week, I invited my Facebook friends to list excuses they’ve heard to blow off church.  I received over 40 replies! There were the predictable excuses such as church is boring, it’s full of hypocrites, I don’t like the preacher’s sermons (that one really hurts, especially when it comes from your wife)....

  It’s that time of the year in Texas again – storm season! It’s the time when Yankee transplants nervously scan inky skies and demand to know why we don’t have basements down here, while the natives dash outside, whooping and hollering, to shoot video of funnel clouds. We’ve been in our house for over seven years...

  The word is out: I have been diagnosed with prostate cancer. I found out just before the holidays last year. I didn’t immediately share it with the social media world for several reasons. For one, I’m a pretty private person who’s not big on airing angsty posts on Facebook....

  In their 1985 book, Habits of the Heart, Robert Bellah and Richard Madsen referenced a nurse they code-named Sheila Larson who adhered to a faith she herself dubbed “Sheilaism.” The authors were chronicling the gradual shift of American religion from being corporate and public to privatized and inwardly-focused. To illustrate this change, they quoted Sheila: “I believe...

  Easter Sunday 2016 is in the books, and it’s a safe bet that if you attended church, you heard a message on resurrection. The most important day on the Christian calendar is about an empty tomb, a risen Savior and new life. But Easter also brings death. As the...

  The Cross of Jesus Christ. From its beginnings, the Cross has exemplified Christianity. Once an instrument of terror, the Cross is now a cherished symbol in many parts of the world. It tops our churches, hangs on our walls and dangles from people’s necks.   How did that happen? What was the process that turned the Cross from a sign of...

  Judging from social media posts during this particularly raucous political season, I think many people will resonate with this quote from Robert Byrne: “Democracy is being allowed to vote for the candidate you dislike least.” A lot of folks are announcing that they may sit out the presidential election...