J. Davy Crockett III

A recent trip to a local outdoor produce market revealed a wide variety of locally grown produce on display, including many vegetables as well as colorful fruits such as strawberries, peaches and plums—beautiful things to eat. It is the beginning of the season, and the fruits and vegetables are fresh and plentiful. The abundance was amazing, and the market was buzzing as people milled about selecting the items they found appealing.

There is a strange connection, a recurring theme in some well-known places around the globe, spanning different cultures with diverse religions. In Vatican Square, Mecca, Jerusalem and even in Washington, DC are found prominent, architectural monuments: huge stone obelisks which have their origins in ancient Egypt. It seems incongruous that such disparate locations and cultures around the world would feature monuments based on this ancient symbol.

Have you ever had a song lyric stuck in your head? It could be a tune that you have not heard for years, coming to mind when you least expect it. That happened to me once. It was an old country song of hardship and pain in which the chorus wailed, “I washed my hands in muddy water. I washed my hands but they didn’t come clean. I tried to do like Daddy told me, but I must have washed my hands in a muddy stream.”

One warm, humid summer evening I was watching my town’s minor league baseball team play under the lights. The stands were full of folks enjoying America’s favorite pastime in the vintage 1920s Baseball Park. Various vendors worked the stands hawking popcorn, peanuts, hotdogs, soda pop, and cold beer. One of the beer vendors, a colorful character, was carrying a full tray through the stands crying out, “Cold beer, I got cold beer!” but was not getting much attention.

The presidential inauguration address on January 21, 2013 contained a phrase that should send a shudder of dismay to everyone who has any understanding of the Bible. Before a rapt audience, reported to be at least a million people on the Mall in Washington DC, and with millions more watching worldwide, President Obama declared: “Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like everyone else under the law—for if we are to be truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.”