If you've stayed in a hotel or motel in North America, no doubt you have opened the top drawer of your bedside nightstand and found a Gideon Bible or New Testament. It usually is a black, brown or red-covered hardback book with the Gideon symbol, a two-handled pitcher and torch, on the front. Gideon Bibles were standard issue in motels long before TV and wireless Internet service came along. The organization providing them is currently celebrating its 100th anniversary of Bible distribution! An Associated Press article by Rose French on January 2, 2009 released this inspiring story that was published in many newspapers across the country.

Besides being one of the best Super Bowl games I've seen, this year's sports extravaganza claimed my keen interest for another reason. During half time, the music superstar who performed four of his best-known hits with his band of almost four decades was once our Freehold, New Jersey neighbor from around the corner.

And what better place to watch this show than in my hometown with my wife, parents and one of my sisters.

February 12, 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of naturalist Charles Darwin, author of The Origin of Species. It is also the 200th anniversary of the birth of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. Each man is known for powerful words that changed our world. But one is still widely embraced as a hero, while the legacy of the other is increasingly being rebuffed.

Our local newspaper last week reprinted a Groundhog Day cartoon by Mike Luckovich from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  It depicted two gentlemen in old-fashioned garb staring forlornly at Punxsutawney Phil who has keeled over (having fainted or died). One gent says to the other, "He saw his 401K." We might display a guarded smile after reading this sign of our economic times. But what can this hibernating marmot tell us about our future – seriously?

Back in 2009, I visited my parents in the New Jersey town where I grew up. On a bright Sunday afternoon, we journeyed by car a short distance to the Monmouth Battlefield State Park, just outside town. This was the site of the last major battle in the north, during the American Revolution, on June 28, 1778, and it was the largest one-day battle of the war (in terms of participants). It was a needed victory for George Washington and his troops after their dreadful winter in Valley Forge. Major General Lafayette described this bloody battle in oppressive heat as Washington's finest hour.