Little Angela Kasner, daughter of a Lutheran pastor in Russian-dominated East Germany, was barely two years old when an American radio preacher published in his magazine an astonishing statement: "The way is being prepared for a colossal third force in world politics—a European Federation of Nations more powerful than either Russia or the United States!… We have shown years in advance what would happen to Russia's ill-fated Empire in Eastern Europe" (Plain Truth, December 1956, p. 3).

In October, 2002, just a little over a year after September 11, 2001, the greater Washington, D.C. region was terrorized by indiscriminate sniper shootings killing ten people and critically injuring three others. Police soon figured out this rampage was being conducted by a serial killer or killers on the loose. For three weeks people within a hundred miles of the city feared to leave home or work place worrying the killer just might have them in his or her sights. Fearful people hurried from home to car to store or work place and then reversed the routine. No one knew where he or she might strike next. Many stayed indoors, TV shows recommended ways to avoid becoming targets, schoolchildren were kept inside at recess, parents covered their children on the way to the school buses and police officials declared no one was safe. 

It was a gray, chilly morning with soft, intermittent rain falling, which cleared to a blustery, cold, sunny afternoon as we visited the ancient walled city of Chester in England. This place was settled by the Romans over 2000 years ago as an outpost in the British Isles.

To encourage Congress to pass the "Elder Justice Act," a video documentary chronicling elder abuse was shown on October 19 on Capitol Hill.  Among other heart-wrenching accounts, the documentary told of Vicki Bastion, aged 92, of Hayward, California, who installed a security gate inside her home to protect her and her few remaining valuables from her grandson and his gang-related friends.

On our way to one of our annual church convocations, my wife and I realized one of my lifelong dreams by visiting Springfield, IL – state capitol and home of U.S. President Abraham Lincoln. Going well back into my earliest school years, Lincoln has been of keen interest to me. For one reason, I grew up on Lincoln Place in my home town. For another, my mother was born and raised in Illinois, "The Land of Lincoln." Since this is the bicentennial year of his birth, I had even more reason to make a special effort to visit his hometown.