Ever wonder where Iceland got its name?  Having just returned from this small volcanic crag amidst the wind-swept north Atlantic (just south of the Artic Circle), I don’t wonder any more!  But did you know that this proud nation of glaciers, hot springs, geysers (a word we’ve borrowed from Icelandic), and active volcanoes is the world’s most literate population, with the world’s longest life expectancy and highest standard of living?  And so you won’t be surprised that they are also the most “wired” (technologically savvy) nation on earth, as well.

Wonder why the global markets have been gyrating lately?  The answer really isn’t that complicated at all.  It has to do with public and investor confidence.  When traders are feeling secure and confident about the economic and/or political future of their nation or other influential nations, they invest their clients’ capital in the markets.  But when investors become worried or uncertain over developing trends (economic or political or sometimes even ecological), rather than purchasing shares in national or multinational corporations they instead sell off their clients’ stocks.  And massi

“Study says lots of students narcissistic”—that was the front page headline on my newspaper this week.  Remember Narcissus from Greek mythology, who fell in love with his own reflection in the water pond?  “Narcissistic” is to be just like him.  Which is why the article begins:  “Today’s college students are more narcissistic and self-centered than their predecessors, according to a comprehensive new study by five psychologists who worry that the trend could be harmful to personal relationships and American society.” (South Bend Tribune 2-27-07)  This is the generation, researchers are obse

Who likes a dirty windshield! One of the joys about a winter in thaw is the ugly brown spray that the car in front of you splatters all over your windscreen (as our British friends like to describe it). We drove out to Kansas this last weekend to spend some time with our daughter Kristin, whose medic husband has just deployed to Iraq. Is there anything worse than following an eighteen-wheeler with its nine right-side tires exploding every muddy snow puddle on the side of the road all over you? Thank God for whoever invented windshield washer spray!

“Generation Y’s goal? Wealth and fame.” That headline last month in USA Today caught my eye. “Ask young people about their generation’s top life goals and the answer is clear and resounding: They want to be rich and famous” (1-10-07). And then came Newsweek magazine’s cover story last week: “The Girls Gone Wild Effect: Out-of-Control Celebs and Online Sleeze Fuel a New Debate Over Kids and Values” (2-12-07). Turns out our “tweens” are going gaga over the likes of Paris Hilton and Britney Spears, whose morality (or the lack thereof) has shamed even the national media.

Will there be a Super Bowl in heaven? Maybe. But it certainly won’t be sponsored by Doritos and Pepsi and Monster.com with their $2.6 million per thirty second TV ads! And it won’t be a showdown between the beasts of the wild (as in bears and colts). In fact, it won’t be a showdown at all, since heaven doesn’t live by the winner-take-all philosophy of our earthy sports. Which means God never sits at the fifty-yard line, cheering a team on to win, knowing that by those cheers he de facto is hoping the other team will lose. None of the above!

Here’s the headline of the week: “And the crowd listened to her/him with great interest.” Because that line from the gospel story (see Mark 12:37 NLT) is the perfect descriptor of this campus’ response to our young preachers all week long. The Andrews student week of prayer this week has driven home for me the power of peer to peer communication and testimony.