Amen to AMEN! Karen and I had the privilege of joining several hundred physicians and dentists and their families this past weekend in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. You should’ve heard their stories. Here they are—medical professionals in the thick of their careers across this nation—pursuing Christ in the marketplace of health care.

“20 reasons America has lost its soul and collapse is inevitable.” Not exactly the sort of headline that CBS’s staid economic website, MarketWatch.com, is used to running. In a sobering, columnist Paul B.

My Twitter alert went off yesterday, informing me of a breaking headline: the Vatican had just announced a new set of canon laws, called “the Apostolic Constitution,” whereby disaffected Anglican priests and parishioners, in fact entire Anglican congregations, can now be welcomed into Rome’s embrace and communion. The decision, “reached in secret by a small cadre of Vatican officials” (Associated Press), apparently caught even the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, by surprise.

Television is huge on hospitals lately, have you noticed? “Three Rivers,” “House,” “Trauma,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” and of course the ubiquitous “ER” reruns—the entertainment industry is in the health care business, it seems. Why? Because everybody loves a healing. Third millennial life on the edge (the real thing) can get as messy as an emergency room, can’t it?

What if praying were as contagious as the swine flu? My newspaper, South Bend Tribune (10-7-09), did a piece (replete with graphics), tracking an imaginary family (John, Karen and Billy) through the hazardous world of the H1N1 virus. John’s feeling great, as he heads out of the office for lunch.

Some people aren’t afraid of anything! Take 92-year-old Jane Bockstruck from Concord, New Hampshire, for example. A few days ago, with her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren all watching (no doubt in almost disbelief) this little lady leaped out of a plane at 13,000 feet and plummeted to the earth in a 120-mph free fall.

Trouble in paradise? Having just returned from a weekend of preaching in Honolulu, Karen and I were reminded once again of not only how warm and gracious  the Hawaiian people are, but also how strikingly beautiful is their island home. The perhaps perfunctory flight attendant’s “Welcome to paradise” certainly isn’t far from the truth.

Not only swine flu, but research shows happiness is also contagious! Given all the bad news of late, this report from the British Medical Journal seems timely. “A 20-year study found that happy people increase the happiness of those around them—including a spouse, a friend, or even a next-door neighbor.” According to the report I read, “Happiness, it appears, spreads through social networks like an emotional infection.” No kidding!

Health care reform or not, she did alright! The Scripps Howard News Service carried the story of Gregoria Martinez, 94, who was lovingly remembered by her family at her August 26 funeral in Quanah, Texas. In fact so many of her family attended her funeral that relatives handed out index cards to update addresses and telephone numbers while they had that many of them together. How large was Gregoria's family?

How about a non-Labor-Day story for this Labor Day weekend? Several years ago I received a letter from one of our television viewers who is a Pentecostal pastor ministering in a city near us.