With the return of Donald Trump to the Whitehouse, the always contentious issues of immigration and control of our national borders have taken on renewed urgency. Who should be allowed to enter and stay in the US, accusations of large numbers of criminals crossing our borders illegally and allegations of family separations and unmerited deportations have fueled passions and protests on both sides of the issue. Of particular concern, is the empowerment of federal agents to enter schools and houses of worship to search for and detain alleged illegal immigrants.  ...

As highlighted in Kris Flynn's article in this issue of the Central Beacon, CCC has been blessed for more than a decade by the talent and heart of our worship leader, Steve Duff. In addition to being an accomplished musician, Steve is also an excellent songwriter. Last year, Steve introduced our congregation to a worship song that he had recently composed – The Beauty of It All. Steve included this song in the worship set for the first Sunday of the new year, and being the last song of the set, I came up at the end to transition us to the next part of the service. As I did so, I was struck not only by the beauty of the song but more so by the invitation it extended to see and persistently seek the beauty of God, his creation and his purposes, especially in a time filled with so much doubt, darkness and division. At the moment, I asserted that The Beauty of It All should be our theme song for the year of our Lord 2025. This declaration seemed all the more appropriate as we had just comp...

My wife, Rhonda, and I recently had the privilege of cruising through the Greek islands with close friends. While on the beach on the island of Rhodes, I decided to try to take some underwater pictures with my cell phone. When I declared my intention, my friends stated: Your phone can do that! At least, that's what I heard. So, with the confidence of my desire and my friends' affirmation (so I thought), I marched into the water, stuck the camera end of my phone under the surface and snapped a picture – and it worked! Thus further encouraged, I dipped my phone again into the beautifully blue Mediterranean Sea for another shot – only this time, my phone made a weird buzzing sound, a jagged green line shot across the screen and my phone shut down, never to be operational again. As I returned to Rhonda and our friends, lamenting that I had damaged my phone, probably beyond repair, they expressed amazement at what I had done. But you said my phone could take underwater pictures! I cried. T...