ODJ: first half, second half

Ready for a Bible quiz? Which king attained national influence at age 16; was a genius in military deployment and national security; invented new military weapons; had true vision for commercial and business development; and possessed the Midas touch in husbandry and agriculture?
Who was he? King Uzziah—whose name means “The Lord my strength”. The chronicler tells us the secret of the k

ODB: The Small Giant

The towering enemy strides into the Valley of Elah. He stands 9 feet tall, and his coat of armor, made of many small bronze plates, glimmers in the sunlight. The shaft of his spear is wrapped with cords so it can spin through the air and be thrown with greater distance and accuracy. Goliath looks invincible.But David knows better. While Goliath may look like a giant and act like a giant, in contra

ODJ: crashing down

We got really good,” Raleigh Becket bragged. He and his brother piloted a “Jaeger”, a huge battle robot that fought massive, dinosaur-like creatures named Kaiju as depicted in the movie Pacific Rim. In their arrogance, the brothers defied orders and went on a reckless mission battling a huge Kaiju alone. The massive beast destroyed their Jaeger, causing it to come crashing down in d

ODB: Born To Rescue

After the terrorist attack and the collapse of the Twin Towers in New York City on September 11, 2001, Cynthia Otto took care of the search-and-rescue dogs. Years later she established a Working Dog Center where young pups are put through specialized training to prepare them to help victims of disaster.Otto made this comment about these rescue animals: “There are so many jobs now that dogs are b

ODJ: God of the living

The Sadducees were more interested in politics than religion—accepting only the Pentateuch (the five books of Moses) as their Scripture. Being materialists in their thinking, they didn’t believe in angels, nor in the resurrection (Luke 20:27; Acts 23:8).
The Sadducees gave Jesus a hypothetical situation (Luke 20:28-32) involving levirate marriage—where the surviving brother of

ODB: One Amazing Letter

Once in a while my wife and I open the mail to find a letter with no words on it. When we take the “letter” out of the envelope, we see a piece of paper with nothing more on it than a colorful mark made with a felt pen. Those “letters” warm our hearts because they’re from our preschool granddaughter Katie, who lives in another state. Even without words, these letters tell us that she lov

ODJ: not bored

The picture in my news magazine showed a Moscow circus bear that was shuffling across a tightrope in preparation for its next performance. More interesting was the woman sitting in the background, slumped over, with her head resting on one hand, as if she had seen this act before. She couldn’t have looked more bored.
She reminded me of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay “Nature”, in

ODB: A Possum’s Pose

Possums are known for their ability to play dead. When this happens, the possum’s body wilts, its tongue flops out, and its heart rate declines. After about 15 minutes, the animal revives. Interestingly, animal experts do not believe that possums purposefully play dead to evade predators. They faint involuntarily when they become overwhelmed and anxious!King Saul had a similar response to danger

ODJ: clinging to hope

During the summer of 2011 Dave Mull spent nearly 4 hours adrift and alone in the rolling waves of Lake Michigan, America, clinging only to the handles of a cool box. The boat Dave had been fishing in had suddenly capsized and sank 5 miles offshore, forcing him and his three companions into the deep, troubled waters. Before Dave became separated from the others, he selflessly surrendered his life j