KneEmail - a devotional by Mike Benson associated with Forthright Magazine
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Jackpot
WHO HASN'T DREAMED of hitting the jackpot and buying a new car and taking the vacation of a lifetime...? Not all that long ago, Nevada was the only place you could legally play the slots or poker, and New Hampshire... (continue reading Jackpot)
Manual
HAVE YOU EVER tried to figure out the remote control for your television set...? I find myself calling our cable company at least once or twice a year to say, "Hey, how do I make this thing work?" Inevitably, some... (continue reading Manual)
Letters
JOHN KASS, A columnist for the Chicago Tribune, wrote about a waiter he met named Bouch, who worked at a tavern in Chicago... Bouch decided to write to the king of his homeland, Morocco. King Mohammed VI is immensely popular... (continue reading Letters)
Standard
PRESIDENT JOHN QUINCY Adams once called both Houses of Congress together for a special meeting... He walked in carrying two bushel baskets. He said, "The bushel measure in my right hand came from South Carolina; the one in my left... (continue reading Standard)
Rules
ANCIENT WRESTLING MATCHES weren't for the squeamish or timid... Hoping to see some clean takedowns, reversals, and figure-four leg locks? Better look elsewhere. During the time of the Roman Empire, little things like kicking, biting, and scratching were perfectly acceptable... (continue reading Rules)
Humor
DURING THE EIGHTEENTH century, no skeptic delighted in finding humor at the expense of the Bible (and Christianity in general) more than Francois-Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire... His rejection of a personal God -- of God as Father --... (continue reading Humor)
Cost
A 7-YEAR-OLD GIRL named Jessica was playing outside of her house one day when a pit bulldog came up in her yard... She went over to pet him and he attacked her--knocking her down and immediately clamping down on her... (continue reading Cost)
Steal
TEMPTING PIECES OF fossilized wood are still scattered across the Petrified Forrest National Park, and it is still illegal to take any of it home... A ranger stationed at the exit to the park will still ask you about any... (continue reading Steal)
Burned
NATIONWIDE, ALMOST FIVE million acres have been torched by wildfires this year... In Montana alone, 2,000 fires have raged over 457,000 acres. The Washington Post called it "a 100 year catastrophe" for the state (Susan Gallagher, "Western Wildfires Show No... (continue reading Burned)
Plow
THE FARMER DECIDED one morning to plow the south forty acres... His tractor needed oil, so he started for the barn to get it, but on the way noticed that the pigs hadn't been fed. Near the corncrib was a... (continue reading Plow)
Drama
THE MOST DRAMATIC moment in human history makes for odd drama... The hero is center-stage yet silent. His script is only seven lines long, some whispered, some groaned through gritted teeth. He gestures simply and seldom. He is still, pinned... (continue reading Drama)
Study
YOU'RE LAZILY FLIPPING through the channels on your new flat screen TV... Despite the vast array of viewing options, there's nothing worth watching, at least for the moment. Your thumb stops on a random station. It's a half-hour long commercial... (continue reading Study)
Monument
WHEN HE INHERITED the throne of northern India from his Mongol predecessors in 1630, the new emperor gave himself the name Shah Jahan, King of the World... History remembers him less for his conquests than for his constructions, especially the... (continue reading Monument)
Flight
IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY, Icarus, taking flight with wings made by his father, wanted to fly close to the sun. When he flew too high, however, the sun melted the wax that held the feathers. Feathers flew, and Icarus didn't. The... (continue reading Flight)
Pure
IN RECENT YEARS, a number of psychologists and sociologists have joined the chorus of religious and political opponents in warning about the impact of pervasive pornography... They argue that porn is transforming sexuality and relationships -- for the worse. Experts... (continue reading Pure)
Weary
A GOOD FRIEND of mine recently sat in my office thinking out loud about whatever came to mind... The topics ranged from his marriage (which had its share of disappointments), to his future plans for ministry, to the quality of... (continue reading Weary)
Evil
IT DOESN'T TAKE much to convince most Christians that our country is in trouble... The signs are all around us. Our culture seems to be disintegrating around us. The grossest immoralities are recast as tolerance. Christian conviction is tagged as... (continue reading Evil)
Rosetta
IN AUGUST OF 1799 a Frenchman named Bouchard discovered an ancient stone near the town of Rosetta, in Egypt, about thirty miles from Alexandria... The stone contained inscriptions in two languages, Egyptian and Greek, and they were written in three... (continue reading Rosetta)
Ministers
"LET EVERY SOUL be subject to the governing authorities... For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God. Therefore whoever resists the authority resists the ordinance of God, and those who resist... (continue reading Ministers)
Burning
FOR YEARS I wondered why firefighters carried axes to the scenes of fires... Hadn't the fire done enough damage without chopping away at the remaining roof or walls? Then I learned that those axes serve a valuable purpose: They uncover... (continue reading Burning)