By JIM NICHOLS There is something about modern America that has trapped us in unyielding competitiveness. In every aspect of our lives, it seems that we are in some way competing with one other. From childhood, this way of life has been embedded in us. There is more negative than positive to this, but there is at least one aspect

By JIM NICHOLS Bells chiming at the monastery identify the beginning of specific prayer times. Church bells in general are an auditory call to worship and attention to the gathering of God’s people. Have you ever considered how many bells we have heard in our lives and what they have meant? Today we are surrounded by bells or alarms. I

By JIM NICHOLS There are some teachings in the Bible, often straight from Jesus himself, that I do not like. The problem is that I am expecting God to make decisions and judgments that parallel those that I would make in a similar situation. I am using an incorrect starting point. Students complain. Not all of them complain and not

By JIM NICHOLS The devotional scripture for the morning was from Psalm 91. It read, “The days of our life are seventy years, or perhaps eighty, if we are strong; even then their span is only toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away. Who considers the power of your anger? Your wrath is as great as

By JIM NICHOLS An elementary school principal told me about the most unusual phone call he had ever received. A father of students in his school asked his assistance in identifying a family with children in that same school. The request went something like this: Mr. Principal, our family recognizes that we have lots more physical things than some other

By JIM NICHOLS Do not laugh. It will happen to you someday if it has not already. It was some years ago now and the first was just a small white card with a red stripe and blue stripe across the top. It was rather thin cardboard and began to curl up on the edge soon because it did not

By JIM NICHOLS One of them is just a wordless diagram and the other a short set of words and numbers, but both convey valuable information. The diagram is someone’s rendition of a side view of an automobile engine. One must look carefully at the dashboard to see what it is. This is the “check engine light” in the car;

By JIM NICHOLS In an academic ethics class, one of the important initial topics is the identification of “duties we owe other people.” That is, if we are going to function together, there are certain behaviors that we should be able to expect from one another. This is a list of common-sense items such as promise keeping, justice (fairness), and

By JIM NICHOLS Geiger-Muller counters have been in use for decades. As the least expensive device to determine the presence of ionizing radiation, they have served useful purposes in both peace and war. Ionizing radiation is a type of energy that is potentially damaging to human tissue; it is, frankly, dangerous. There is no human sense that detects this type