By Jim Nichols How many loaves do you have?Why are you afraid? Who are my mother and brothers?What do you want me to do for you?Who do you say that I am? A quick Google search for “questions Jesus asks” yields a staggering 135 and who knows how accurate that is. It is a topic worth considering at another time, but

By Jim Nichols Most of us are occasionally impressed by what we sense is a true act of creativity. A Brahms symphony arose spontaneously from the mind of Brahms. Something or some idea that did not exist previously now blossoms. I have no doubt that true creativity does occur, but I suspect that much of what we deem as creativity

By Jim Nichols Most people have a small number of Christmas memories that sit in their mind and bring joy, despair, concern, or absolute delight. It is, admittedly, a mixture of emotions. We remember people and events and treasure who was present and where we were. One of my Christmas memories concerns a person I had not met at the

By Jim Nichols “In the unlikely event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, oxygen masks will drop from the panel above your head. Please be sure to secure your own mask before helping others.” If you have traveled to a destination (for example, the mountains) where the altitude is 10,000 feet or higher, you have realized that it is

By Jim Nichols It spreads like a bad infection. “This will be the best Christmas ever! If you thought that gift was a surprise, wait until you open the rest of these!” Or “Whatever decorating we did last year, this year will be even greater and brighter.” It is difficult to avoid getting caught in some type of race during

By Jim Nichols You probably have heard the joke about the man out for a stroll on his street. He encountered a woman walking her dog and speaking to the dog as if it were a human. He was so amazed that he went right home and told his cat and they both had a good laugh about it. It

By Jim Nichols Writer and Christian thinker Henri Nouwen has said succinctly: “There are no times or places without choices.”  Most of the choices we make are of low consequence—a choice to get up today, a choice to stay home or go somewhere, a choice where to sit in the room, a choice to read this or not. But even

By Jim Nichols A catchy advertising slogan is an important part of business. It might be a rhyme or a semi-joke, but potential customers need to remember it.  As a boy, we took family summer vacations in the car. Part of the treat was staying in a “motel” a few nights unless we were visiting relatives. Motels then were single

By Jim Nichols At the entrance to a large multi-store like Walmart or a grocery store, it is common to encounter a person or two (usually including children) with boxes in front of them containing either puppies or kittens. They are at some distance from the store itself on the driveway leading to the store. They hold cardboard signs advertising