Today's Opinions

I had heard the complaint before in other places, at other times. “I struggle with wanting my child to participate in summer Little League baseball and still have time for our family events, not to mention participation in church,” the concerned mother told me over the phone. “It just seems like we can’t do it all.” In her particular situation, baseball games were being scheduled not only on Sundays, but on Sunday mornings, a definite conflict for Christians who want their family to worship together. As a parent, and as a pastor, I understood.

It’s hot. We are in the middle of the hottest summer since they started keeping records in 1880. And to think that only a few months ago we were complaining about the cold weather.

We tramped out of an unusually cold winter, only to find ourselves trudging through a scorching summer. It has proponents on both sides of the global warming issue shouting at each other. The most convinced are the most strident.

Wearing rosary beads has become fashionable, among gangs. That’s right. Gangs are wearing rosaries - beads grouped in series of tens, attached to a crucifix. For hundreds of years, rosaries have been a helpful means of prayer for many Christians. But the gangs are using them for something other than prayer.

“It’s become part of the look,” said Victor Castro, a detective and school resource officer who leads gang awareness training in Hillsboro, Oregon. “They use it as a reminder of protection.”