Florence Chadwick was the first woman to swim the English Channel . . . in both directions. Now she would swim from Catalina Island to the California Coast. The year was 1952. The day was dense with fog. The cold water was numbing. Florence could hardly see. She could hear rifles-shooting at sharks nearby. After more than 15 hours, it all became too...

The English writer, Dorothy Sayers, made an interesting comment about Jesus’s carpentry: "No crooked table leg or ill-fitting drawer ever, I dare swear, came out of the carpenter shop at Nazareth. Nor, if they had, could anyone believe that they were made by the same hands that made heaven and earth." Think of it: Jesus’ daily work revealed the...

The Mediterranean diet is a popular, healthy eating plan. Olive oil is central to this diet. Now olive trees most often grow in marginal areas, like rocky hillsides, unsuited to other crops. While olive trees may prefer good soil, they are quite hardy and do well under stressful conditions. In fact, a Greek friend of mine believes that the more...

“At this festive season of the year, Mr Scrooge…  Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.” If you remember Charles Dickens’ classic tale A Christmas Carol, then you remember Ebenezer Scrooge’s response to his solicitors. At the beginning, he dismisses them and shows no mercy for the...