“Oh that life was like it used to be, like the days when God watched over me; when his lamp shone on my head, I walked by his light in the dark” (Job 29:1-3, CEB). Job’s words echo how many people are feeling these days. The Covid-19 pandemic has left a lot of folks wondering if, like Elvis, God has left the building. I understand their lament.

Difficult circumstances can cast a shadow over the human heart and obscure one’s ability to perceive God’s presence.

     There’s an old saying that bad news comes in threes. I don’t believe this always to be the case. But for Job, the adage proved true. Three messengers each brought Job a negative report. All toll, Job lost not only his business holdings, he also lost his children to death. A very bad day, indeed.

     One of the things on my bucket list is to visit as many libraries of our former Presidents before I die. So far Janet and I have visited fourteen. We expect to travel to New York State (5) and to Virginia (8).  Why this fascination with former Presidents?

     The Hall of Fame baseball pitcher, Satchel Paige, once asked, “How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you was?” Born in 1906, Paige played America’s pastime until his fifty-ninth year of life. Satchel Paige refused to allow age to become an impediment to playing the game he loved.

     The sixth chapter of Nehemiah describes a dilemma that many of us sometimes face. Nehemiah had accepted the responsibility to rebuild the security wall that bordered the city of Jerusalem. More than a century before, the Babylonian army laid siege to the capital city demolishing the walls that served as its protection.

     The world Jesus grew up in was dominated by the Roman Empire. The Christmas story begins by naming the Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus, who wanted a census in order to level taxes on the population. Historians tell us that there was a major cleavage between Jews and Gentiles. It is estimated that in a population of 90 million people in the Empire, Jews were around 8% of the population. That calculates to be 7 million Jews.