It’s Cyber Monday and here are some gifts ideas that are the right color, the right size and pack easily if you’re traveling for Christmas! And, for all ages:

For young adults

• The Why Files
This series of books on sex, death and the supernatural won two national book awards for its honest answers to 2,500 teenagers questions.

For adults

God, I Don’t Understand: Unanswered Prayer, Unfulfilled Promises, and Unpunished Evil (2019)
“This book is for everyone who’s ever questioned God’s goodness, love, or faithfulness. With his trademark wit and wisdom, James Watkins addresses the hard questions, validates our pain, and offers a shoulder to cry on. This book shines a light on the blackest spaces of our lives and finds the hope that hides in the dark.”
Renae Brumbaugh Green, author of Morning Coffee with James.

Overcoming Fear and Worry (2019)
Award-winning author, and recovering worrier, James Watkins explores the practical biblical, and behavioral principles for successfully living without worry. With his seasoned experience and signature humor, Watkins shows us that God wants us to draw on His love, peace, and power to break the worry habit.

• The Imitation of Christ: Classic Devotions in Today’s Language
Ninety devotions from Thomas à Kempis best-selling books, organized by the characteristics of Christ.

For writers and speakers

Plus, you’ll find Communicate to Change Lives, Writers on Writing and Writing with Banana Peels (for humor writers).

But wait, there’s more! Click for 20 books! And, no searching for a parking space at the mall! You’re welcome.

I may not be your “true love,” but I do have some hope and ho! ho! ho! for you with my favorite Christmas columns, cartoons and videos! Besides, you really don’t want livestock and leaping lords under your Christmas tree, do you?! I didn’t think so. Click here.

Have a meaningful holiday season!

Every Who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot.
But the World Health Organization did not.
This WHO hated Christmas, “A big super spreader.”
It warned that people should not get together!
[Continue reading]

And please visit my The Twelve Sites of Christmas

Have a meaningful holiday season!

Little is known of the prophet Habakkuk. except that he lived in the time when Israel was oppressed and many had been taken captive by the Babylonians. There was little reason to give thanks. Are you facing this Thanksgiving Day with little for which to give thanks due to COVID: not seeing family, financial struggles, the challenge of eLearning, etc. etc.? Like the prophet, we can give thanks for nothing! [Continue reading]

Thanksgiving 2020 is going to look very different this year. No huge family gatherings. No large crowd at Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade crowd—only TV cameras. No spectators at the football games in the afternoon. And we’re told no one should be without a mask inside there own home. Yep, all this sucks like a turkey baster!

But this doesn’t mean we can’t still be thankful! Here are some reasons to give genuine thanks this week:

• Fifty praises between bed and bathroom
Today, I vowed not to ask for anything, but to simply praise God. I found fifty things for which to praise him just between the bed- and bathroom:

• Top ten reasons to give thanks . . . when you think you don’t have any
10. You have a newspaper (or a mobile device”) in your hand. Thanks to Guttenberg’s press and the World Wide Web you have access to more information today than all previous generations combined.

• Thanks for nothing
Little is known of the prophet Habakkuk. except that he lived in the time when Israel was oppressed and many had been taken captive by the Babylonians. There was little reason to give thanks. But, in spite of living in captivity and facing what appears to be a famine, Habakkuk writes, “Yet, I will rejoice in the Lord!”

• Thanksgiving turkey trivia
Do you enjoy playing “Jeopardy” from your Laz-Z-Boy (“I’ll take ‘Fowl Friends’ for $1,000.”)? Would you like to raise the intellectual level of conversation at Thanksgiving dinner above that of the cranberry sauce? Enjoy my highly educational special report on melgris gallopavos.

Thanksgiving cartoons
And get your daily dose of my cartoons on Facebook, Instagram and at the archives.

Have a grateful Thanksgiving Day—no matter how it looks this year. And if your enjoyed these posts, please share on your social networks. Thanks!

Saturday’s projection that Democrat Joe Biden has won the presidential election and Republican Donald Trump’s claim of voter fraud and refusal to concede has underscored that the so-called United States is divided right down the middle. So, this post—written two weeks ago—is especially appropriate. Here’s a theory of why America is so polarized:

It seems in America, we have only two holes in our pasta strainer: black and white. Light gray is forced through the white hole and darker grays are squeezed through the black hole, because there’s simply no opening for gray. Unfortunately, the problems facing America are not as simple as black and white. [Continue reading]

‘Twas the night before voting, when all through the land,
Every voter was fretting and wringing their hands.
Their clothing set out for the very next day
But how would they vote? Not a person could say!

So as they did toss, and they turned in their beds,
Visions of voter fraud danced in their heads.
And Mama with her Xanax, and I with Prozac,
Had just settled down for a bedtime snack.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window, I flew like The Flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

When what to my wondering eyes should appear . . .
[Continue reading]

Pastor Keith Mannes recently left his Christian Reformed Church in Michigan saying the congregation had become too politicized. He told his local newspaper that partisanship in the pews “has been really disturbing. That’s been troubling enough that I need to lay it all down.”

Mannes’ concern was affirmed by a layperson who told The Washington Post she “cringed” when she saw cars with bumper stickers from the party she opposes. “How could they claim they are good religious people?”

And a woman, who served as leader of her denomination, grieved that politics was dividing local congregations across the Church.

So, what would Jesus do? Well, first . . . [Continue reading]

Have you seen all those ads for Le Vian’s “unique chocolate diamonds”?

The only problem is that brown diamonds are a) the most common and cheapest diamonds, plus b) they look like shiny poo! But those clever Le Vians decided instead of calling them ubiquitous and virtually useless brown chunks of compressed dinosaur doo-doo, they would hype them as magical chocolate diamonds—and everyone loves chocolate! And so, the Le Vian family has been making a whole butt load of money from shiny poo ever since!

Let’s face it, if 2020 was a gem, it would be a chocolate diamond, but here’s how to turn your doo-doo into diamonds! [Continue reading]

While this month is designated Pastor Appreciation Month, every month should be filled with appreciation for the selfless and sacrificial service ministers provide every day of the year. (Having a day off from being a pastor is like having a day off from being pregnant!)

So, from someone who has spent forty-five years in ministry, here are Top ten ways to appreciate your pastor this month—and every month.

And if you’re a pastor, here’s whole a collection plate of hope and humor for you.