Shanah Tovah

May the year ahead be one of new beginnings, health and happiness for all my friends and family.

I love you all and am blessed to share in your lives each and every day.

Intimacy trumps bibles in the bedstand

There was a time a time when an often-ratty Gideon bible was all a hotel would encourage to keep you company at night.

The hotel industry is now coming to the realization that their younger, upscale clientele is often more interested in other overnight activities than passive proselytization.

As Newsweek is reporting, it's out with the bible and in with slightly more salacious replacements. While you will probably still find the Christian word of God in your suburban chain hotel, hipper establishments are finding that they are not ashamed of other activities they may choose to pursue away from home.

So next time you check in, don't be surprised to find an "intimacy kit" in lieu of reading material. It's an open acknowledgement that what really happens in hotel rooms around the world, doesn't need to be so hush-hush anymore.

It's a welcome sign of the times.

Can you hear me now? Good.

Apparently I had it all wrong.

I thought the thing to do at the Western Wall in Jerusalem was to write your prayers on little pieces of paper so you could stuff them in the cracks.

I guess you can phone it in too.

When activism gets in the way of the Gospel

Are the ties that bond the Evangelical Christian community with the Republican Party here in the United States fraying?



The New York Times makes a case today, that a more nuanced balance between religious beliefs and political affiliation is emerging from these conservative pulpits.

Living just a short drive north of Focus in the Family's headquarters in Colorado Springs, I know very well that the Republican drumbeat from James C. Dobson still has a captive audience.

But as pendulums swing one way, they inevitably swing back the other way. Historically religion in America has always worked with different parties to achieve different goals.

There seems to be some hope that moderation and cooperation might yet have a chance in the face of the extremism we've seen arise in the past decade.

L'shanah Tovah Tichatavu -- G'mar Chatimah Tovah

As the Jewish High Holy days wind to a close with Yom Kippur, let me take a moment to wish all my friends, family and loved ones the warmest of holiday greetings. May you have a happy and properous year ahead. I am very lucky to have you all in my life.