Posts from July 2022

Let’s say you begin contributing $5,000 annually to an empty Roth IRA when you are 20 years old, and the expected rate of return is 7%, with marginal tax rate of 25%. At 65 years old, your IRA would have a balance of $1,528,759. A million and a half. Use the money wisely, and you will have nothing to worry about for the rest of your life. But what if you waited five years? At retirement you would have $1,068,048.…

It is one of the greatest engineering marvels ever. NASA’s new James Webb Infrared Telescope could be worthy of the adjective “awesome.” It is an instrument with 18 mirrors working in concert, each adjustable to less than the thickness of a human hair. The mirrors combine to create a 21 foot. diameter mirror, covered with a layer of polished gold only 800 atoms thick. It has an orbit 930,000 miles beyond Earth. Once in position, over 600 operations had to…

A man is about to be put to death for preaching Christ. He is composing the last known words he left to history, and it is addressed to another, younger preacher. The entire letter is less than 2,000 words, making each sentence all the more meaningful. In the middle of describing “an unashamed workman,” Paul makes this statement, “But avoid foolish and ignorant disputes, knowing that they generate strife” (2 Tim. 2:23). Paul has just discussed the vitality and value…

From July 1-19, 1903, 60 bicyclists were willing pawns of one Henri Desgrange, editor of L’Auto sports newspaper, trying to win a circulation war with Le Velo. The Tour de France, suggested as a sales promotion, was such an instant hit that L’Auto ran Le Velo out of business. A race day could take as much as 17 hours to complete, and it is not surprising that only 21 of the 60 finished the entire inaugural bike race. The finishers…

Though we live in the information age there are still questions that come up that Google and Alexa cannot answer for us. As the religious landscape of our country shifts the types of questions that our friends and neighbors have about faith are changing too. There was a time when most Americans believed in God, accepted the Bible as the Word of God, and attended church services somewhere with regularity. In those times most discussions surrounded getting to the truth…