Complacency

General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of Joint Special Operations Command, was given a monumental task by President George W. Bush: find and terminate Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of a brutal terror network known as Al-Qaeda in Iraq (AQI).

When perfectly sane humans with functioning taste buds swear off meat, they’re labeled vegetarians. The remainder of their sad, miserable lives is filled with the memories of how wonderful a medium-well ribeye tasted. Fortunately, a few vegetarians have discovered a way of coping with temptation.

They just eat meat.

Pierre-Paul Thomas was born blind. For him, life was reduced to little more than grey shapes that only varied in size and shade. Then, in his mid-sixties, he suffered an accident that would totally change his life…for the better.

Trust me. You won’t see this one coming.

When Jon Smalldridge went to bed on Saturday night, October 25, 2003, he was aware of the wildfires burning 15 miles away in San Diego. However, he wasn’t aware the fires could spread so quickly. When the flames and smoke woke him just a few hours later, he knew he had to move quickly to survive.

Sadly, many others didn’t quite see the urgency.

I was the unfortunate recipient of some bad news at my mechanic’s shop last month. He walked me into the bay where my SUV sat cradled on a lift and pointed to something on the suspension, called it something I’ve never heard of, and then told it would cost me something like $400 to repair.

But that wasn’t even the bad news.

Decius came from a long line of Roman Emperors who hated Christ and His followers. But unlike those who had gone before him, he would be quite successful in ridding the empire – and world – of the Jesus disease.

And, for the most part, he wouldn’t even have to use a sword to do it.