Travel
WOLVES AND AMERICAN RANCHERS
Conservation is an elemental essential. However, extremism in anything is not good.
A few years ago conservationists said the buffalo and elk herds in Yellowstone were over populated and wolves needed to be reintroduced to enable a balance of nature. In 1994 there were no wolves in the Yellowstone area.
I just returned from Montana where I [...]
SWISS ARMY
We just visited the enchanting land of Switzerland and learned a bit more about their proud heritage.
There is a Swiss statement: “Switzerland has no army. Switzerland is an army.”
That is not exactly true. It has a population of six million of which 600,000 are in the army. At the age 20 each man is conscripted [...]
AUSTRIA: HISTORY REVISITED
Travel is exciting and educational. Test yourself on these questions that have stumped me in recent travels.
What is the official color of Ireland? I had no doubt but that it was green. It isn’t. It is blue.
Hitler was a German: true or false? False, he was an Austrian.
Beethoven was Austrian: true of false? False, he [...]
RENEWAL IN A CIRCLE OF STONES
Renewal is an essential part of the life-cycle. Nature does it each spring. Even the cells of our body are periodically renewed. Therefore, it is only reasonable we human beings need to be renewed spiritually. Like clocks we tend to rundown and need rewinding.
Recently I took 36 athletes and twelve coached from Shorter University, notice [...]
Montana In The Morning
Montana in the morning is a medley of sounds and sights. Having just returned the sensations are fresh and refreshing.
Sitting on the patio of the lovely ranch lodge looking up the swiftly flowing Big Hole River, the fragrance of new mowed hay blends with a bouquet of wildflower fragrances to awaken the senses. Even the [...]
Beautiful Bermuda
In a weeks time we just came down from the magnificent mountains of Montana to the beautiful beaches of Bermuda.
This lovely archipelago with pink beaches consists of approximately 138 islands. The seven largest linked by bridges comprise the “mainland.” One of these bridges has the world’s smallest drawbridge, 18 inches. It is just large enough [...]
Israel Part 3
This is not to say who is right and who is wrong in Israel. It is to say what is.
There are three regions governed by three separate codes of law. Along the Costal Plane and Gaza Egyptian law prevails. Around Bethlehem, Jericho, and suburban Jerusalem Jordanian law is applied, and in Israel and the part [...]
Israel Part 2
If you get a chance to visit Israel, the land of the Bible, go. Don’t let the following discourage you.
On this our thirty-third trip to Israel my wife and I ventured out of the tourist sphere several times. I pruned olive trees and grape vines in a friend’s garden and visited deep into two regions [...]
Israel Part 1
Having just returned from my thirty-third trip to Israel I found the situation as complicated as ever. This is not an attempt to take sides-just to report an experience.
I said to an Arab-Christian friend in Bethlehem, “I understand some of the extremist holdouts from the stand-off at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem are [...]
Switzerland: A Land of Enchantment
Elevated heights lead to elevated thoughts. For the optimum upper, visit Switzerland. It is one of the few places in the world that exceeds ones anticipation of what it is like. If you have ever visited a highly anticipated place and found it a downer, Switzerland is the place to redeem those disappointments.
It is easy [...]
The Big Hole Valley
In recent years my wife and I have been privileged to spend a bit of time each year in the Big Hole Valley in Montana. It is one of the most scenic spots in America. It is a basin sixty miles long and fifteen miles wide bordered by the Pioneer Range on the east and [...]
