Recently I heard a news story about how the ‘People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ is offering a reward of up to $15,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of a man who kicked a squirrel off the edge of the Grand Canyon in a video that has gone viral.

Its acts of cruelty like this that make me think there’s no hope for the human race. There is a difference between killing for food and simply killing for pleasure.

When I was nine-years-old I threw a frog as hard as I could against a board all because a friend ‘dared’ me too. Afterwards I told myself I never do such a cruel thing to another living thing jus’ because someone said to do it.

Later while in high school and heading home on the school bus I thought it would be funny to place a sharpened pencil behind a guy as he was leaning forward so he could lean back and poked by it. My immature brain didn’t see how the pencil could have easily pierced his skin and damaged an organ.

Fortunately, the guy next to me thrust his hand between the pencil tip and the other guy’s back preventing a severe injury from occurring. To this day I’m embarrassed and ashamed of myself every time I think about that incident.

My sleep is often interrupted by jagged nightmares about the men I’ve killed in combat. Yes, though they tried to kill me, I still feel horrible for having taken their lives.

When I think about these three situations taken from my life, I wonder – when it comes to having a conscience – am I the acceptation or the rule. It scares me to think I could be part of the minority in this case.

“A 22-year-old man on Friday was sentenced to life without parole for killing his brothel boss in December 2010,” reads the lead sentence of the story from the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

They are writing about my friend Keon Park who pleaded guilty in May to first-degree murder, kidnapping, robbery and other charges for killing Young Park and burning her body.  The two are not related.

It seems so cut and dry – the way the sentence reads — matter of fact and without emotion, exactly like a good news story should begin. But since I was present in the courtroom and was one of several people who for Keon, it is so much more emotional for me.

Here’s what I had to say:

“Thank you Your Honor for allowing me the opportunity to speak before this court on behalf of Keon Park. I have known Keon since 2006.

While I was his cross-country coach at Excel Christian High School in the Reno/Sparks area in 2007, I met Keon earlier through my son, who attended the same school.  He was welcomed and came to our home on several occasions.

As with most young men his age, Keon was interested in girls, money and especially cars — and we spent a lot of time talking about these three subjects as well as his home life, which left him unhappy.  While he looked up to both his father and his uncle, he left me with the impression that he was under a terrible strain to be perfect.

This internal void placed Keon, in my opinion, at a point where he was more willing to follow than to lead.  As his coach and later friend, I learned that Keon would do what was asked of him without question.

His ability to obey structured rules and direction was without question and he exhibited this feature on both the race course and in his personal life. Keon is also very intelligent, wise beyond his years in most cases and he knows and is known to our Lord, Jesus Christ.

When I heard Keon had been arrested for murder, aside from being heart-sick, I knew he had been lead into it. Furthermore, I knew it was in Keon’s nature to take responsibility for his actions no matter the outcome.

Keon has never been in trouble with the law until now. And knowing Keon as I have, he’ll take whatever punishment this court justly metes out — I just ask that you spare him from life without parole, allowing Keon to have a chance at becoming a productive citizen at some point in his future.

Again, thank you, Your Honor.”

When Judge Gonzalez handed down Keon’s sentence, everyone, including his defense team felt kicked in the gut. I’m not calling the judge’s decision into question – I’m jus’ saying I had never fully grasped what could happen until that very moment.

At present, my mind is a terrible tangle over what judgment is, what justice is and what mercy is. For now I’ll simply stay thankful that it was not death the judge imposed on Keon.

We think of our work lives as secular.
However or job environment is our ministry.
Everyday, every hour and every minute belongs to God.
Do everything for the glory of God, even the secular.
The secular is sacred if used to glorify God.
Culture is secular because is sin and man-made.
Meet sinners were they are.
Meet people where they are.
Engage culture through God.
Love culture through the Christ Jesus.
Rehabilitate culture through the Holy Spirit.

California Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi directed more than a billion dollars in subsidies to a light rail project that benefitted a company her husband is a major investor in. ‘Salesforce’ paid $278 million for 14 acres in Mission Bay in 2010, from Alexandria Real Estate Equities.

Pelosi’s husband Paul’s holdings in ‘Salesforce’ amount to between $500,000 and $1 million.

Pelosi first purchased the stock in 2000. When it debuted on the market in 2004, it was worth $3.75 per share; this week, it was trading at just under $53.

But this isn’t the first time her congressional dealings have been called into question.

In March 2008 she sponsored a bill allowing HIV-positive patients who do not have AIDS to qualify for Medicaid. Her husband owns $250,000 worth of stocks in ‘Amgen,’ which makes the only AIDS drug covered, thus benefitting her husband.

She is as crooked as her face is surgically altered.

The death of Robin Williams surprised millions. The fact that he died at his own hand came as shock to thousands who have lived through such deaths of a loved one.

I am one of those and through Williams’ death I have found a cathartic healing and am suddenly able to see my brother’s problems in life in a better light.

You see, Adam had the cards stacked against him when he was a youngster. While it would be years before it was called ‘Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder,’ or ADHD, Adam was labeled as hyper and medicated as a result.

This forever changed my brother’s personality. Not only did he become more aggressive as the years progressed, he was also open to experimenting with drugs and alcohol, where I wasn’t.

It was while serving in the Army in South Korea, Adam would find a drug, that I imagine replaced the medicated feelings of his youth. Heroin would rule a majority of his adult life until his death from a self-inflicted methadone patch overdose.

For the four years between his death and Robin Williams’ passing I’ve been angry in one form or another at my younger brother. I see now though, that my anger isn’t the answer – rather its my forgiveness.

Adam was brilliant, an intellectual and gifted human with a grand capacity to empathize with others. Perhaps that empathic quality is what got the better of him and thus he sought refuge from the immense pressure and pain this gift gave him.

I can only speculate on this now – and that would be a waste of time.

But what I can do is forgive him for turning off his light long before it was due to burn out. I can also forgive myself for not being the loving brother and understanding how difficult his life had been since early childhood.

And thank you Robin Williams, you brought an understanding to me far beyond any of the laughter you’ve left behind.

Doctor Ernest Fine bought one of the first automobiles in Del Norte County in 1905. It was a bright red single-seat Ford Roadster powered by a four-cylinder engine.

It’s the beginning of the Old Testament Book of Ecclesiastes where King Solomon notes: “Everything is meaningless.” This is not a happy statement.

First off, ‘Ecclesiastes,’ roughly translates as ‘teacher.’ And ‘meaningless,’ is more or less translated as ‘completely temporary.’

The Book of Ecclesiastes suggests that human wisdom has its limits. The King goes even further to list what he finds meaninglessness in: wisdom, pleasure, folly, toil and advancement.

In some ways it is encouraging to know that people of the tenth century before Christ were asking themselves questions like ‘Why am I here?” It’s a question much of society is still asking all these centuries later and with no clear answer still found.

Unfortunately, we tend to try to answer this question with stuff — money, vehicles, friends, lovers, power and position. The unfortunate part of this is that none of it is ever enough.

So if King Solomon found ‘everything under the sun’ ‘like chasing the wind,’ and ‘meaningless,’ I am not surprised to drawn the same conclusion. After all we each meet that same ending, which is physical death and no one truly knows if it is Heaven or Hell were he’ll repose.

I think best to devote everything to God and in the end he’ll give me meaning.

Stop running from your problems, instead face them head on.
There is no person in the world capable of handling every thing thrown at them.
We aren’t supposed to be able to instantly solve problems. That’s not how we’re made.
In fact, we’re made to get upset, sad, hurt, stumble and fall.
Because that’s the whole purpose of living — to face problems, learn, adapt, and solve them over the course of time.
This is what ultimately molds us into the person we become.
And no, it won’t be easy.

A U.S. State Department diplomat suspected of killing his wife, mother and three sons in 1976 is now on the FBI’s list of “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives,” bringing new attention to the case.

William Bradford “Brad” Bishop Jr., is accused of beating his family to death in their home in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, and then drove to a wooded area in North Carolina, where authorities say he dumped their bodies in a shallow grave and burned them. They weren’t identified until a week later, giving Bishop ample time to plot a getaway.

Investigators say its possible Bishop, who would now be 77 years old, fled to Europe and is living there under a false name. A Yale graduate who later earned a master’s degree in Italian, is fluent in five languages.

While there is no evidence to show Bishop’s whereabouts, investigators are enhancing publicity efforts in the Western United States. Bishop, who was born in Pasadena, California, still has associations in that area, was also known to hike throughout the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range.

There hasn’t been a confirmed sighting of Bishop since 1976, in Jacksonville, North Carolina, although three people who knew him have reported spotting him in Europe over the years, most recently in 1994.

There is a reward of up to $100,000 being offered by the FBI for information leading to the capture of Bishop.

The news left me so stunned that I literally heard myself gasp. I look around the room as Mary and at Kay, they too had their mouths open in shock.

The newscaster had jus’ announced that Robin Williams’ had committed suicide. It felt like a ton of bricks had fallen on me.

Reporting of his death instantly transported me back to 1981 and the overdose death of John Belushi. His much-lauded death stunned me too.

It also caused me to recall the fact that twice in 2002 I tried to off myself as well. The first time was alcohol-fueled and the second simply because I felt I couldn’t go on any longer.

Both attempts were foiled by people who should never have been able to find me. In the first I was amidst a nighttime cow-field, the next while swimming away form the Lake Tahoe shoreline under the cover darkness.

In my case I’ve concluded that God isn’t finished with me yet therefore Angels graced me by guiding people to stop me. As for Robin Williams, maybe God said, “Okay, that’s enough, time for you to come home.”