From the Heart by B.Demaere

For a man named Demetrius, a silversmith, who made silver shrines of Artemis, brought no little business to the craftsmen.  These he gathered together, with the workmen in similar trades, and said, “Men, you know that from this business we have our wealth.  And you see and hear that not only in Ephesus but in almost all of Asia this Paul has persuaded and turned away a great many people, saying that god made with hands are not gods.  And there is danger not only that this trade of ours may come into disrepute but also that the temple of the great goddess Artemis may be counted as nothing…. (Acts 19:24-27) The goddess Artemis was a Greek goddess of wild animals, the hunt, and vegetation.   Yet one silversmith in Ephesus was becoming wealthy as well as providing jobs for others in the community.   Because of such profit it is very understandable that the whole town became upset at Paul’s preaching about a God that could replace all of their gods.   We hold on to worthless things in our

  A Splash of Coffee, Perhaps?   Some things happen to you that are weird and close to be classified as miracles.   Since I do not believe in luck, what happened to me was a miracle.   Now that both my wife and I are retired we do not have to go anywhere past noon.   The Life.   On top of that we both can enjoy breakfast in bed.   I prepare the breakfast (toasts) and coffee.   Keep it simple! This morning I poured the coffee from the machine to a carafe to carry it upstairs.   For that, I needed my portable stereo, the cups, and the carafe…. In the whole process, I did not realize that the carafe was tipped toward my feet and that coffee was pouring out onto the floor (5 cm or 2 inches from my bare feet).   As I realized what was happening and lost all that coffee on the ground.   It was a bit later I became fully aware of the miracle.   I could have been burned with hot liquid and not be able to wear shoes or drive.   As it happened, I did not even get splashed. My question to y