Tommy Mann

I have never been a night owl. I am not a lazy person, but I do enjoy my sleep. When evening comes, my body starts shutting down. New Year's Eve is the worst day on the calendar. There are times when I have to force myself to stay awake. Sometimes it is a work requirement, or maybe a road trip, and yes, New Year's Eve.  But in reality, I have to stay awake every day because that is what Jesus commanded us to do, just in a metaphorical sense. In Mark 13 Jesus spoke of His return to earth, and in verse 33 He said, "Be on guard, keep awake. For you do not know when the time will come." We do not know when Jesus will come back, so we must stay awake. I don't want to be found sleeping when He comes. The goal should be to live every day as if He is coming back in the next hour, because there is a lot of work to be done. When we lull ourselves to sleep thinking we have plenty of time, we are not carrying out the Great Commission. But if we truly live as if His return is ...

As Christians we should share our faith with other people, but sometimes people express their hesitation to do saying, "They won't believe me." There are many other points of view in the world--from atheism to a variety of religions--so we waver on sharing our faith.  It is normal to worry that people will not believe us, and even mock us. They will call us simple minded when we say we believe God is the Creator rather than Darwinian evolution. They will call us closed minded when we say Jesus is the exclusive way to the Father (as He said of Himself in John 14:6). They will call us hateful when we tell the truth, intolerant when we don't go along with sin, and hypocritical when we mess up. We cannot let our fear of rejection keep us from sharing the message. Did you know that the very first act of evangelism was rejected? The first people to share the good news (the gospel) were laughed at and told they were wrong. It's true. On Resurrection Morning, a group of l...

Have you heard of the flamingo parasite? It actually has a long Latin name, but it is commonly known as the flamingo parasite because of its close relationship with the pink bird. This particular parasite, which is a tapeworm, needs to find its way into the stomach of the flamingo in order to live. So how does it get there? The flamingo has no desire to eat this tapeworm, and even if it did, it would be next to impossible to even see them. No problem. The tapeworm has a plan. They make their way inside shrimp, and using a system of hooks, attaches itself into the brain of the new host. The parasite then takes control of the shrimp, first causing them huddle up in packs, and then changing their color from transparent to pink. This makes the shrimp easy to spot, and since flamingos enjoy eating shrimp, problem solved. As the bird’s digestive tract breaks down the shrimp, the tapeworm is free to continue its life cycle inside the flamingo. How does the tapeworm know how to do any of this?...