National headlines are filled with the newest threat to National Security — an election day disaster, in which the process of tabulating and recording votes may be compromised.

The 2016 Presidential Campaign is judged, by all accounts, as the most unprecedented, unpredictable and strangest campaign in modern history. It’s been unusually ugly; it’s been nasty and it’s produced two candidates who possess “HUGE” flaws in character and style. As one writer put it: “out of 320 million people, is this the best we could do?” Truth be known every candidate for leadership here and around the world, past or present, is flawed due to the raw material that makes them who they are…their humanity! Our human flaws permeate every institution - family, school, work, government, community and church.

Odds makers, the world’s financial markets and the experts were certain Britain would vote to remain in the European Union. The “markets” were up for days before the big “Brexit” vote. When the votes were counted all the prognosticators were wrong! The vote wasn’t even close. Few people could read the tea leaves of discontent brewing in the heart of so many Brits. This event is one of a long string of history-making events that have rocked history and caught all of us unaware:

'What is love? What is creation? What is longing? What is a star?' thus asks the last man, and he blinks. -- Friedrich Nietzsche

When I was attending college for art I became rather dismayed by the development of art in the past century. I wondered how we got from beautiful meaningful art of the past to the banal silliness of postmodernism. At that time, a friend gave me a copy of Francis A. Schaeffer's Escape From Reason. Schaeffer's book offered a profound understanding of the development of culture. Schaeffer was concerned that Christians were unaware of the new environment which make it difficult to communicate the truth of scripture. He traced the development of philosophy to the arts and then to mass culture to show how it shaped the world-view of the 1960's. Although

He nicknamed himself “The Greatest” and few disagreed. Born Cassius Marcellus Clay in 1942, Boxing Heavyweight Champion Muhammed Ali died earlier this month. He wasn’t the first personality to step onto the world arena who eventually earned enough public recognition to be branded with a bigger than life nickname!

In the twentieth century, Elvis Presley was “The King” (reportedly responding to the title when he first heard it by saying: “only Jesus is King”).  John Wayne was “The Duke”. Then there was the singer who called himself “Prince”.  It seems to me as if we are subliminally longing for a monarchy!

Over the Memorial Day weekend, when America honors its military fallen dead, the nation was gripped by the story of a young boy who had wandered past barriers and fallen into the Cincinnati Zoo gorilla enclosure. An anxious mom, visitors and zoo staff looked on in fear as the 450 pound gorilla manipulated the tiny child through the enclosure’s running stream as if he was a toy. Within minutes, zoo management decided the boy’s life was in imminent danger. They then had the primate killed. The boy was rescued suffering only minor injuries. End of story? Not by a long shot!