I am talking to everyone out there who has started a new diet and exercise program since the New Year...and have quit.  I especially want to talk to senior citizens who are discouraged.  You can change things.  Change is not insurmountable.  You are the biggest obstacle you will ever face.  Get back in the fight, stick to your plan, and in months you will start seeing results.  You can do this.  Think about how free you will feel.  Stick to it, and you will be free. 

Several weeks I published a podcast about five things in which Italy is better than the United States.  Well, I have to be fair you know.  I do love my country, the United States, so here are five things I think we do better than Italy (and possibly most of Western Europe).  Some of it is just "tongue in cheek"; some of it is pretty serious reflection on the differences between us and our friends across the pond.  Enjoy.  But either way, I love my country America, and I love my adopted "second home", Italy.  

The media is going crazy about this 2000 mile long snow storm blanketing the United States.  It is going to be rough for many people in the Deep South, I'm sure.

But are there some valuable lessons for us as the nation "hunkers down" and gets ready to be buried under a foot of snow and ice?  I think there are several valuable lessons about preparation...not only for the weekend, but also for a long time to come.    

I just came back from a ski vacation in the Italian Alps.  What a dream come true!  I have been to Italy a few times, and each time it is a beautiful experience.  Although I am very proud about the great things we have and do in America, there are a few things that Italy does much, much better than the U.S., and we could learn a thing or two from them in order to improve our lives.  

Tired of all the "woke" garbage from Disney and other studios?  You just want to take your kids and grandkids to a great film that is visually stunning, has good character development, and tells a good moral story that kids will enjoy?  Take them to see Angel Studios "David."  You will not regret it.  I was VERY impressed with not only the artistry, but how they told the basic story of David from the Bible.  Of course, they don't tell the entire story (that would entail 3 or 4 movies...and some themes are not good for children to hear/see), but what they did show was quite impressive.  If I were Disney...I would watch out for Angel Studios.  

The Breaking News is that President Trump ordered a raid into Venezuela to capture Nicolas Maduro.  What should we think about that?  Is it legal, illegal?  Best for the US?  What message does this send to other nation states that have issues with the US?

Nostalgia ain't what it used to be!  Many of us wistfully look back to a "golden age" in our nation's past, or our personal past, when life was "simpler", and everything was just right.  But there never has been a golden age like.  The prophet Isaiah tells us, however, that one day the perfect golden age WILL come, and through the arrival of the Messiah.  Isaiah 9:1-7 is the Christmas passage you often hear in "Handel's Messiah", and it describes who the Messiah is and what He will do when He finally returns to set up His rule on planet earth.  Christmas is just the beginning of the story!  

Do Christians legitimately believe that Jesus is the fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14?  Doesn't "almah" just mean "young woman", and Isaiah was talking about his wife, and not the virgin Mary some 700 years later?  Dr. J takes a look at Isaiah in the original Hebrew, and in the Greek translation done by Jewish scribes 200 years before Christ (the Septuagint), and gives an answer.  And the hope that this passage brings still brings hope to people every Christmas season.  

I have heard recently statements from podcasters and "journalists" and "historians" that Hitler and the Nazis were "cool" or perhaps just misunderstand.  Winston Churchill was actually the bad guy of World War II.  Really?  Listen in to this analysis of the facts of WW2, and the jargon which passes itself off as legitimate history to uninformed people these days.  

We hear a lot these days about how awful "Western Civilization" is.  Teachers in public schools and colleges are constantly bad-mouthing Western Civilization, but of course they are using their free speech which is a concept that uniquely comes from Western Civilization.  Are there any blessings or advantages of living in a culture that values the heritage of Western Civilization?  I think so, and today's podcast goes through a few of them.