Some time ago, experts from Scotland were called in to examine a bottle of very expensive whiskey sold by an exclusive Swiss Hotel. A Chinese millionaire had been staying at the hotel and decided to treat himself to a drop or two from a bottle in the hotel’s collection dating from 1878. This guest paid 10,000 Swiss Francs, over 12,000 dollars, for those few drops.

The great Victorian preacher, Charles Spurgeon, once told a story about a crossing-sweeper—someone who swept the dirty street ahead of a wealthy person, in exchange for a tip. Apparently, an artist wanted to paint the city and include an unkempt, ragged, filthy crossing-sweeper in the picture.

Jesus was no ordinary man. He performed countless miracles. In one chapter alone (Matthew 8), we are told that Jesus cleansed the defiled, healed the diseased, and drove out demons with a word.

We live today in a world short on hope and amply supplied with despair. For most, the daily news isn’t good. We are all looking for hope in the midst of the chaos—hope for life to go back to normal.

It’s a scary thing to be in a state of open war; it’s unsettling to think that you might be under attack but quite unaware of what’s taking place. It’s no secret that warfare today is undergoing rapid change. There are still live fronts with soldiers and military hardware in many places. But there is a whole new aspect to it: the silent, the covert, the electronic.