In many ways the Pixar's animated film Wall•E is a story about coming home. It tells the story of a lonely robot who for 700 years has been cleaning up the trash left behind by humans on an abandoned planet. Wall•E stands for "Waste Allocation Load Lifter–Earth class." While we are never told so, it is likely that Wall•E is the last operating robot on the planet. All of the human ...

As we look at Christ's first coming this Christmas season, here's a story to help us keep in mind Christ's Second Coming:

In April of 2008, I had to drive to Fort Wayne, Indiana, for work, so I went to Enterprise to rent a car. They gave me a big, brand-new, comfy Chrysler 300 to drive—and I loved it! In fact, I enjoyed feeling large and in charge so much that I blew right past the first tollbooth. ...

Robby Robins was an Air Force pilot during the first Iraq war. After his 300th mission, he was surprised to be given permission to immediately pull his crew together and fly his plane home. They flew across the ocean to Massachusetts and then had a long drive to western Pennsylvania. They drove all night, and when his buddies dropped him off at his driveway just after sun-up, there was a big banner ...

Surf's Up is an animated film about a young penguin named Cody Maverick (voiced by actor Shia LaBeouf), who longs to leave his hometown and become a famous surfer like his hero, a penguin known as Big Z. His dream leads him to the island of Pen Gu, where he competes in the "Big Z Memorial Surf Off" against the nine-time champion, a bully of a penguin named Tank Evans.

The movie spoofs documentary films; ...

It is said that Satan once called to him the emissaries of hell and said he wanted to send one of them to earth to aid women and men in the ruination of their souls. He asked which one would want to go. One creature came forward and said, "I will go." Satan said, "If I send you, what will you tell the children of men?" He said, "I will tell the children of men that there is no heaven." Satan said, ...

William Miller seemed an unlikely striker of panic. He tended a farm in Vermont, fought in the War of 1812, and served as a justice of the peace. His religious life, however, had not been so steady.

Early in life, Miller followed Deism, the rationalistic faith of many American intellectuals (and several founding fathers). He converted to Christianity in 1816, then began assiduous study of the Scriptures. ...

How the news media would announce the end of the world:

Sports Illustrated: "Game's Over!"

Ladies' Home Journal: "Lose 10 Pounds by Judgment Day with Our New Armageddon Diet!"

Inc. Magazine: "Ten Ways You Can Profit from the Apocalypse."

CNN: "World Ends; Women and Children Most Affected."

AOL: "System Temporarily Down. Try Calling Back in 15 Minutes."

[Our] striving after wind is motivated by a sinister desire to be independent of God, free from the frightening vulnerability of His watch-care. If we really do leave the securing of the universe up to Him, there's no telling what He might pull. When God calls the shots, people turn into prophets, mountains get cast into the sea, and dead men come back to life. Better we should be in control and ...

The story goes that on New Year's Eve 999 a crowd pushed its way into St. Peter's Basilica in Rome to pray at a midnight mass led by Pope Sylvester II. Some trembled, some wept—all were on their knees or prostrate in prayer. The beginning of the end, the great day of wrath, God's judgment, was moments away.

For months reports of meteors and earthquakes seemed to signal the end. All across Europe, ...

After church, where she had been taught about the Second Coming, a little girl was quizzing her mother.

"Mommy, do you believe Jesus will come back?"

"Yes."

"Could he come this week?"

"Yes."

"Today?"

"Yes."

"Could he come in the next hour?"

"Yes."

"In a few minutes?"

"Yes, dear."

"Mommy, would you comb my hair?"