“America smashed the record for billion-dollar weather disasters this year with a deadly dozen, and counting.  With an almost biblical onslaught of twisters, floods, snow, drought, heat and wildfire, the U.S. in 2011 has seen more weather catastrophes that caused at least $1 billion in damage than it did in all of the 1980s, even after the dollar figures from back then are adjusted for inflation...  Extreme weather in America this year has killed more than 1,000 people, according to National Weather Service Director Jack Hayes.

Tis the season—a time for beautiful music, lovely pageantry, parties, fun and family time, the annual bedlam in shopping malls, specialty stores, discount houses and over the Internet.

Last Tuesday, Herman Van Rompuy sent a confidential report to all EU leaders asking them to “respond vigorously by immediate action” to financial issues in Europe.  It directed them to take decisive actions to save Europe.

Recently, I was struck hard by the news that a member of my congregation is going through the trial of sickness. Many people around us are affected by cancer, diabetes, heart problems—name it, it is there. It seems that almost everybody is affected, either directly or through a family member or close friend who is suffering. How should we be responding?

Last Friday, EU leaders met in Brussels to discuss an intergovernmental treaty that will enforce stricter financial laws among EU members.  Four nations initially rejected the treaty but with “a strong diplomatic push… the Czech Republic, Hungary and Sweden entered the fold later.”  Britain was the only one of the 27 EU nations to reject the treaty.