Last weekend Belgium sent troops to protect sites across the nation, including some Jewish sites. “It was the first time in 30 years that authorities used troops to reinforce police in Belgium’s cities” (Times of Israel, January 17, 2015).

After several years of the value of the Swiss franc being capped against the euro, “The euro lost nearly 20 percent of its value against the Swiss franc on Thursday [January 15] after the central bank abandoned the cap on the franc’s value against the single currency” (EU Observer, January 15, 2015). “The value of the Swiss franc increased by around 30 percent in the hours following the announcement… The euro also fell to new lows against the dollar and sterling.

Have you ever considered all the things we take as truth, things that actually shape our lives by guiding our behaviors, habits, and attitudes? Some of our beliefs come from friends to whom we gave credibility for reasons we have long forgotten. Others were handed down to us by our parents, and some of what we take for granted is "just the way things are."

Have you ever heard someone speak lies aloud almost as a way of affirming or looking for affirmation what they want to believe was true? Have you ever done this yourself?

“An underwater volcano off Tonga was spewing ash high into the air on Tuesday, causing several carriers to suspend air travel to the South Pacific island nation and turning the surrounding ocean blood red, residents and officials said” (The Guardian, January 12, 2015). “The Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai underwater volcano… was sending volcanic ash up to 4,500m into the air...

“Over 2,000 people were killed by Boko Haram fighters during the massacre [last week]... Hundreds of bodies - too many to count - remain strewn in the bush in Nigeria from an Islamic extremist attack that Amnesty International suggested Friday is the ‘deadliest massacre’ in the history of Boko Haram” (Sydney Morning Herald, January 13, 2015).