I love casting my mind back over all the movies I have seen to find the gems of pure truth that sometimes glint out of the most surprising places.

But for Bright Week, there's only one I can think of that seems appropriate.

          At time of writing, we are still reeling from incoming news of the bomb blasts that went off at the Boston Marathon.  News footage of twin explosions that went off within seconds of each other, reports of shattering glass, of individuals killed outright and many others injured and maimed, including young children, all combine to pummel the heart and reduce us to a state of shock.  Though the President of the United States did not use the words “terrorist act” in his initial statement to the press, others from his office did later confirm that this is being treated as an act of terror, given that the explosions seemed to have been coordinated.  Once again it seems that America is under attack.  Whatever sense of ease, safety, and complacency we may have built up in the years since the horrific events of “9-11” is now being challenged.  How should a Christian respond to all this?

Are you so geek that you wonder about the legal implications of superheroes, supervillains, and--yes--zombies? Well, I found the following interesting article which had among its comments:

Turning into a zombie isn't exactly fun, but there could be one advantage: You may not be legally responsible for whoever you kill and eat while in the state. That's the verdict from Ryan Davidson, a lawyer who focuses on the hypothetical legal ramifications of comic book tropes, characters, and powers ... "It depends on how the disease works," he told The Huffington Post. "If zombies are effectively unconscious, then they would be incapable of performing voluntary actions and thus immune to criminal liability (or civil liability, for that matter). The zombies in the most recent 'I Am Legend' movie appear to be fully conscious, if perhaps a bit aggressive, so they could potentially be found liable. But in most others, probably not."

After 5 hours and 53 minutes of grueling tennis, a man stops, smiles, and then crosses himself in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He does so to thank the One who is responsible for getting him from the war-torn land of Kosovo to the number one spot in men’s world tennis.

"Only 3% of the world's children live in the United States, but Americans buy more than 40% of the world's toys."  This was the staggering statistic my fifth-grade daughter presented to our family while reading her school subscription to TIME For Kids.

Does anybody NOT love Downton Abbey? Don't we love its Old World grandeur and all the noble gentry and hardworking servants that keep it running? Don't we wish we could keep them all safe from any more of the terrors of the 20th century? I have wondered what advice I could give to the lord of the manor, and I've wondered what the future has in store for us.

We bought snacks and eagerly awaited the date on the calendar. My husband made sure we didn't book anything on Sunday the 3rd of February, because that was Super Bowl Sunday and we were looking forward to it. 

 Like most families, our kids were included. Watching football is a family thing, right?

 So, when we sat down to watch, we weren't prepared for the shock of this year’s Super Bowl commercials. After all, they're known for being the funniest commercials of the year, right?

Well…funny is not the word I would use to describe them.

      In answer to this question, one is tempted to ask rhetorically, “Where to begin?”  Westboro Baptist Church, as my Wikipedia friends tell me, is the independent Baptist church in Topeka, Kansas that has become famous for (in the words of Wikipedia) “its extreme ideologies, especially those against homosexuality, and its protest activities, which include picketing funerals of American servicemen and desecrating the American flag”.  A Google search easily reveals their abundant use of protest signs, which declare, among other things, “God hates fags”, “Pray for more dead soldiers”, “God hates you”, “God hates Jews”, and “Israel is doomed”.  There is more, but you get the idea.  The general message is one of hate.  Given this insanity of what is essentially a cult, it is not surprising that Baptist organizations such as the Southern Baptist Convention have taken pains to distance themselves from them, and to stress that they have no connection with Westboro Baptist. 
   

       Consider the following scenario: a man breaks into the house of another man, a Christian. The Christian whose house is broken into is afraid, and gets the gun that he keeps in his house. After shouting at the intruder, he takes aim and shoots him, killing him so that the intruder is pronounced dead on arrival when the police cart off the intruder’s body to the hospital. A number of people in America and elsewhere would applaud the man with the gun for protecting his family, and would possibly argue that this is why gun control in America is problematic. But what would the historic Christian Faith say?

This country is reeling from the shock and agony of last's week's unthinkable shooting. No one can find the answers to explain a mass killing of this magnitude.

How do we get through this?

It's natural to mourn, but it's tough to know how to take this grief and turn it into something productive. Right now, the media is the loudest voice everyone is hearing. Rather than spending hours finding out what type of gun the killer used or the details of the horrific crime, turn to God and each other for hope, rather than despair.

Here are 12 ways cope during this difficult time.