Bookends

There are bookends that sit on my table
With my Bible, and journals and books
A tottering row of this thing and that
With my thoughts and my dreams in their nooks

Like my opening show on its one end
With the years crowded there in between
And together they give me reminders
Of my soon coming brief closing scene

Yet my heart holds a peace at its center
For God promised that I have a place
And the one who is writing my chapters
Keeps the best for the last by His grace

So, teach us to number our days,
That we might get a heart of wisdom
Psalm 90:12 ESV
Bookends by Peter Caligiuri
Copyright © 2026
All rights reserved


TI not AI in the coming Storm

According to a recent CNBC report, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, will invest 60-65 billion dollars in AI research in 2025. Add in Alphabet, Nvidia, Microsoft and Amazon and the scope of what lies ahead in Artificial Intelligence is unimaginable. Everything from our banking to our how our refrigerator works will be affected. Our children’s education, what we see on television, listen to on the radio or receive in the mail will be driven by forces far greater than any Madison Avenue marketing firm could have imagined even a decade ago. So, unless we plan on entering a monastery or joining the Amish community, we Christians need to determine now rather than later how we will respond.

First, let’s all, take a deep breath and remember that the beginning of wisdom, (True Intelligence) is the fear of the Lord. Our God, who with one word spoke light into existence, filled the universe with stars and created our each of our bodies with 30 trillion cells, is a lot smarter than any Artificial Intelligence anyone can come up with! Living for Jesus means trusting in Him, and bringing our problems, fears, and questions to Him every day, including every challenge the world throws our way. We don’t have to figure everything out. God already knows the future and He has promised an eternal kingdom to those who place their trust in Him.

Secondly, God is not surprised. In the last chapter of Daniel, God tells Daniel that in days to come, people will run faster and faster and that knowledge will increase. (Sound familiar?) But then God tells him to go about his business, assures him of His peace, reminds Daniel that as he takes a stand, he will be blessed. (Daniel 12:13 KJV). I am confident that this promise was reassuring to the aging prophet Daniel, but it is also great advice for us today. It is easy to lose our head, worrying about what might happen tomorrow, but we don’t need to worry about tomorrow today. We just need to focus on what God has given us for now. God knows what is coming and already has a plan in place. So, let’s trust Him as we do what He has given us today, and trust that He is smarter than anything the world will ever come up with!

Last, invest time, energy, and resources in people, not things. Jesus was far less impressed by Herod’s spectacular temple complex than He was by the heart a poor widow who gave two pennies into its treasury. Jesus allowed Himself to be arrested, stripped of His clothing, and nailed to a cross to purchase what mattered most to Him: the salvation of you and me! Let’s get our focus off of the latest gadgets being marketed to us and ask God how to follow the True Intelligence of Jesus Christ by serving hurting people in His name. Compared to the power of AI, the ways of God may sound foolish, but the wisdom of the world is foolishness with God and His glory can shine brightest through cracked clay jars filled with the light of Jesus Christ.

Listening to our Children

But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without variance, without hypocrisy.            James 3:17 ASV

When driving through a snowstorm or rush hour traffic it helps to turn on some easy listening music. The soothing sound of the melodies can calm our nerves and lower the intensity of our situation down so we can better focus. Now if you asked our sons who was that easy listening person that they wanted to talk to when they were in trouble; that would have picked their mom. It’s not so much that Nancy was easy on them, but she made them feel welcome to tell her their problems. She was easy to be entreated.

James tells us that we need to ask God for wisdom and that includes being easy to be entreated. Maybe some of us don’t make others feel welcome to share their troubles; because we don’t believe that God will listen to ours. But the amazing truth is that God welcomes us when we come with problems or even just small stuff that we struggle with. Always remember that God never asks us to do anything that He hasn’t already done Himself. He is easy to be entreated; willing to listen and ready to teach us to be easy listeners to others when they are in need.