To watch or not to watch: That was the question. 

I arrived at my answer fairly quickly: Yes, I would watch the first presidential debate between Barack Obama and John McCain. And yes, I realized it would air on Friday evening, my Sabbath.

Take a good look at the people in the pews when you get to church next Sabbath. Not to be invasive or nosy, but to think about a disturbing reality: The odds are very high that a few of your fellow worshippers were sexually abused as children.

The 3ABN preacher on my mother's television was set to sermonize on the Mark of the Beast. That's when I decided it was time for me to go.

As a born-and-raised SDA, I assumed the worst: another SDA Mark of the Beast sermon, another SDA anti-Catholic diatribe. Maybe this preacher was going to be different, but I wasn't going to watch him to find out.

Comedian and actor Bernie Mac was no Bill Cosby. He cussed like a pimp about to beat his whore, like a drill sergeant breaking down a recruit.

Since mid-June, I've been in and out of hospitals more than at any other time in my life. My father has cancer.

Recently, Miami Herald columnist Leonard Pitts got me thinking about the truth.

One of the complaints I've heard some black SDA ministers share through the years is that the church -- the corporate church -- didn't show up during the civil rights era. Individual Adventists did, but not church leaders in their official capacity using their authority and resources.

More than one week after hearing it, SevenLove's jazz-blues version of the old gospel song "I'll Fly Away" still wings its way through my mind. So I went to the group's website. It describes itself as a Christian band that has a "70s-80s hard funk, rock, R&B" sound.

Barack Obama's candidacy has ushered in a new era in America's on-going discussion about race. He's articulated a relatively new black point of view, one that seeks to acknowledge history while seeking understanding. He wants reconciliation, not retribution. (Watch or