And now, brothers, we want you to know about the grace that God has given the Macedonian churches. Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up...
On Easter Sunday in 1970, John Michael Tebelak went to church. He left depressed and later said he felt the dry liturgy did more to keep the stone rolled in front of the...
Sitting in traffic one hot afternoon, I studied the SUV in front of me sporting prestigious decals from private schools, exclusive camps, and elegant country clubs. I started thinking about our...
Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. Exodus 20:12 My mother-in-law, Genevieve, grew weaker by the...
The gathering was sudden and unexpected; most folks there hadn’t seen each other in years. Old slights were long forgotten, failures forgiven. Excesses of earlier days seemed inconsequential. All...
That St. Paul had many good friends is evident in the lists of people he greets in his New Testament letters. However...
The cry inspired Kentucky’s state motto. In the 1970s, it was the title of a popular song. Following the September 11th attacks, the three words became a rallying point: United we stand. ...
“Take a step. You can do it,” the instructor called out from far below. I was riveted to the pole top at the beginning of the ropes course. This was a bonding weekend...
The single greatest spiritual liability of the modern era may be our so thoroughly removing death from view. While the greater portion of human history admits death’s undeniable presence and...
I've learned by now to be content whatever my circumstances. I'm as happy with little as with much, with much as with little. I've found the recipe for being happy whether I'm full...
I am the new girl again: new to town, a fish out of water, standing at the doorway of a room of people who all evidently know each other. They are greeting friends...
Life is difficult: So begins The Road Less Traveled, M. Scott Peck’s landmark bestseller, but I have mixed emotions about Peck’s opening assertion. Who can argue that life is difficult,...
As a child, Corrie ten Boom learned the ethical principles of Scripture. As a watchmaker and young adult, she examined them to...
A central theme of Paul’s writings can be summed up in two words: “new creation.” In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul writes, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new...
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stood before an edgy bride and perspiring groom to recite what nearly every woman...
In the mid 1970s, radio airwaves were full of Harry Chapin’s Cat’s in the Cradle, a haunting ballad of an out-of-sync father and son who never manage to spend time together. Years after...
The room was small, stuffy . . . crowded with stale air. Two beads of perspiration traveled in rivulets from the nape of my neck to the small of my back. To the...
To a non-New Yorker, in this case a Texan, Manhattan can be too much—too much traffic, too much noise, too much commotion, and far too many people in too little space. But when...
History, someone has said, is written by the winners, not the losers. Ever hear of Casper Schwenckfeld (shvenk-feld) von Ossig? As a...
In the year 328, the man we now call Saint Athanasius succeeded Alexander in Egypt as bishop of Alexandria—a center of early Christianity. For the previous fifteen years, (beginning with the First...
