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. ...
That St. Paul had many good friends is evident in the lists of people he greets in his New Testament letters. However...
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...
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...
“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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
In his wonderfully readable book Everybody’s Normal ‘Til You Get to Know Them, author John Ortberg uses the story of the Capernaum invalid to illustrate friendship. ...
In the 1950s, observers coined “upward mobility” to describe the lower- and middle-class rise to better conditions: more money, nicer houses, higher...
In the eight years since I received my doctorate, my career path looks like this: adjunct professor; dean of fine arts/communications; full-time professor; program administrator; unemployed. ...
From my perch on a wide shelf halfway up the canyon wall, I looked back over the territory I had hiked. The day was clear and Montecito lay at the edge of the...
