Serving at the Pleasure
Andrew Card was the Chief of Staff to American president George W. Bush. In an interview regarding his role in the White House he explained, “In each staff member’s office hangs a framed statement of...
View ArticleA National Campout
We camped under the stars, with nothing between us and the infinite West African sky. No need for a tent in the dry season. But the fire was crucial. “Never let the fire go out,” Dad said, prodding the...
View ArticleGod’s Life-Changing Gift
I greeted our youth group as my husband and I handed out Bibles. “God will use these priceless gifts to change your life,” I said. That night, a few students committed to reading the gospel of John...
View ArticleCalling Our Heavenly Father
Minutes after U.S. President Harry Truman announced the end of World War II, a phone rang in a small clapboard house in Grandview, Missouri. A ninety-two-year-old woman excused herself to take the...
View ArticleGrappling with God
An old friend sent me a note after my husband’s death: “[Alan] was . . . a grappler with God. He was a real Jacob/Israel and a strong reason why I am a Christian today.” I’d never thought to compare...
View ArticleOur Armor in Christ
Pastor Bailey’s newfound friend shared with him the story of his abuse and addiction. Though the young man was a believer in Jesus, because of his exposure to sexual abuse and pornography at an early...
View ArticleTrapped in Chocolate
Two workers at a Mars candy factory in Pennsylvania fell into a large vat of chocolate. This might sound like the beginning of a joke—and perhaps a lovely predicament to chocolate lovers! But the...
View ArticleServing Jesus
In the early 1800s, Elizabeth Fry was appalled by the conditions in a London women’s prison. Women and their children were crowded together and made to sleep on the cold stone floors. Although they...
View ArticleDo I Belong?
Actress Sally Field finally felt what we all long for. When she won a second Oscar in 1985, she exclaimed in her acceptance speech: “I’ve wanted more than anything to have your respect. The first time...
View ArticleSearch My Heart, God
To reduce food waste, a supermarket chain in Singapore sells slightly blemished fruits and vegetables at lower prices. In one year, this initiative saved more than 850 tons (778,000 kg) of produce that...
View ArticleHeavenly Abundance
I expected eight bananas. Instead, when I opened the grocery bags delivered to my home, I discovered twenty bananas! I quickly realized that my move to England meant I also moved from ordering...
View ArticleUncovered Sins
A thief broke into a phone repair shop, smashed the glass of a display case, and began pocketing phones and more. He tried to conceal his identity from the surveillance camera by covering his head with...
View ArticleWorship First
I’d never planned to start a non-profit organization about adult friendship, and when I felt called to do so, I had so many questions. How would the charity be financed, and who should help me build...
View ArticleBetter Together in Christ
Dr. Tiffany Gholson had seen crime impact her small American city of East Saint Louis, Missouri in many ways. By 2023, however, the town recorded a 31 percent drop in homicides and a 37 percent drop in...
View ArticleDevoted to Prayer
“I’ve been praying for you for fifty years,” said the elderly woman. My friend Lou looked into her eyes with profound gratitude. He was visiting the Bulgarian village that his father grew up in and...
View ArticleNews Worth Celebrating
For more than two centuries, the hymn placed first in the Methodist hymnbook was “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing.” Written by Charles Wesley and originally titled “For the Anniversary Day of One’s...
View ArticleFrom Age to Age
Two grandmothers from Texas became media sensations recently for completing a journey around the world in eighty days at the age of eighty-one. The globetrotting best friends of twenty-three years...
View ArticleRenewing Our Strength
A pair of eagles built a giant nest in a tree a few miles away from my house. Before long, the enormous birds had eaglets. They cared for their hatchlings together until one of the adult eagles was...
View ArticleBrokenness that Blesses
His back is hunched, and he walks with a cane, but his six decades of spiritual shepherding are evidence that he leans on God—the source of his strength. In 1993, the Reverend William Barber was...
View ArticleTaking Responsibility for Words
It’s almost unheard of for institutions to admit guilt after a tragedy. But one year after a seventeen-year-old student’s death by suicide, a prestigious school admitted it “fell tragically short” in...
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