Prejudice and Forgiveness
After hearing a message about correcting injustice, a church member approached the pastor weeping, asking for forgiveness and confessing that he hadn’t voted in favor of calling the black minister to...
View ArticleGod's Restoring Ways
One of the most moving songs in the musical The Greatest Showman is “From Now On.” Sung after the main character comes to some painful self-realizations about the ways he’d wounded family and friends,...
View ArticleFirm Refusal
When the Nazis drafted Franz Jägerstätter during World War II, he completed military basic training but refused to take the required pledge of personal loyalty to Adolf Hitler. Authorities allowed...
View ArticleGod’s Power on Display
It was a lightning storm, and my six-year-old daughter and I laid down on the floor to watch the dazzling display through the glass door. She kept repeating, “Wow! God is so big.” I felt the same way....
View ArticleAuthentic Christianity
I applied for a position in a Christian organization years ago and was presented with a list of legalistic rules having to do with the use of alcohol, tobacco, and certain forms of entertainment. “We...
View ArticleSeeking God’s Help
For five years in the late 1800s, grasshoppers descended on Minnesota, destroying the crops. Farmers tried trapping the grasshoppers in tar and burning their fields to kill the eggs. Feeling desperate,...
View ArticleThe Greatest Symphony
When BBC Music Magazine asked one hundred fifty-one of the world’s leading conductors to list twenty of what they believed to be the greatest symphonies ever written, Beethoven’s Third, Eroica, came...
View ArticleGod Carries Us
In 2019, Hurricane Dorian was overwhelming the islands of the Bahamas with intense rain, wind, and flooding—the worst natural disaster in the country’s history. Sheltering at home with his adult son...
View ArticleOf Prayer and Dust and Stars
Lara and Dave desperately wanted a baby, but their physician told them they were unable to have one. Lara confided to a friend: “I found myself having some very honest talks with God.” But it was after...
View ArticleBlooming for Jesus
I wasn’t truthful about the tulips. A gift from my younger daughter, the packaged bulbs traveled home with her to the US from Amsterdam after she visited there. So I made a show of accepting the bulbs...
View ArticleThe Joy God Provides
When Marcia’s out in public, she always tries to smile at others. It’s her way of reaching out to people who might need to see a friendly face. Most of the time, she gets a genuine smile in return. But...
View ArticleGod’s Love Is Stronger
In 2020, Alyssa Mendoza received a surprising email from her father in the middle of the night. The message had instructions about what to do for her mother on her parents’ twenty-fifth anniversary....
View ArticleJesus Is Our Peace
A monk named Telemachus lived a quiet life, but his death at the end of the fourth century changed the world. Visiting Rome from the East, Telemachus intervened in the blood sport of the gladiatorial...
View ArticleOvercoming Envy
In the film Amadeus, aging composer Antonio Salieri plays some of his music on the piano for a visiting priest. The embarrassed priest confesses he doesn’t recognize the tunes. “What about this one?”...
View ArticlePriceless Lives in Christ
Tears streamed down my cheeks during a frantic search for my lost wedding and anniversary rings. After an hour of lifting couch cushions and scouring every nook and cranny of our home, Alan said, “I’m...
View ArticleWho Needs Your Support?
Clifford Williams was sentenced to die for a murder he didn’t commit. From death row he vainly filed motions to reconsider the evidence against him. Each petition was denied—for forty-two years. Then...
View ArticleThe Beauty of Adoption
The 2009 film The Blind Side depicts the true story of Michael Oher, a homeless teenager who’s adopted by a family who helps him overcome learning difficulties and achieve excellence in American...
View ArticleWalking with Jesus
Lean food rations, waterproof boots, and a map are some of the essentials carried by hikers on the John Muir Trail. The John Muir Trail is a 211-mile path in the western United States that winds across...
View ArticleNot Forgotten
“Uncle Arthur, do you remember the day you took me to the barbershop and the supermarket? I was wearing tan khakis, a blue-plaid oxford shirt, a navy-blue cardigan, brown socks, and brown Rockport...
View ArticleGreatness
Cuthbert is a much-loved figure in northern England. Responsible for evangelizing much of the area in the seventh-century, Cuthbert counseled monarchs, influenced state affairs, and after his death the...
View Article