Our kids often come home excited to tell us the interesting things they’ve learned in school. So when our 9-year-old asked me if I knew how to balance a book at least an inch high off the counter on just a sheet of paper, I knew there had to be a logical explanation though I couldn’t envision... read more »

During a recent 3-week stay in the hospital, I met Kathy. She shared her grave medical condition and her strong faith—an unflinching belief in Jesus. She loved Him and trusted Him, but she also knew she was heading home to hospice care. Her days on earth were counting down. As my wife and I talked... read more »

Nepal 2012 The land of smiles. We often say that a problem is a “First World Problem” or a “Third World Problem.” Does it matter whether the problem lies in a specific part of the world? Problems will arise when and where they want, and one problem is all that is required to send all the... read more »

In an interview, pop music star Katy Perry stated that she wasn’t thrilled with her strict religious upbringing. “I didn’t have a childhood,” she lamented. “I’ve always been the kid who’s asked ‘Why?’ In my faith, you’re just supposed to have faith. But I was always like . . .... read more »

Our city has become a gathering place for refugees. Some escape political persecution. Some have abandoned countries ravaged by decades of war. Some, seeking to provide for their family, have come to a place they didn’t know with the hope they would find peace. In a neighborhood just a stone’s... read more »

A father was trying to explain to his 5-year-old daughter how she could see and speak with her mother using a smartphone. He tried his best to explain how technology had put her mother inside the phone but to no avail. Sensing his exasperation, the daughter said, “Daddy, I don’t need to know how... read more »

Romans 5:1-4: Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look... read more »

Sometimes life holds moments—and even needs— too deep for words. Not all silence comes from a desire to hide or pretend we’ve got life together. The reasons may be varied: Perhaps we feel the need to keep a rightful confidence or find that speaking puts another’s reputation at unnecessary... read more »

Last year we watched with sorrow and concern as an earthquake, tsunami, and ensuing nuclear disaster rocked Japan. MSNBC captured a particularly heart-wrenching photograph of 4-year-old Manami Kon having the sad occasion to practice her recently learned ability to write. Manami slowly penned a... read more »

“A thousand times I’ve failed, still Your mercy remains. Should I stumble again, still I’m caught in Your grace.” So goes the lines of one of my favorite songs. It’s true, God’s grace is like the sand on the earth, the waters clothing the oceans. It is the very... read more »