With the referee’s final gesture, wrestler Kennedy Blades became a 2024 Olympian. She pressed her palms together, lifted her hands and eyes to the heavens, and gave God glory. A reporter asked about her growth over the past three years. The elite…

Living in a coastal town, Valerie loved warm weather, wildlife photography, and being in the water. Above all, she loved watching the sunrise over the ocean. Every morning, she woke up before dawn to catch a view of the water. Val estimated that despit…

“I don’t know where I’d be today if my mom hadn’t prayed for me. I don’t think I’d even be alive,” my friend Rahim related. He was a former addict who’d spent time in prison for drug distribution. Over co…

My friend confided that he hadn’t been sleeping well. His sleeplessness was related to a difficult family situation that had kept him up at night. It happened that this was the day I was prepared to discuss Psalm 3 in my adult Sunday school class…

During a family reunion many years ago, my mother shared some words she’d written. She honored her grandmother, a woman I’d never met but had heard her spoken of often. Mom wrote that she recalled Mama Susan getting up “before dawn&rd…

Manuel was late for church and stuck at a red light. As he waited impatiently, his daughter noticed a stranded driver trying to fix a tire. “Daddy, you’re good at changing tires,” she said. “You should help her.” Manuel wa…

“It’s the little foxes that spoil the vine,” my grandmother used to say. Then my mom repeated the same thing. And now I say it to my own children. But what does it mean to beware of “the little foxes”?
After planting grap…

“May we invite you to be the main speaker in our nationwide church leadership conference?” After Jose read the invitation from the renowned organization, he replied, “Please let me pray about it first.” Later, when he turned dow…

Hundreds of guests filled a golden ballroom to celebrate a nonprofit’s fiftieth anniversary and honor those who made it possible, especially those who had been involved for decades. A founding member shared      with grat…

Beneath the rugged cliffs of Brora, Scotland, a sheep needed rescue. Trapped in a valley surrounded by steep and unyielding rock on one side and the vast ocean on the other, the sheep had been on its own for two long years. Despite several rescue attem…