What’s so good about Good Friday? Why isn’t the day called Bad or Sad Friday? After all, it’s meant to be a day of sorrowful reflection, not a day of celebration. Sometimes, this day takes other names, such as Holy Friday. In Germany,…

When I broke my upper arm, my friend Rex surprised me by shipping a care box of frozen soups with a beautiful silver ladle. I was deeply touched and kept the ladle long after consuming the soup. My arm has healed and dear Rex has since passed away but …

At a job interview, Carol was asked repeatedly, “Why did you leave your previous job?” The interviewer had an inkling of the conflict she’d had with her former employer and wanted to know what had happened.
While acknowledging &ldquo…

Hudson Taylor was troubled. He’d left England to share the gospel about Christ in China, and ministry—though challenging—had gone well. But in 1865, as he considered sending more people to minister to a more dangerous part of the coun…

To become a lawyer in California, Maxcy Filer had to pass the state’s grueling, three-day bar exam. So he took it not once, not twice, but forty-eight times before passing the tough test. His goal? To advocate for the underprivileged in Compton, …

Although it was Palm Sunday, a day to celebrate the triumphal entrance of Jesus into Jerusalem, for Mary Edwar it became a time of deep pain. Leaving their church after the service, she and her husband, Kareem, were holding hands when a bomb went off. …

“No, you can’t go to the lake,” I said to my daughter with my head tucked under the sink as I fixed a broken pipe. “Dad, you promised that after I had finished my chores, I could go,” she reminded me. I’d forgotten w…

My niece, a college freshman, was busy with schoolwork and adjusting to a new residence. Because of recent security issues, her school required a vehicle pass. Since applying for this would be one more task on her long to-do list, I offered to do it. &…

Some years ago, artist Michael Landy counted up everything he owned, making a list of 7,227 possessions. What he did next was eye-opening. Setting up a factory in London’s busiest shopping district, Landy publicly destroyed it all. Clothes, artwo…

Watching sporting competitions and meeting athletes was a dream come true for me when I attended a Summer and Winter Olympics as a young reporter. I was enthralled by hearing people from all over the world speaking in different languages and celebratin…