Waiting for God
Joseph combed the job listings frustratedly. Previous jobs as a waiter had paid well, but regular weekend shifts typical of the restaurant industry made it hard for him as a new believer in Jesus to attend church regularly. “Why doesn’t God…
Made for Community
When my husband, Alan, and I decided to move across the country to Philadelphia to further his education, I didn’t have a job lined up, and we had no idea how we would afford student housing. On a Sunday, shortly before we were to leave, a church…
Jesus—Food for the Soul
In the African American home I was raised in, meals often included scrumptious “soul food.” The term originated in the mid-1960s when “soul” was a common term used to describe African American culture. Soul food menu items inclu…
Lives Offered to God
“I am thankful to God for His goodness,” reads the plaque, “in permitting me to have a part in building this broad thoroughfare as a frame to the beautiful picture which He created.” The inscription is attributed to highway engi…
Being a Light for Christ
When schools around the globe sent their students home for health and safety during the coronavirus pandemic, the buildings and stadiums stood empty. While acknowledging many were experiencing greater afflictions from the virus, teachers sought ways to…
God’s Timing
Until 1967, units of time were scientifically measured by astronomical patterns: the spin of the earth and its revolution around the sun. But over the centuries, a problem emerged. The earth is actually slowing down in its orbit. Scientists discovered …
Sitting with the Suffering
“Daddy, my head hurts.” “Daddy, I’m so cold.” “Daddy, can you rub my feet?”
A high fever, chills, and body aches recently descended cruelly upon my teenage daughter. She wanted me to make it better. But mostly…
The Cost of Commitment
A group of twenty-two Christian leaders traveled half a day to secretly meet and learn from a pastor who came from another country. If caught, the pastor would be deported, and the others would spend three years in prison. Eighteen of the twenty-two ha…
Rebellion and Return
The Wild One is a 1953 movie starring Marlon Brando as Johnny Strabler, a troubled, brooding leader of a motorcycle gang. In one scene, a young woman notices a gang member’s jacket with the initials, B.R.M.C. When she learns that the “R&rdq…
The Hope Jesus Brings
It began with an email a grieving father sent to me. He had lost his daughter Alyssa—a college junior—in a car accident, and he needed to hear from someone who understood his wrenching pain.
Nearly three hundred emails and four years later…