He was loved by all mdash those were the words used to describe Don Guiseppe of Casnigo Italy Don was a beloved man who rode around town on an old motorbike and always led with the greeting ldquo peace and good rdquo He worked tirelessly on behalf of the good of others But in the last years of his life he had health problems and in response his community purchased a respirator for him But when his condition grew grave he refused the breathing apparatus choosing instead to make it available for younger patients who needed it Hearing of his [... more]

In his book nbsp Adopted for Life Dr Russell Moore describes his family rsquo s trip to an orphanage to adopt a child As they entered the nursery the silence was startling The babies in the cribs never cried and it wasn rsquo t because they never needed anything but because they had learned that no one cared enough to answer My heart ached as I read those words I remember countless nights when our children were small My wife and I would be sound asleep only to be startled awake by their cries Daddy I rsquo m sick or [... more]

It had been a few years since my long-time friend and I had seen one another During that time he rsquo d received a cancer diagnosis and started treatments An unexpected trip to his state afforded me the chance to see him again I walked into the restaurant and tears filled both of our eyes It rsquo d been too long since we rsquo d been in the same room and now death crouched in the corner reminding us of the brevity of life The tears in our eyes sprang from a long friendship filled with adventures and antics and [... more]

A place where the buffalo roamed in the US That rsquo s truly what it was in the beginning The Plains Indians followed bison there until settlers moved in with herds and crops The land was later used as a chemical manufacturing site after Pearl Harbor then even later for Cold War weapon demilitarization But then one day a roost of bald eagles was discovered there and soon the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge was born mdash a -acre expanse of prairie wetland and woodland habitat on the edges of the metropolis of Denver Colorado It is now one [... more]

Madeleine L rsquo Engle made it a habit to call her mother once a week As her mother moved into her later years the beloved spiritual writer called more frequently ldquo just to keep in touch rdquo In the same way Madeleine liked her children to call and maintain that connection Sometimes it was a lengthy conversation filled with significant questions and answers Other times a call simply making sure the number was still valid was sufficient As she wrote in her book Walking on Water nbsp ldquo It is good for the children to keep in touch It is [... more]

I call it the ldquo lean to green rdquo miracle It rsquo s happened every spring for more than fifteen years mdash and I rsquo m still amazed when it does Coming out of the winter months the grass in our yard is dusty and brown so much so a casual passerby might believe it rsquo s dead Colorado has snow in the mountains but the climate on the plains mdash ldquo the Front Range rdquo mdash is dry with most warmer months full of drought warnings But every year around the end of May I turn on the sprinklers [... more]

ldquo I know what they rsquo re saying But I rsquo m telling you rdquo As a boy I heard my mother give that speech a thousand times The context was always peer pressure She was trying to teach me not to follow the herd I rsquo m not a boy any longer but herd mentality rsquo s still alive and kicking A current example is this phrase ldquo Only surround yourself with positive people rdquo Now while that phrase may be commonly heard the question we must ask is ldquo Is that Christlike rdquo nbsp nbsp nbsp ldquo But [... more]

Some years ago a man walked about a block ahead of me I could clearly see his arms were full of packages All of a sudden he tripped dropping everything A couple of people helped him to his feet assisting him in collecting what he rsquo d dropped But they missed something mdash his wallet I picked it up and took off in hot pursuit of the stranger hoping to return that important item I yelled ldquo Sir sir rdquo and finally got his attention He turned just as I reached him As I held out the wallet I rsquo [... more]

ldquo You rsquo ll be in my thoughts and prayers rdquo If you hear those words you might wonder if the person really means it But you never had to wonder when Edna Davis said them Everyone in the small one stoplight town knew of ldquo Ms Edna rsquo s rdquo yellow legal pad mdash page after page lined with name after name Early each morning the aging woman prayed out loud to God Not everyone on her list received the answer to prayer they wanted but several testified at her funeral that something God-sized had happened in their life [... more]

ldquo Will the real person rsquo s name please stand up rdquo That rsquo s the familiar line at the end of the game show To Tell the Truth A panel of four celebrities ask questions of three individuals claiming to be the same person Of course two are impostors but it rsquo s up to the panel to discern the actual person In one challenging episode the celebrities tried to guess ldquo the real Johnny Marks rdquo who wrote the lyrics to ldquo Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer rdquo The celebrities found out just how difficult it is even with [... more]

The day finally came mdash the day I realized my father wasn rsquo t indestructible As a boy I knew his strength and determination But in my early adult years he injured his back and I realized that my father was mortal after all I stayed with my parents to help my dad to the bathroom assisting him in dressing even guiding a glass of water to his mouth mdash it was humbling to him He made some initial attempts to accomplish small tasks but admitted ldquo I can rsquo t do anything without your help rdquo He eventually recovered [... more]

ldquo There rsquo s no place like home There rsquo s no place like home rdquo Those unforgettable lines spoken by Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz reveal a story-telling device found in an overwhelming number of our most enduring stories from the likes of Star Wars to The Lion King It rsquo s known as ldquo the hero rsquo s journey rdquo In brief an ordinary person is living an ordinary life when an extraordinary adventure is presented The character leaves home and travels to a different world where tests and trails await as well as mentors and villains [... more]

Most mornings I recite the Lord rsquo s Prayer I rsquo m not worth much for the new day until I rsquo ve grounded myself in those words Recently I rsquo d said only the first two words mdash ldquo Our Father rdquo mdash when my phone rang It startled me as it was a m Guess who The phone display read mdash ldquo Dad rdquo Before I had a chance to answer the call quickly ended I guessed my dad had called by mistake Sure enough he had Random coincidence Maybe but I believe we live in a world [... more]

Baby gender reveals in were dramatic A look back reveals that in July a video showed a car emitting blue smoke to indicate ldquo It rsquo s a Boy rdquo In September a crop-duster plane in Texas dumped hundreds of gallons of pink water to announce ldquo It rsquo s a Girl rdquo There was another ldquo reveal rdquo though that uncovered significant things about the world these children will grow up in At the conclusion of YouVersion revealed that the most shared highlighted and bookmarked verse of the year on its online and mobile Bible app was Philippians ldquo [... more]

My friend rsquo s father died recently He got sick his condition deteriorated quickly and in a matter of days he was gone My friend and his dad always had a strong relationship but there were still so many questions to be asked answers to be sought and conversations to be had So many unsaid things and now his father is gone My friend is a trained counselor he knows the ups and downs of grief and how to help others navigate those troubled waters Still he told me ldquo Some days I just need to hear Dad rsquo s [... more]

Are we there yet Not yet Are we there yet Not yet That was the back-and-forth game we played on the first and definitely not the last sixteen-hour trip back home to Arkansas from Colorado when our children were young Our oldest two kept the game alive and well and if I had a dollar for every time they asked well I rsquo d have a stack of dollars It was a question my children were obsessed with but I the driver was equally obsessed wondering ldquo Are we there yet rdquo And the answer was ldquo Not yet but [... more]

A successful businessman spent the last few decades of his life doing all he could to give away his fortune A multi-billionaire he donated cash to a variety of causes such as bringing peace to Northern Ireland modernizing Vietnam rsquo s health care system and not long before he died he spent million to turn New York City rsquo s Roosevelt Island into a technology hub The man said ldquo I believe strongly in giving while living I see little reason to delay giving Besides it rsquo s a lot more fun to give while you live than to give [... more]

I grew up the firstborn son of a Southern Baptist preacher Every Sunday the expectation was clear I was to be in church Possible exceptions Maybe if I had a significant fever But the truth is I absolutely loved going and even went a few times feverish But the world has changed and the numbers for regular church attendance are not what they used to be Of course the quick question is why The answers are many and varied Author Kathleen Norris counters those answers with a response she received from a pastor to the question ldquo Why do we [... more]

She finally had the chance to visit the church Inside in the deepest part of the basement she reached the small cave or grotto Candles filled the narrow space and hanging lamps illuminated a corner of the floor There it was mdash a fourteen-pointed silver covering a raised bit of the marble floor Bethlehem rsquo s Grotto of the Nativity mdash the place marking the spot where according to tradition Christ was born Yet the writer Annie Dillard found herself less than impressed realizing God was much bigger than that spot nbsp nbsp Still such places have always held great [... more]

Seventeen months after our first child mdash a boy mdash was born along came a little girl I was overjoyed at the thought of having a daughter but I was also a bit uneasy because while I knew a few things about little boys this was uncharted territory We named her Sarah and one of my privileges was rocking her to sleep so my wife could rest I rsquo m not sure why but I started trying to sing her to sleep and the song of choice was ldquo You Are My Sunshine rdquo Whether holding her in my arms [... more]

Every Friday evening the national news my family views concludes the broadcast by highlighting an uplifting story In contrast to the rest of the news it rsquo s always a breath of fresh air A recent ldquo good rdquo Friday story focused on a reporter who had suffered from COVID- fully recovered and then decided to donate plasma to possibly help others in their fight against the virus At the time the jury was still out on how effective antibodies would be But when many of us felt helpless and even in light of the discomfort of donating plasma via [... more]

The two women occupied the aisle seats across from each other The flight was two hours so I couldn rsquo t help but see some of their interactions It was clear they knew each other might even be related The younger of the two probably in her sixties kept reaching in her bag to hand the older I rsquo d guess in her nineties fresh apple slices then homemade finger sandwiches then a towelette for clean up and finally a crisp copy of the New York Times Each hand-off was done with such tenderness such dignity As we stood to [... more]

nbsp Alice Kaholusuna recounts a story of how the Hawaiian people would sit outside their temples for a lengthy amount of time preparing themselves before entering in Even after entering they would creep to the altar to offer their prayers Afterward they would sit outside again for a long time to ldquo breathe life rdquo into their prayers When missionaries came to the island not always but sometimes their prayers felt different They would stand up utter a few sentences call them ldquo prayer rdquo say amen and be done with it The Hawaiians described these prayers as ldquo without [... more]

I rsquo d see her welcoming the dawn each day She was our local power walker As I drove my kids to school she rsquo d be there on the road rsquo s shoulder Equipped with an oversized pair of headphones and knee-high colorful socks she walked with an alternating movement of arms and feet always with one foot in contact with the ground The sport is different from running or jogging Power walking involves an intentional restraint a reining in of the body rsquo s natural inclination to run Although it doesn rsquo t look like it there rsquo [... more]

His name is Spencer But everybody calls him ldquo Spence rdquo He was a state track champion in high school then he went on to attend a prestigious university on a full academic scholarship He lives now in one of America rsquo s largest cities and is highly respected in the field of chemical engineering But if you were to ask Spence his greatest achievements to date he wouldn rsquo t mention any of those things He would excitedly tell you about the trips he makes to Nicaragua every few months to check in on the kids and teachers in [... more]

ldquo The Lord is my high tower We left the camp singing rdquo On September Etty Hillesum wrote those words on a postcard then threw it from a train Those were the final recorded words we would hear from her On November she was murdered at Auschwitz Later Hillesum rsquo s diaries of her experiences in concentration camps were translated and published They chronicled her perspectives on the horrors of Nazi occupation side by side with the beauty of God rsquo s world Her diaries have been translated into sixty-seven languages mdash a gift to future generations who would read [... more]

The weather forecast said bomb cyclone That rsquo s what happens when a winter storm rapidly intensifies as the atmospheric pressure drops By the time night fell the blizzard conditions made the highway to the Denver airport almost impossible to see Almost But when it rsquo s your daughter who rsquo s flying home to visit you do what you have to do You pack extra clothes and water just in case you get stranded on the highway drive very slowly pray without ceasing and last but not least trust your headlights And sometimes you can achieve the almost impossible [... more]

I live in Colorado a state in the western US known for the Rocky Mountains and our annual snowfall But the worst natural disaster in my state had nothing to do with snow but rain The Big Thompson flood occurred on July around the resort town of Estes Park When the water finally receded the death toll was lives not including livestock In the wake of that disaster significant studies were done in the area especially in regard to the foundation of roads and highways The walls of the roads that withstood the storm were those filled with concrete In [... more]

Pennies nickels dimes quarters and occasionally a half-dollar That rsquo s what you rsquo d find on the nightstand beside his bed He rsquo d empty his pockets each evening and leave the contents there for he knew eventually they rsquo d come to visit mdash they being his grandchildren Over the years they learned to visit his nightstand as soon as they arrived He could have put all that spare change in a coin bank or even stored it away in a savings account But he didn rsquo t He delighted in leaving it there for the little ones [... more]

ldquo Dear Father nbsp in heaven nbsp I rsquo m not a praying man but if you rsquo re up there and you can hear me show me the way I rsquo m at the end of my rope rdquo That prayer is whispered by a broken-down George Bailey the character played by Jimmy Stewart in the classic film It rsquo s a Wonderful Life In the now iconic scene Bailey rsquo s eyes fill with tears They weren rsquo t part of the script but as he spoke that prayer Stewart said he ldquo felt the loneliness the hopelessness [... more]

Ashton and Austin Samuelson graduated from a Christian college with a strong desire to serve Jesus However neither felt called to a traditional ministry in the church But what about ministry in the world Absolutely They blended their burden to end childhood hunger with their God-given entrepreneurial skills and in launched a restaurant that serves tacos But this is not just any restaurant The Samuelsons operate from a buy-one-give-one philosophy For every meal bought they donate money to provide a meal specifically designed to meet the nutritional needs of malnourished children So far they have made contributions in over sixty [... more]

Scaling It rsquo s a term used in the world of fitness that allows room for anyone to participate If the specific exercise is a push-up for example then maybe you can do ten in a row but I can only do four The instructor rsquo s encouragement to me would be to scale back the push-up according to my fitness level at the time We rsquo re not all at the same level but we can all move in the same direction In other words she would say ldquo Do your four push-ups with all the strength you have [... more]

In the s the bustling community of North Lawndale on Chicago rsquo s West Side was a pilot community for interracial living A handful of middle-class African Americans bought homes there on ldquo contract rdquo mdash that combined the responsibilities of home ownership with the disadvantages of renting In a contract sale the buyer accrued no equity and if he missed a single payment he would immediately lose his down payment all his monthly payments and the property itself Unscrupulous sellers sold at inflated prices then the families were evicted when they missed a payment Another family would buy on [... more]