It was a Monday morning but my friend Chia-ming wasn rsquo t in the office He was at home cleaning the bathroom A month unemployed he thought and no job leads His firm had shut down because of the COVID- pandemic and worries about the future filled Chia-ming with fear I need to support my family he thought Where can I go for help In Psalm the pilgrims to Jerusalem asked a similar question about where to find help The journey to the Holy City on Mount Zion was long and potentially dangerous with travelers enduring an arduous climb The [... more]

It rsquo s a m at an acute-care hospital A worried patient presses the call button for the fourth time in an hour The night-shift nurse answers without complaint Soon another patient is screaming crying for attention The nurse isn rsquo t surprised She requested the night shift five years ago to avoid her hospital rsquo s daytime frenzy Then the reality hit Night work often means taking on extra tasks such as lifting and turning patients by herself It also means closely monitoring patients rsquo conditions so physicians can be notified in emergencies Buoyed by close friendships with her [... more]

Something that sounded like firecrackers roused Joanne from sleep Glass shattered Wishing she didn rsquo t live alone she got up to see what was going on The dark streets were empty and the house seemed to be okay mdash then she saw the broken mirror Investigators found a bullet only a half-inch from the gas line If it had struck the line she probably wouldn rsquo t have made it out alive Later they discovered it was a stray bullet from nearby apartments but Joanne was afraid to be at home She prayed for peace and once the glass [... more]

In his book Fearfully and Wonderfully Made co-authored with Philip Yancey Dr Paul Brand observed ldquo A hummingbird heart weighs a fraction of an ounce and beats eight hundred times a minute a blue whale rsquo s heart weighs half a ton beats only ten times per minute and can be heard two miles away In contrast to either the human heart seems dully functional yet it does its job beating times a day ndash times a minute with no time off for rest to get most of us through seventy years or more rdquo The amazing heart so thoroughly [... more]

The clouds hung low blocking the horizon and limiting visibility to only a few hundred yards The minutes dragged on The effect on my mood was noticeable But then as afternoon approached the clouds began to break and I saw it beautiful Pikes Peak the most recognizable landmark of my city flanked on each side by the mountain range A smile broke over my face I considered that even our physical perspective mdash our literal line of sight mdash can affect our spiritual vision And I was reminded of the psalmist singing ldquo I lift my eyes to the mountains [... more]