Hansle Parchment was in a predicament He caught the bus to the wrong place for his semifinal in the Tokyo Olympics and was left stranded with little hope of getting to the stadium on time But thankfully he met Trijana Stojkovic a volunteer helping out at the games She gave him some money to take a taxi Parchment made it to the semifinal on time and eventually clinched the gold medal in the -meter hurdle Later he went back to find Stojkovic and thanked her for her kindness In Luke we read of the Samaritan leper who came back to [... more]

Charla was dying and she knew it While she was lying on her hospital room bed her surgeon and a group of young interns poured into the room For the next several minutes the doctor ignored Charla as he described her terminal condition to the interns Finally he turned to her and asked ldquo And how are you rdquo Charla weakly smiled and warmly told the group about her hope and peace in Jesus Some two thousand years ago Jesus rsquo battered naked body hung in humiliation on a cross before a crowd of onlookers Would He lash out at [... more]

In our moments of greatest failure it can be easy to believe it rsquo s too late for us that we rsquo ve lost our chance at a life of purpose and worth That rsquo s how Elias a former inmate at a maximum-security prison in New York described feeling as a prisoner ldquo I had broken promises the promise of my own future the promise of what I could be rdquo It was Bard College rsquo s ldquo Prison Initiative rdquo college degree program that began to transform Elias rsquo life While in the program Elias participated in a [... more]

At a children rsquo s music recital I watched a teacher and student seat themselves in front of a piano Before their duet began the teacher leaned over and whispered some last-minute instructions As music flowed from the instrument I noticed that the student played a simple melody while the teacher rsquo s accompaniment added depth and richness to the song Near the end of the piece the teacher nodded his approval The Christian life is much more like a duet than a solo performance Sometimes though I forget that Jesus is sitting next to me rdquo and it rsquo [... more]