Ole Kassow of Copenhagen loved bicycling One morning when he saw an elderly man sitting alone with his walker in a park Ole felt inspired by a simple idea why not offer elderly people the joy and freedom of a bike ride So one sunny day he stopped at a nursing home with a rented trishaw a three-wheeled bike and offered a ride to anyone there He was delighted when a staff member and an elderly resident became the first riders of Cycling Without Age Now more than twenty years later Ole rsquo s dream to help those who missed [... more]

On her wedding day Gwendolyn Stulgis wore the wedding dress of her dreams Then she gave it away mdash to a stranger Stulgis believed a dress deserved more than sitting in a closet collecting dust Other brides agreed Now scores of women have bonded on her social media site to donate and receive wedding dresses As one giver said ldquo I hope this dress gets passed from bride to bride to bride and it just gets worn out and is in tatters at the end of its life because of all the celebrating that rsquo s done in it rdquo [... more]

When American author O Henry wrote his beloved Christmas story ldquo The Gift of the Magi rdquo he was struggling to rebound from personal troubles Still he penned an inspiring story that highlights a beautiful Christ-like character trait mdash sacrifice In the story an impoverished wife sells her beautiful long hair on Christmas Eve to buy a gold pocket watch chain for her husband As she learns later however her husband had sold his pocket watch to buy a set of combs for her beautiful hair Their greatest gift to each other Sacrifice From each the gesture showed great love [... more]

Building benches isn rsquo t James Warren rsquo s job He started building them however when he noticed a woman in Denver sitting in the dirt while waiting for a bus That rsquo s ldquo undignified rdquo Warren worried So the twenty-eight-year-old workforce consultant found some scrap wood built a bench and placed it at the bus stop It quickly got used Realizing many of the nine thousand bus stops in his city lacked seating he made another bench then several more inscribing ldquo Be Kind rdquo on each one His goal ldquo To make people rsquo s lives just [... more]

When Bill Pinkney sailed solo around the world in mdash taking the hard route around the perilous Great Southern Capes mdash he did it for a higher purpose His voyage was to inspire and educate children That included students at his former inner-city Chicago elementary school His goal To show how far they could go by studying hard and making a commitment mdash the word he chose in naming his boat When Bill takes schoolkids on the water in Commitment he says ldquo They rsquo ve got that tiller in their hand and they learn about control self-control they learn [... more]

The young campus minister was troubled But he looked conflicted when I dared to ask if he prays for God rsquo s direction for His help To pray as Paul urged without ceasing In reply the young man confessed ldquo I rsquo m not sure I believe anymore in prayer rdquo He frowned ldquo Or believe that God is listening Just look at the world rdquo That young leader was ldquo building rdquo a ministry in his own strength and sadly he was failing Why He was rejecting God Jesus as the cornerstone of the church has always been rejected [... more]

After watching cable news for hours each day the elderly man grew agitated and anxious mdash worried the world was falling apart and taking him with it ldquo Please turn it off rdquo his grown daughter begged him ldquo Just stop listening rdquo But the man refused eventually following conspiracy-mongers on social media to ldquo teach rdquo himself what rsquo s ldquo really rdquo happening What we listen to matters deeply We see that in Jesus rsquo encounter with Pontius Pilate Responding to criminal charges brought against Jesus by religious leaders Pilate summoned Him and asked ldquo Are you the [... more]

Once known as the World rsquo s Strongest Man American weightlifter Paul Anderson set a world record in the Olympics in Melbourne Australia despite a severe inner-ear infection and a -degree fever Falling behind frontrunners his only chance for a gold medal was to set a new Olympic record in his last event His first two attempts failed badly So the burly athlete did what even the weakest among us can do He called on God for extra strength letting go of his own As he later said ldquo It wasn rsquo t making a bargain I needed help rdquo [... more]

The bag of snack chips was small but it taught an American missionary a big lesson Working one evening nbsp in the Dominican Republic she arrived nbsp at a church meeting and opened her chips when a woman she hardly knew reached and grabbed a few from the bag Others helped themselves too How rude the missionary thought Then she realized a humbling lesson She didn rsquo t yet understand the culture where she rsquo d agreed to serve Rather than emphasizing individualism as in the United States she learned that life in the Dominican Republic is lived in community [... more]

ldquo The wind is tossing the lilacs rdquo With that opening line of her springtime poem ldquo May rdquo poet Sara Teasdale captured a vision of lilac bushes waving in gusty breezes But Teasdale was lamenting a lost love and her poem soon turned sorrowful Our backyard lilacs also encountered a challenge After having their most lush and beautiful season they faced the axe of a hard-working lawn man who ldquo trimmed rdquo every bush chopping them to stubs I cried Then three years later mdash after barren branches a bout of powdery mildew and my faithless plan to dig [... more]

Temperatures where we live in Colorado can change quickly mdash sometimes within a few minutes So my husband Dan was curious about the temperature differences in and around our home As a fan of gadgets he was excited to unpack his latest ldquo toy rdquo mdash a thermometer showing temperature readings from four ldquo zones rdquo around our house Joking that it was a ldquo silly rdquo gadget I was surprised to find myself frequently checking the temperatures too The differences inside and out fascinated me Jesus used temperature to describe the ldquo lukewarm rdquo church in Laodicea one of [... more]

The sheriff marveled at the prayers estimating ldquo hundreds of thousands or maybe millions of prayers rdquo were lifted to God for help as the East Troublesome Fire raged through the mountains of Colorado in the fall of Living up to its name the blaze consumed acres in twelve hours roaring through tinder-dry forests burning three hundred homes to the ground and threatening entire towns in its path Then came ldquo the Godsend rdquo as one meteorologist called it No not rain A timely snowfall It fell across the fire zone arriving early for that time of year mdash dropping [... more]

The village vicar couldn rsquo t sleep As World War II raged he rsquo d told a small group of American soldiers they couldn rsquo t bury their fallen comrade inside the fenced cemetery next to his church Only burials for church members were allowed So the men buried their beloved friend just outside the fence The next morning however the soldiers couldn rsquo t find the grave ldquo What happened The grave is gone rdquo one soldier told the reverend ldquo Oh it rsquo s still there rdquo he told him The soldier was confused but the churchman explained [... more]

The phone rang and I picked it up without delay Calling was the oldest member of our church family mdash a vibrant hard-working woman who was nearly years old Putting the final touches on her latest book she asked some writing questions to help her cross the finish line As always however I soon was asking her questions mdash about life work love family Her many lessons from a long life sparkled with wisdom She told me ldquo Pace yourself rdquo And soon we were laughing about times she rsquo d forgotten to do that mdash her wonderful stories all [... more]

I wasn rsquo t truthful about the tulips A gift from my younger daughter the packaged bulbs traveled home with her to the US from Amsterdam after she visited there So I made a show of accepting the bulbs with great excitement as excited as I was to reunite with her But tulips are my least favorite flower Many bloom early and fade fast The July weather meantime made it too hot to plant them Finally however in late September I planted ldquo my daughter rsquo s rdquo bulbs mdash thinking of her and thus planting them with love With [... more]

At the sink two little children happily sing the ldquo Happy Birthday rdquo song mdash two times each mdash while washing their hands ldquo It takes that long to wash away the germs rdquo their mother tells them So even before the COVID- pandemic they rsquo d learned to take time to clean dirt from their hands Getting clean can be a tedious process as we learned in the pandemic Scrubbing away sin however means following focused steps back to God James urged believers in Jesus scattered throughout the Roman Empire to turn their focus back to God Beset by [... more]

After breaking with our longtime church my husband and I reunited with the fellowship after three long years But how would people treat us Would they welcome us back Love us Forgive us for leaving We got our answer on a sunny Sunday morning As we walked through the big church doors we kept hearing our names ldquo Pat Dan It rsquo s so great to see you rdquo As children rsquo s author Kate DiCamillo wrote in one of her popular books ldquo Reader nothing is sweeter in this sad world than the sound of someone you love calling [... more]

The four chaplains weren rsquo t known as ldquo heroes rdquo But on a frigid February night in when their transport ship the SS Dorchester was torpedoed off the coast of Greenland during World War II the four gave their all to calm hundreds of panicked soldiers With the ship sinking and injured men jumping for overcrowded lifeboats the four chaplains calmed pandemonium by ldquo preaching courage rdquo a survivor said When life jackets ran out each took his off giving it to a frightened young man They had determined to go down with the ship so that others might [... more]

In Papua New Guinea the Kandas tribe awaited with excitement the arrival of New Testament Bibles printed in their language To get there however both the books and their visitors had to travel on the ocean in small boats to reach the village What gave them courage to travel across great waters Their seafaring skills yes But they also know who created the seas He is the One who guides each of us across our life rsquo s churning waves and deepest waters As David wrote ldquo Where can I go from your Spirit rdquo Psalm ldquo If I go [... more]

On her college volleyball team my granddaughter learned a winning principle When the ball came her way no matter what she could ldquo better the ball rdquo She could make a play that left her teammates in a better situation mdash without throwing tantrums blaming or making excuses Always make the situation better That was Daniel rsquo s response when he and three Hebrew friends were taken into captivity by Babylon rsquo s king Nebuchadnezzar Although they were given pagan names and ordered to three years of ldquo training rdquo in the enemy rsquo s palace Daniel didn rsquo t [... more]

My grandchildren are running around my backyard Playing games No pulling weeds ldquo Pulling them up by the roots rdquo the youngest says showing me a hefty prize Her delight as we tackled weeds that day was how much we enjoyed plucking the weedy roots mdash clearing away each pesky menace Before the joy however came the choice to go after them Intentional weeding is also the first step in removing personal sin Thus David asked the Lord ldquo Search me God and know my heart See if there is any offensive way in me Psalm ndash What a wise [... more]

The winter night was cold when someone threw a large stone through a Jewish child rsquo s bedroom window A star of David had been displayed in the window along with a menorah to celebrate Hanukkah the Jewish Festival of Lights In the child rsquo s town of Billings Montana thousands of people mdash many of them believers in Jesus mdash responded to the hateful act with compassion Choosing to identify with the hurt and fear of their Jewish neighbors they pasted pictures of menorahs in their own windows As believers in Jesus we too receive great compassion Our Savior [... more]

Tough words hurt So my friend mdash an award-winning author mdash struggled with how to respond to the criticism His new book had earned -star reviews plus a major award Then a respected magazine reviewer gave him a backhanded compliment describing his book as well-written yet still criticizing it harshly Turning to friends he asked ldquo How should I reply rdquo One friend advised ldquo Let it go rdquo I shared advice from writing magazines including tips to ignore such criticism or learn from it even while continuing to work and write Finally however I decided to seek the best [... more]

In the city of Philadelphia when weedy vacant lots were cleaned up and brightened with beautiful flowers and trees nearby residents also brightened mdash in overall mental health This proved especially true for those who struggled economically ldquo There rsquo s a growing body of evidence that green space can have an impact on mental health rdquo said Dr Eugenia South ldquo and that rsquo s particularly important for people living in poorer neighborhoods rdquo South a faculty member at the University of Pennsylvania rsquo s Perelman School of Medicine is coauthor of a study on the subject The downtrodden [... more]