When I was about eight years old, some boys on the elementary basketball team played a cruel prank on me. They shoved me in an old, abandoned locker room and held the door closed. That was the longest five minutes of my childhood....

Last week a little girl told me about the teacher at her school who kept scolding the class with these words, “Shame on you!” If that teacher wants her students to carry around shame for something they did...

Groundhog Day hit theaters in 1993 when I was a senior in high school. It became an instant classic and eventually a cult favorite, still resonating with audiences 27 years later! It’s the story of an arrogant, self-centered weatherman named Phil Connors (Bill Murray) who finds himself waking up and reliving the same day over and over again. That day was Feb. 2, Groundho...

There’s a place in the Bible where Solomon makes a keen observation about human beings. He writes, “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18). As one of the greatest kings of Israel...

Have you ever felt surrounded? Pressure, trouble, enemies…hemming you in and backing you up—with nowhere to turn? That’s where King David found himself when his son Absalom betrayed his trust. In a gut-wrenching act of treachery Absalom staged a mutiny against his own father. ...

Grace is confusing. Have you noticed? It provokes two completely different reactions. In one sense, we find grace attractive. Our hearts long for the one-way, unconditional acceptance that grace delivers. Love, not judgment. Pardon, not punishment. Who wouldn’t sign up for that?...

A few years ago, TIME Magazine published an article listing the top ten commonly broken New Year’s Resolutions. Here’s three of them. ...

Years ago I caught my son breaking pencils. Little convict had a whole pile of splintered number 2’s hidden in a drawer. I confronted him. “Why are you breaking all my pencils, buddy?” His answer? “To show how powerful I am.” I haven’t forgotten his response. It’s comical. It’s human. It’s an opportunity to think more deeply about “power.” We prove ou...

Have you heard of Hiroo Onoda? He was the last Japanese soldier to surrender in World War 2. But he didn’t wave a white flag in 1945. Hiroo held out for nearly 30 years deep in the Philippine jungles of Lubang. Obeying orders, he refused to surrender under any circumstances—including villagers leaving notes declaring that the war was over, the Japanese government d...