I met a lady years ago and began inviting her church. She was not opposed to Christianity, she just had been out of church for years. One random Sunday she showed up and loved the service. She even filled out a connect card and asked for follow up. A close member of her family needed counseling. Our church reached out and met her need. She began to attend more regularly. S...

When James Calvert went out as a missionary to the cannibals of the Fiji Islands, the ship captain tried to turn him back, saying, “You will lose your life and the lives of those with you if you go among such savages.” Calvert replied, “We died before we came here.” ...

’m not afraid of heights. At least, I didn’t think I was. Once I trekked 630 feet to the top of the tallest monument in the United Sates, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. Okay, full disclosure, I took a Tram Car. At the observation area on top, a row of widows displayed a panoramic layout of the city—thirty miles in either direction. The view was stunning and I couldn�...

Thousands of years ago, a man named Job asked the question that has haunted and eluded human beings since the fall of mankind: “How can a man be right with God?”...

When I graduated high school I repeated a pattern most of the kids in my town followed. I enrolled in a local college about 20 minutes from my house. I didn’t have to move out. I didn’t have to quit my job or leave town. I didn’t have to pay for tuition. I didn’t have to start over. It made sense...

In the villages of Costa Rica, a man acquired a motorcycle, but had no clue how to operate it. Being a proud villager, he refused to ask for help and was content merely to push that powerful machine from one village to another, never realizing its full potential. He had no idea how it started. He did not understand it, so he did not experience it. And he certainly did not ...

Long ago, I was given false directions by a stranger...

I grew up watching a show called Tales from the Darkside. A creepy-sounding musical note opened each show, along with a correspondingly creepy narrator who introduced the theme: darkness. But what I remember most is how each episode ended. “The Darkside is always there waiting for us to enter; waiting to enter us.”...

In Bee Movie, Barry B. Benson is a honeybee who, upon discovering endless shelves stocked with honey in a grocery store, decides to take humanity to court. He sues them for exploiting honeybees everywhere. They steal, consume, and sell honey...

Saving Private Ryan is one of my favorite war movies. The title actually summarizes the plot. James Ryan is the last living sibling in his family and serving as a paratrooper in Normandy. His three brothers have been killed in combat so the United States Army launches a mission to find and rescue him from the war. ...

Paul couldn’t wait to get to Rome and make that announcement. He was eager, unashamed, chomping at the bit. Why? Surely a message about a crucified and resurrected Jewish carpenter would fall flat in the power center of the world. So on what basis was Paul willing to expose himself to shame, slander, and even death?...

Larry Walters needed some bigger perspective. So he went to the Army-Navy surplus store, bought forty-five used weather balloons, filled them with helium, and attached them to his self-made aircraft, a Sears lawn chair named Inspiration. ...

A friend of mine recently commented, “Perspective is the only thing that can change the whole world, without altering any of the facts.” I couldn’t agree more. ...

A. W. Tozer pointedly wrote, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us…Always the most revealing thing about the Church is her idea of God” (The Knowledge of the Holy)....

My wife and I were recently picking up the remains of a care package from our family in Arkansas. We discovered a birthday card that had been mined for the cash inside and then tossed aside. We read the message from my family and were moved by their love, care, and thoughtfulness. In his rush to grab “the good stuff” while ignoring his grandmother’s greeting, one of ...