On Being Reactors, Not Actors

In our lives in the world, the temptation is always to go where the world takes us, to drift with whatever current happens to be running strongest. When ...

The Importance of Intentionality

Alan Kraft writes in “Good News for Those Trying Harder”:

Not long ago, I read that a person my age should drink 16 glasses of water a day. ...

How the Internet Creates a "Permanent Puberty of the Mind"

Before Shane Hipps became a Mennonite pastor, he was a former strategic planner in advertising. In both vocations, he has learned a great deal about how ...

"Civil Lunatics" Reveal a Disturbing Piece of Human Nature

As human beings, we have an amazing capacity for ignoring the things that make us uncomfortable. We ignore symptoms of deteriorating health until something ...

"Wall•E": Unprepared to Go Home

In many ways the Pixar's animated film Wall•E is a story about coming home. It tells the story of a lonely robot who for 700 years has been cleaning ...

Resident Regrets Snap Judgment of Patient

Dr. Katrina Firlik was the first woman admitted into the neurosurgery residency at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Her recent book, Another ...

Lent: Cleaning Out the Hidden Corners of Our Hearts

In the daily round of life, dust and cobwebs accumulate in our souls. The hidden corners of our hearts become encrusted with grime or filled with forgotten ...

Lent: A Time to Stop Doing and Try Being

Maybe Lent is a good time to stop doing and try being. … Relinquishment lies at the heart of the Christian gospel and is a countercultural choice ...

Outthinking Burglars or Playing into Their Hands?

If we knew the most likely place a thief might strike would we react differently? The front door and first-floor window are the most common places burglars ...

Valuing the Contributions of Those Around You

Improvisation is the willingness to live within the bounds of the past and yet search for the future at the same time. Improvisation is the desire to ...