Loving the Unlovable

One day Francis of Assisi was riding on horseback down the road that went by a leper hospital situated far from Assisi, for then, as in biblical times, ...

Parable of Christ's Sacrifice

The mother of a nine-year-old boy named Mark received a phone call in the middle of the afternoon. It was the teacher from her son's school.

"Mrs. ...

Touching the Hurting

Len Sweet in Postmodern Pilgrims recounts a letter a physician wrote to a church-related magazine:

Today I visited an eight-year-old girl dying of cancer. ...

Christmas Giving

It's just a small, white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree. No name, no identification, no inscription. It has peeked through ...

Loving God through Loving Others

From Saul Bellow's collection of traditional Jewish tales comes this story:

In a small Jewish town in Russia, there is a rabbi who disappears each ...

At Death, What Really Matters

In LeadershipJournal.net, Kevin Miller writes:

I watched a man die last night. Hospice Room 436 lay unusually quiet—except for labored breathing, ...

Parents Too Permissive

Pediatricians and psychologists are finding today's parents are too permissive. They are reluctant to set limits for their children. And this benign ...

Loving Example Brings Conversion

I once invited a friend, Gavin, to help my pastor and me guide 30 lively teens through an all-night "lock-in" at church. Early in the evening ...

Attacking Others, Hurting Jesus

A young lady named Sally took a seminary class taught by Professor Smith, who was known for his elaborate object lessons. One day Sally walked into class ...

Love's Disarming Power

On April 6, 2000, Ricky and Toni Sexton were taken hostage inside their Wytheville, Virginia, home by a fugitive couple on a crime spree. Toni had taken ...