Sixteen years old and in need of hope he was a hard-shelled kid from a tumultuous home. He had two brothers, four sisters, and a mom who worked three jobs to keep the family afloat. All he needed was hope. He and his oldest brother came to our student ministries group that Wednesday. On Thursday, he laid down in front of an oncoming train. Powerlessness....

How often do you find yourself dealing with guilt? Do you wonder whether you said something hurtful? Let someone down? Left a job unfinished or failed at achieving a goal? Do you lay awake at night ruminating over feelings of shame or thoughts of not measuring up? Cindy had a falling out with a friend when she expressed frustration about being...

Frustrations! Life is full of them, isn't it! You go on a picnic--and rain comes pouring out of nowhere. You look forward all week to a very special meeting and you come down with bronchial morbidities. You're waiting for an important phone call and you've accidentally left the phone partly off the hook. Invariably someone will call me right when...

Focusing on my desktop monitor, I scarcely noticed the young woman enter the church office and sit silently on the chair across the room. “May I help you?” I smiled. Her eyes darted nervously around the room. With forced confidence she replied “I was on my way to get groceries and ended up here.” Looking for a safe place A compassionate...

Getting cut off in traffic, a missed deadline, spilt coffee, a cranky child - it doesn't take much to upset us these days. A recent study by Yale School of Management professor Sigal G. Barsade and Donald Gibson of Fairfield University showed that 1 in 4 Americans feel at least somewhat angry at work. That's a lot of grumpy people in the office....

Life changing events happen to all of us. Important events that change the course of life from that day forward. The ones we choose are usually exciting and filled with anticipation: a wedding, a new career, a family started, a move made. All change the course of events in our lives from that day on and we step willingly into them. It’s the...

Where can we turn when things go really bad? As great as our friends, coworkers, and family are, eventually every one of them will let us down in some way or another, even if their intentions are good. As close as we get to our spouse or siblings, they can't really understand the pain we are experiencing. And as much as we try to improve ourselves...