As I write this post, nearly half of the trapped Chilean miners have been rescued. The thirty-three miners were trapped on August 5th 2010 when the main ramp into the San Jose mine in northern Chile collapsed. CNN showed live video of the rescue and a live tracker on their front page displaying the number of people rescued so far. Similarly, in...

Would you let go of your child if it meant giving them a better life? This past Sunday I was watching Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, a show that I love even though it makes me cry.  It was the season premiere – did you see it? Instead of building a house for one family they built a home for Boys Hope Girls Hope Baltimore, a group that takes at...

Angry, frustrated and confused, I boarded a plane for Southern California. My dear friend and mother-in-law lay in a hospital bed with the shadow of death hovering. As I sat on the plane numb and expressionless. I cried, “Lord, where are you? Can’t you see my wounded heart?” I wanted to scream instead of cry, “LORD, I CAN’T DO THIS ANYMORE!”...

When both US president Barack Obama and Catholic Pope Benedict XVI advise you that your plans are a bad idea, that's usually a good sign that you should think twice about what you're doing. Terry Jones would be well advised to listen to their advice. His tiny 30 member group, ironically named the "Dove World Outreach Church" in Gainesville, Florida,...

Alone and discouraged, I sat staring at a computer screen. I was frustrated by the way my life had turned out. I’d worked hard to hold onto remnants of hope for my marriage, but each day that summer I could feel it slipping through my fingers.  I felt so alone.  God was still there, I knew, but I longed for people who would talk back.  Late...

It’s been five years now since the wind and rain of Hurricane Katrina bore down on the gulf coast. Five years since the levees broken and the world came off it’s hinges for the residents of New Orleans and the gulf coast.  It is impossible to imagine all that was lost in those days, and here five years later, much of it is still waiting to...

Comforting friends who have gone through significant hurt or loss is not easy. We want to support and encourage our friends during their time of trial, but often what we say can only make things worse. One of my professors, while teaching a graduate course I took called "Evil & Suffering" (not the most uplifting course name ever devised) talked...