My wife, Angie, and I had discussed the idea of adoption for years, both prior to and right after our marriage. But now, when adoption seemed our only recourse [because of our infertility], we made the subject off limits. It felt like an act of surrender rather than a choice. Like a consolation prize. Like second place.

As we balanced the delicate walk between grief and hope, I decided that I had to ...

When my then 13-year-old daughter Heather first complained of discomfort on her right side, I wasn't too concerned. But when, several days later, she was writhing and crying in pain, I knew something was terribly wrong. The doctor confirmed what I had suspected: appendicitis. He wrote it in bold, black letters across her chart.

"I'm sorry," he told her kindly, "but that appendix is going to have to ...

Many products are designed to imitate the real thing. There is plastic decking that looks like real wood. Vinyl flooring that appears to be ceramic tile. You can purchase fake fur or jewelry, phony noses, hairpieces, and other body parts. The purpose behind all of these items is fairly obvious, but what about a can of Spray-on Mud?

Spray-on Mud is designed for use on the outside of your SUV. That way ...

It's sundown, Lord. The shadows of my life stretch back into the dimness of the years long spent. I fear not death, for that grim foe betrays himself at last, thrusting me forever into life: life with you, unsoiled and free.

But I do fear. I fear the dark specter may come too soon— or do I mean too late? That I should end before I finish or finish, but not well. That I should stain ...

Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live, taking the form of a readiness to die. "He that will lose his life, the same shall save it" is not a piece of mysticism for saints and heroes. It is a piece of everyday advice for sailors or mountaineers. It might be printed in an alpine guide or a drill book. The paradox is the whole principle of courage; even of quite ...

The late Dawson Trotman, founder of The Navigators, was visiting Taiwan on one of his overseas trips. During the visit he hiked with a Taiwanese pastor back into one of the mountain villages to meet with some of the national Christians. The roads and trails were wet, and their shoes became very muddy. Later, someone asked this Taiwanese pastor what he remembered most about Dawson Trotman. Without ...

Percentage of people in England who:

Believe in God: 65
Believe in the traditional Christian understanding of a "personal God:" 28
See God as a "spirit or life force:" 37

Percentage of English population that holds membership in the Church of England:

1990: 40 percent
1999: 27 percent

Percentage of English population that is Catholic: 9

Percentage of English who said they:

Never went to church at all: 46Go ...

Imagine a sheer, steep crag with a projecting edge at the top. Now imagine what a person would probably feel if he put his foot on the edge of this precipice and, looking down into the chasm below, saw no solid footing nor anything to hold on to.

This is what I think the soul experiences when it goes beyond its footing in material things, in its quest for that which has no dimension and which exists ...

God cannot be grasped by the mind. If he could be grasped, he would not be God.

God is not discoverable or demonstrable by purely scientific means, unfortunately for the scientific minded. But that really proves nothing. It simply means that the wrong instruments are being used for the job.