A note from Brian Lowery, managing editor: "News That Illustrates" is a new feature that we're adding to our weekly illustrations. Each week I'm going to offer links to ten, up-to-the-minute news articles that I feel have some real illustrative potential for you as a preacher. Enjoy!

The folks at Slate asked readers to share what they have sacrificed in light of the recession. Some of the responses ...

Recently I spoke with a friend named Carol (name changed) who had just returned from a difficult ocean cruise. She works for an organization that was helping to sponsor the getaway for a group of more than 1,000 people. In the middle of winter, Carol flew with her colleagues from Chicago to Mobile, Alabama, where they were to board the ship. As she and hundreds of other excited vacationers waited ...

On the surface, it sounds like a healthy company was rewarding its best and brightest. Over 400 employees recently received bonuses. Three-fourths of the company received more than $100,000. Fifty-one employees received $1 to $2 million; fifteen received more that $2 million, and six received $4 million. The highest bonus stood at $6.4 million.

Bonuses, [$165 million in bonuses.]

But these bonuses were ...

...

This impulse can be hard to quantify, mainly because thinking about it makes us uncomfortable. But it's pictured well in a disturbing practice currently employed by the Nigerian judicial system in western Africa.

The country of Niger has an established police and criminal justice system—one of the remnants of its days as a French colony. There are Nigerian police officers and judges, as well ...

On the whole, siblings pass on dangerous habits to one another in a depressingly predictable way. A girl with an older, pregnant teenage sister is four to six times as likely to become a teen mom herself, says Patricia East, a developmental psychologist at the University of California, San Diego.

The same pattern holds for substance abuse. According to a paper published in the Journal of Drug Issues ...

It was one of those priceless moments that comes to all families. As I sat around the kitchen table with my almost-adult children, they began to share some of their childhood secrets. One said: "Mom, do you remember when the slats kept falling out of Ben's bed, and we told you we didn't know why? We were jumping on it."

I said, "I know."

"Did you know I didn't eat my lima beans? When I excused myself ...

A transformation occurred in me with the birth of my children. I traded in that professional look for sweatpants. I found myself at the park with my children, looking at working women and thinking, I'd like to be doing that.

But the transformation went deeper than trading my business suit for a pair of sweatpants. There was something else going on when I had children. I knew my life had been invaded ...

Many years ago, my wife and I were having a marital "moral discourse," and I was becoming increasingly agitated. In my fury, I yelled at her and aimed my fist at a section of the dining room wall. Unfortunately, the Holy Spirit failed to guide my hand between the studs, as he usually had done, and instead I hit a stud right on. I broke a knuckle.

A deathly silence settled in the room. While I came ...

In March of 2006, the Associated Press and Ipsos surveyed 1,003 adults concerning Americans' attitudes and behavior regarding impatience. Some of the findings included:

• While waiting in line at an office or store, it takes an average of 17 minutes for most people to lose their patience.

• On the phone, it takes about 9 minutes for most people to lose their patience.

• Women lost their ...

Looking over their annual surveys from the past decade, the Barna Group believes there has been a significant increase in religious activity related to five of the seven core religious behaviors studied.

In 1995, 31 percent of Americans read their Bible at least once a week outside of a church setting. In 2006, that number jumped to 47 percent.

In 1996, 37 percent of Americans attended church in a typical ...