Kathy Lang's first day on the job was met with angry stares, bitterness, and harsh words.

"I hate you!" one girl shouted.

"I love you," Kathy replied.

So it goes when your workplace is a prison, a place Kathy never thought she'd be. But God clearly had other plans.

A veteran surgical nurse for over 25 years, Kathy was looking for a new job. An agency that staffs nurses offered her a position at a prison. ...

A 2008 survey by The Barna Group asked 1,008 U.S. adults to list the books they considered holy. The only book to be listed by above 5 percent was the Bible (84 percent). The Koran was listed by 4 percent; the Book of Mormon, 3 percent; the Torah, 2 percent. Other books which were listed by less than 1 percent of those surveyed included the Bhagavad, the Talmud, and the Teachings of Buddha.

A few ...

In his book Mayflower, historian Nathaniel Philbrick recounts the struggle of the Pilgrims during the shaping of early America. Although the first Pilgrims managed to establish a peaceful relationship with the Native Americans, the following generation devolved into bloody warfare. The war, known as King Philip's War, began in 1675 and lasted 14 months.

One conflict between the two groups is notable ...

A 2008 Harris Initiative online poll of 2,513 U.S. adults revealed America's top ten favorite books:

1. The Bible
   
   
2. Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell
   
   
3. Lord of the Rings (trilogy), by J. R. R. Tolkien
   
   
4. Harry Potter (series), by J. K. Rowling
   
   
5. The Stand, by Stephen King
   
   
6. The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown
   
   
7. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
   
   
8. Angels and Demons, by Dan Brown
   
   
9. Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
   
   
10. Catcher in the Rye, by J. D. Salinger
    
    

According to a 2007 Gallup poll:

• Thirty-one percent of Americans believe the Bible is literal and inerrant.
  
  
• Ten percent of Americans with no religious affiliation believe the Bible is the literal word of God.
  
  
• Twenty-six percent of Americans with no religious affiliation believe the Bible is inspired by God.
  
  
• Nineteen percent of Americans believe the Bible is a compendium of myth and legend.

A rabbi taught that experiences of God can never be planned or achieved. "They are spontaneous moments of grace, almost accidental."

His student asked, "Rabbi, if God-realization is just accidental, why do we work so hard doing all these spiritual practices?"

The rabbi replied, "To be as accident-prone as possible."

MTV political correspondent Tabitha Soren says:

No matter how secular our culture becomes, it will remain drenched in the Bible. Since we will be haunted by the Bible even if we don't know it, doesn't it make sense to read it? To read the Bible is to be reminded, as Bill Moyers says, "that what is in us is worth more."

If a farmer doesn't plant seeds, he will never harvest a crop. It doesn't matter how weed-free his ground is; he must also plant and cultivate good seed.

In the same way, we can only reap a harvest of purity and integrity by planting the good seed of God's Word into our lives. I'm not talking about merely reading the Bible. I'm talking about allowing the Holy Spirit to plant the truths of Scripture ...

Herm Haakenson: A salmon fisherman and "fisher of men"

During salmon season, he is permitted only one catch a week from his commercial fishing boat, The Good News. But Herm Haakenson, 70, casts his gospel net year-round in nursing homes. He and his wife, Trish, not only visit nursing homes but run The Sonshine Society, which develops Christian materials for the growing nursing-home population.

Challenged ...

Some [evangelicals] have fixated upon "me and the Bible, and especially me," so that what Bible reading becomes is primarily an assertion of inward feelings. This has sadly prevented readers from ... learning that the Spirit has a history, and that the body of Christ being called forth in that history has unity. ...

Beware of the "evangelical" who wants to read the Bible without the historic voices ...