Have you heard about the 2-D love phenomenon over in Japan? Pretty disturbing, yet also quite telling of the times in which we live.

The folks at Newsweek.com have discovered younger generations are fighting cancer with humor. Be advised: there is some spicy language in this one. I think it's worth a look, though, because I feel like there's something there to explore—some dots to connect about ...

My grandparents lived in Salem, Arkansas, which was an all-white community in the Ozark foothills. One day in the early 1960s, Grandpa was strolling across the town square on his lunch break from his job at the post office. As he walked by the bus depot, a friendly voice called out to him. …

Glancing to his left, Grandpa found himself looking into the face of a man he hadn't seen for almost ...

Research collected by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics and the National Center for Education Statistics shows boys have improved socially and academically over the last two decades:

• The percentage of boys who graduate from high school has increased 4 percent.

• The percentage of boys who attend college immediately after graduation has increased 3 percent.

• ...

A quick look at our culture shows that idealized images of motherhood are inaccurate, and Scripture reveals the same. Ruth was left childless and widowed at a young age. Rachel, Hannah, and Sarah were infertile. Eve and Mary lost sons under terrible circumstances. Two mothers of two kings, both named Ahaziah, encouraged their sons to be wicked and unjust. The Prodigal Son acted with terrible disrespect ...

What does a six-year-old boy want for his birthday? Legos. A bicycle. Thomas the Train. A DVD of a recent movie that he will watch repeatedly. If he made a list, it would go well beyond this. But what if he could get more than this? What if he could get immeasurably more than he could ask or imagine? When Gabriel Hurles turned six, that's exactly what he got. The little boy was so focused on eating ...

Girls, according to a 2006 Clemson University study, are nearly twice as likely to bully or be bullied electronically than boys [bullying by way of personal websites, e-mail, text messaging, or cell phone calls]; another long-term study shows girls are responsible for 61 percent of reported in-person bullying incidents.

Making matters worse, physical violence, once the domain of boys, has thoroughly ...

"I don't know how we're going to sort out tonight's schedule," I gushed as my husband, Richie, came through the door. "You're late—and Andrew has a game an hour away. One of us has to get him there by 7:00. Jordan has a game here. Kaley is cheering at Jordan's game, but she also has a game right before his—and it's the same time as Andrew's away game. That's also the time Allie and Daniel ...

Two boys were walking home from Sunday school after hearing a strong sermon on the devil. One said to the other, "What do you think about all this Satan stuff?"

The other boy replied, "Well, you know how Santa Claus turned out. It's probably just your dad."

I grew up in the mountains of South India. My parents were missionaries to the tribal people of the hills, and our lives were about as simple as they could be—and as happy….

Rice was an important food for all of us. And since there was no level ground for wet cultivation, it was grown all along the streams that ran down the land's gentle slopes. These slopes had been patiently terraced ...

At last, the big day had come. My son Brian and his wife, Becky, were heading south to the Florida Keys for their 15th wedding anniversary. I had volunteered to house-sit and watch over my grandsons—Nathan, 7, and Joshua, 5. The three of us were looking forward to our vacation, too: pool splashing, Happy Meals, park Olympics, and snuggle time.

Brian and Becky slipped into the boys' room around ...