The bank sent me an overdraft notice on the checking account of one of my daughters. I encourage my college-age girls to monitor their accounts. Even so, they sometimes overspend.

What should I do? Send her an angry letter? Admonition might help her later, but it won't satisfy the bank. Phone and tell her to make a deposit? Might as well tell a fish to fly. I know her liquidity. Zero. Transfer the ...

After years of urban living had ground down my childhood love of nature, I found it suddenly rekindled through my friendship with a young photographer named Bob McQuilkin. I was working as a magazine editor at the time, and Bob seemed determined to drag me out of my stale routine and reintroduce me to the joyous world outside.

Once Bob drove his jeep to my office and insisted that I come see two baby ...

Some years ago, a 14-foot bronze crucifix was stolen from Calvary Cemetery in Little Rock, Arkansas. It had stood at the entrance to that cemetery for more than 50 years. The cross was put there in 1930 by a Catholic bishop and had been valued at the time at $10,000. The thieves apparently cut it off at its base and hauled it off in a pick-up. Police speculate that they cut it into small pieces and ...

In his book The Divine Commodity, Skye Jethani shares a story from a trip he took to India with his father. While walking the streets of New Delhi, a little boy approached them. He was "skinny as a rail, and naked but for tattered blue shorts. His legs were stiff and contorted, like a wire hanger twisted upon itself." Because of his condition, the little boy could only waddle along on his calloused ...

Picking, choosing, and deciding which sins are trivial and which are the biggies is a completely human tendency. A young man once told me, "It's like a heavenly bank account. As long as I make more deposits than withdrawals, I'm in good shape."

I shared the biblical reality with him: the very first time he made a withdrawal, the account was emptied and closed forever. He thought that was a bit harsh. ...

One sleepy Sunday afternoon when my son was five-years-old, we drove past a cemetery together. Noticing a large pile of dirt beside a newly excavated grave, he pointed and said: "Look, Dad, one got out!" I laughed, but now, every time I pass a graveyard, I'm reminded of the One who got out.

Most kingdoms do anything they can to protect their king. This is the unspoken premise of the game of chess, for example. When the king falls, the kingdom is lost. Therefore, the king must be protected at all costs. Another notable example comes from the Allied invasion of Normandy on D-Day, June 6, 1944. British Prime Minister Winston Churchill desperately wanted to join the expeditionary forces ...

Whenever we speak of the end times, our hearts often quicken—partly out of joy, yet also out of fear. To speak of end times is to speak of somewhat uncertain times. "No one knows about that day or hour," Christ says, "not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son." But the uncertainty of calendars and dates isn't what troubles us most. It's the notion of final judgment. So perhaps these words from ...

All in the Family was a popular 1970s CBS series that made the curmudgeonly Archie Bunker a household name. In this scene Archie's son-in-law, Michael, and his wife, Gloria, are in the kitchen. Michael is eating a sandwich and Gloria is baking cookies. Gloria asks him, "Michael, do you love me?"

"Yup," he manages in between bites.

"Would you give up your life for me?" she asks.

"Right after I finish ...

The movie Message in a Bottle follows the story of Garret Blake (played by Kevin Costner) as he cares for his sick wife, Catherine, and then mourns her loss. The depth of Garret's love for her comes out late in the movie when he discovers a letter that she had written just before her illness took her life.

The scene opens as Garret comes home to find his frail wife has left their house by the shore. ...