A few years ago, a good friend of mine took his three-year-old daughter, Amy, to her first circus. Before the event her father tried his best to describe the exciting atmosphere of the big top. She asked lots of questions along the way. Would she get to pet the elephant? Could she swing on the trapeze? Would the clowns come and talk to her? The night before, she could hardly sleep. She woke her parents ...

My first visit to a health club was in the 1970s. Health clubs were new. My friend Frank told me he had a membership and that I could come with him as his guest for a workout.

When I met Frank at the club, we went into a room filled with weight machines. I'd never seen these things before in my life. Frank called it "the circuit." The idea was to spend a few minutes on each machine, exercising all ...

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 ...

Based on a book by Francine Rivers, The Last Sin Eater is set in Appalachia in the 1800s. When Welsh immigrants settled in America, they brought along an ancient Celtic ritual known as "the Sin Eater." When someone within the community died, the Sin Eater would come and absolve the deceased person by eating a symbolic meal—often comprised of bread and wine—that was set alongside the corpse. ...

Texts: Passages concerning the sacrifice of Jesus (Leviticus 16, Isaiah 53, Matthew 16:21–28, Luke 18:31–34, John 12:20–36, Philippians 2:5–11)

Principle: In the kingdom of God, death precedes life.

Objects: A sharp knife, cutting board, ingredients for making salsa (or your favorite fresh food dish), and possibly even a way to distribute the food.

Experience: Begin by asking ...

In his book Passed Through Fire, pastor Rick Bundschuh tells the story of Hawaiian surfer Eddie Aikau:

If you ever visit Hawaii, you may notice a plethora of bumper stickers, most affixed to rusting, surfboard-laden cars, proclaiming, "Eddie would go!" This curious saying is a tribute to the courage of Hawaiian waterman Eddie Aikau.

Aikau was a lifeguard and big-wave surfer on Oahu's treacherous North ...

In the Christian life, nothing, nothing at all, can be purchased at the do-it-yourself shop.

—Author Harry Blamires

The Guardian depicts the heroic and sacrificial efforts of the U.S. Coast Guard. Legendary rescue swimmer Ben Randall trains a group of recruits—particularly a high school swim champion with a troubled past—to save those lost and perishing at sea.

In this scene, Ben (Kevin Costner) and Jake Fischer (Ashton Kutcher) have just completed a rescue in the Bering Sea near Kodiak, Alaska. A fierce ...

Father Damien was a priest who became famous for his willingness to serve lepers. He moved to Kalawao—a village on the island of Molokai, in Hawaii, that had been quarantined to serve as a leper colony. For 16 years, he lived in their midst. He learned to speak their language. He bandaged their wounds, embraced the bodies no one else would touch, preached to hearts that would otherwise have ...

In the movie Stranger Than Fiction, Will Ferrell plays Harold Crick, an IRS auditor who suddenly finds himself the subject of narration only he can hear. Crick discovers that he is the main character in Karen Eiffel's (played by Emma Thompson) latest novel. Crick's dull existence is affected when he realizes the narrator is planning his death. Enlisting the help of a literature professor (played by ...