We had an incident while Jet Skiing off the coast of Wellington [during our family vacation to New Zealand]. I had taken the Skis out by myself for a few wild and wide-open runs just to make sure everything would be okay. Then I came back and got Mariah. We were having a blast. Wind in our faces, water breaking in every direction, moving freely at breakneck speed. It was exhilarating. It was nothing ...

We find it difficult to maintain a commitment to both this world and the next, to this life and the next.

A friend of mine uses the analogy of a busload of tourists en route to the Grand Canyon. On the long journey across the wheat fields of Kansas and through the glorious mountains of Colorado, the travelers inexplicably keep the shades down. Intent on the ultimate destination, they never even bother ...

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As I approached my 27th birthday, I had this strange feeling that I was about to cross a definitive line—like when an explorer marks the place that is the farthest reach of the previous explorer and then takes one more step into new territory—off the map, over the edge and no turning back. There was nothing at all pleasant about this sensation: It was frightening and lonely and I was ...

Since 2004 Time magazine has each year recognized 100 people as the most influential in the world. As heady a thing as it would be to find your name on such a list, the recognition also highlights the fragility of life and power in this world.

In May 2008 Time recognized journalist Tim Russert as one of the 100 most influential people for the power he wielded over politics on the program Meet the Press. ...

A 2005 article in National Geographic identified three regions of the world where people have consistently shown longer life spans: Okinawa, Sardinia, and Loma Linda, California. Dan Buettner, a researcher and explorer involved with the 2005 article, decided to do a follow-up study to determine if there were more regions to be discovered. His team found an abnormally large number of people living ...

We will have eternity to celebrate the victories, but only a few hours before sunset to win them.

—Amy Carmichael, Irish missionary to India (1867-1951)

Before giving his life fully to Christ, author Lewis Smedes worked for his uncle's steel company. He writes:

Gigantic cranes hoisted the steel beams from boat to dock by means of immense electro-magnets, each of them about three feet thick, eight feet in diameter, and weighing about fifteen tons. The magnets hung at the end of a two-inch cable which was, in turn, controlled by an operator sitting ...

The January 29, 2007, issue of TIME magazine was all about the brain. The lead article, "The Mystery of Consciousness," was by Dr. Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor of Psychology at Harvard. While marveling at the workings of the brain, Pinker clearly thinks we have only the brain—no eternal soul. At the end of the article he writes:

And when you think about it, the doctrine of a life-to-come ...

In data collected from over 20,000 Christians in 139 countries (though mostly in America) and between the ages of 15 and 88, The Obstacles to Growth Survey found that, on average, more than 4 in 10 Christians around the world say they "often" or "always" rush from task to task. About 6 in 10 Christians say that it's "often" or "always" true that "the busyness of life gets in the way of developing ...

A 2007 survey conducted by the American Association of Retired Persons suggests that a majority of people 50 years old and older believe in life after death.

Of the people surveyed, 94 percent claimed to believe in God, while 87 percent considered themselves "spiritual" and 82 percent acknowledged being "religious." Over half—66 percent—agreed that their "confidence in life after death ...