All of us tend to avoid pain. Sometimes, though, avoiding pain can lead to much greater suffering.

Consider the story of William "the Refrigerator" Perry. Perry was a colorful defensive lineman for the Chicago Bears when they won the Super Bowl back in 1985. His nickname fit him well, because he was big and wide. Perry was also a friendly man with a wide grin.

Unfortunately for his grin, though he was ...

The Super Bowl is one of the most anticipated events in America each year. With the championship of the NFL on the line, entertaining commercials, and a spectacular halftime show, an estimated 190 million people watched the game in 2006. And one would assume the wife of one of the head coaches in the game would be one of those 190 million.

But Kathy Holmgren, the wife of Seattle Seahawks head coach ...

Two years ago, John Brandick, a 62-year-old British man, was told he would succumb to pancreatic cancer within a year. Thinking he only had that single year to live, he decided to get the most out of what life he had left. He quit his job, quit paying his mortgage, and used his savings to give gifts to friends and family, go on vacations, frequently dine out, and do all the other things that seem ...

God comforts in many ways, and James and Jill Kilibarda of Minnesota have discovered one of those ways.

Looking forward to the birth of their first child, the couple learned during the pregnancy that this baby had a genetic problem and would probably only live a few hours after her birth.

They turned to a unique prenatal hospice program to help guide them through this crisis and received needed guidance ...

According to a 2007 study by RTI International, a non-profit research organization in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, people are slightly more inclined to lose weight if they're getting paid to do so. Researchers at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill offered different degrees of financial reward to 200 overweight or obese individuals. To a third of the group, they promised $14 for ...

Dr. George Moore was a young public health worker who was among the first westerners sent to Nepal in 1952. He found a nation that was very backward. There was only one hospital, and that was for the royalty. Life expectancy was 35 years. Ninety-eight percent of the population never had any medical treatment in their short lives—no doctors or medicine, ever.

Moore and his colleague began by attacking ...

In Darkness Is My Only Companion: A Christian Response to Mental Illness, Kathryn Greene-McCreight describes her tortured journey through ten years of extreme depression and bipolar disorder. Concerning the importance of Christian fellowship while in recovery, she writes:

This is why it is so important to worship in community—to ask your brothers and sisters in Christ to pray for you … ...

Concerning the mystery of God's help, John Ortberg writes:

God does come, and he may come in unexpected ways. Lewis Smedes was a teacher of mine in seminary, one of the best writers and preachers I have ever known. Even though he was brilliant and accomplished and devoted to God, he suffered from a sense of inadequacy that at times grew into deep depression. At one point in his life, he stopped preaching ...

Rebecca O’Connor says, “When I first saw the horrific images of the Asian tsunami disaster, I was working the night shift at New York Presbyterian hospital, where I am a pediatric nurse. I felt compelled to do something.”

And O’Connor did do something. She flew to Sri Lanka, along with eight other medical professionals, for a two-week medical-relief trip.

Arriving in Sri Lanka, they traveled through ...

Rumored notes from hospital charts (probably written by some sleepy intern or frazzled nurse):

• The patient refused autopsy.

• Patient has left white blood cells at another hospital.

• Note: Patient recovering from forehead cut. Patient became very angry when given an enema by mistake.

• Patient has chest pain if she lies on her left side for over a year.

• On the second day, ...