I was in line at the grocery checkout. A few feet in front of me, a mother guided her toddler ahead, anchored her baby on her hip, and elbowed her checkbook open to pay the clerk. In what seemed like one single gesture, she retrieved her toddler's hand from the candy rack, tore the check from her book and offered it to the clerk while placing a comforting smooch atop her baby's head. The baby drooled ...

By the time of his 22nd arrest—following a dramatic chase through Miami [that involved] many police cars and much shooting—John Sala had reached the end of the line. Guilty of the attempted murder of a policeman, aggravated assault, and grand theft, he was headed to jail for a long time.

But jail, of all places, turned out to be his saving grace…

Sent to a prison in Avon Park, Florida, ...

In Jesus Mean and Wild, author Mark Galli discusses the challenge of repentance in American culture:

I look at myself some days and it's hard to imagine that I am a miserable offender and that there is no health in me [as the Book of Common Prayer suggests]. I go to church. I read my Bible. I help at the homeless shelter once a month. At home, I do the dishes, take out the trash, and don't beat my ...

Forget your Members Only jacket. At Vintage21, a church in Raleigh, North Carolina, it's Owners Only. The church is eliminating the concept of membership entirely in favor of what they believe is a more appropriate description for the body of Christ: ownership.

Gyms and clubs have members. Vintage21 contends that these memberships are "painless to obtain and even easier to discard." Ownership, on the ...

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 ...

On Tuesday, August 27, 1996, Shawn Hagwood began a journey of learning that would turn his life around. Earlier that week, 19-year-old Shawn made a cross-country trip to visit a friend in Rochester, Minnesota, a quiet, conservative community known for the famous Mayo Clinic. One night, he and his friend accompanied a group of local guys to an apartment complex inhabited mostly by Somalian residents. ...

College English professor Jess Decourcy Hinds, of Brooklyn, New York, recently lost her father to a painful battle with bone cancer. Following his death, she was bothered by the central messages of most sympathy cards she received. Many of the cards tried their best to talk her out of the grieving process. At best, the personal notes simply sought to distract her. Someone inquired, "Are you applying ...

Have you ever wondered when Americans started celebrating Mother's Day? The holiday was born out of one woman's desire to honor her mother's life of sacrifice and grace.

Born in 1864 in Grafton, West Virginia, Anna Jarvis witnessed the aftermath of the Civil War through a child's eyes. Her mother, Anna Maria Reeves-Jarvis, had spent the war organizing women to nurse wounded soldiers from both the ...

Below is a list for parents adapted from the book Lists to Live By by Alice Gray, Steve Stephens, and John Van Diest.

1. Pay more attention to your marriage—or yourself, if you're a single parent—than you do to the children. Your marriage, if strong and satisfying, will give your children a sense of security.

2. Expect your children to obey. Don't apologize for the decisions you make in their lives; ...

Most parents believe they are primarily responsible for the spiritual development of their children, but few of them spend time interacting with their youngsters on religious matters, according to the latest from the Barna Research Group.

Close to nine out of ten parents of children under 13 (85 percent) believe they have the primary responsibility for teaching their children about religious beliefs ...