After successfully separating numerous Siamese twins and continuing to refine the techniques of several complicated surgeries, Dr. Ben Carson has become known throughout the world as a premiere brain surgeon. What many do not know is that because of an uncontrollable temper as a child, Dr. Carson's career was almost over before it began. In his book Take the Risk, Dr. Carson writes about the day he ...

In his book The Jesus Revolution, pastor and author Leith Anderson shares a story about the tension that sometimes comes between obeying God and obeying the law of the land. A number of years ago, he and three others were traveling to a Communist country where Christians were regularly being persecuted. They did not have a direct flight to their destination, so they had to stay in a neighboring country ...

To hope is to risk frustration. Therefore, make up your mind to risk frustration.

—Thomas Merton, Trappist monk and writer (1915–1968)

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 ...

My son Caleb has been watching other children climb a tree, crawl out on a limb, and jump into the river 30 feet below. Now our Hawaii vacation would remain incomplete until he demonstrated his courage by conquering this obstacle. I watched him swim across the river, climb the tree, wait his turn, shimmy out to the end of the branch—and freeze.

"It's okay, sweetie," my wife, Pam, called out. ...

As human beings, we pride ourselves on being the only species that understands the concept of risk. Yet we have a confounding habit of worrying about mere possibilities while ignoring probabilities—of building barricades against perceived dangers while leaving ourselves exposed to real ones.

For example, we agonize over the avian flu, which [as of December 2006] had killed precisely no one in ...

As of October 2006, there were three times as many professional tanning parlors in the U.S. as there were Starbucks. Each year, an estimated 2.3 million teenagers enter those parlors, which has helped indoor tanning become a $5 billion-a-year industry. On their own, these numbers may not seem surprising, or even noteworthy. But they become dangerous when placed in the light of a recent medical discovery. ...

The winter of 2009 brought heavy snowfalls to Chicago, and at one point the snow had piled up over a foot deep on the roof of our two-story home. Then we had a thaw. One evening when I returned home from work, I noticed that a thick sheet of ice and snow was hanging over the edge of the roof like a glacier hanging over a cliff. Our driveway runs right alongside the house, and one of our cars was parked ...

Research reported in a 2008 issue of Pediatrics magazine suggests that teens who spend the most time watching sexually charged television shows are twice as likely to become pregnant or impregnate someone else. Researchers surveyed 2,003 children aged 12 to 17 in 2001, and then followed up with many of them in 2002 and 2004. When they narrowed down the teens surveyed to those who were sexually active, ...

Mike and Marie Meaney of Bellevue, Washington, have a unique ministry in their retirement years.

After completing 40 years in their respective careers as caterer and teacher, they knew God wasn't through with them. Sensing God's direction, Marie, on her 60th birthday, flew to Lusaka, Zambia, Central Africa, to assess needs of teachers and students.

She returned home and began writing a curriculum for ...