One of the most remarkable and well-attested physical healings of someone I know personally happened to a fellow pastor named Kenneth Wallace. When I first became a pastor in 1975, he was the presbyter of the area in central Illinois that included our church, and he oversaw the interviews for my ordination. At that time he must have been in his mid to late fifties, and he struck me as a happy warrior: ...

In light of the economic crisis, SnagAJob.com asked 691 out-of-work adults (18 and older) the following question: Has your layoff been a blessing in disguise? The majority of those surveyed offered a positive response:

• Thirty-nine percent said being laid off has been a blessing.
• Sixteen percent said they feel it will become a blessing.
• Forty percent said it was not a blessing.
• Four percent said they didn't know yet.

Amy Carmichael (1867–1951) was a missionary to India who suffered enormously in her life. She once wrote these words:

I have noticed that when one who has not suffered draws near to one in pain, there is rarely much power to help. I have wondered if it can be the same in the sphere of prayer. Does pain accepted and endured give some quality that would otherwise be lacking in prayer? What if every stroke ...

My friend Linda, who teaches first grade, told me about an interaction she had with one of her students on the first day of school. Accustomed to going home at noon in kindergarten, Ryan was getting his things ready to leave for home when he was actually supposed to be heading to lunch with the rest of the class. Linda asked him what he was doing. "I'm going home," he replied. Linda tried to explain ...

On the afternoon of May 2, 1990, I heard holy things. I was visiting Larry Hildreth, a father and husband from our church in Pennsylvania. He was in his thirties, but he was near death from cancer. I was at his home to serve him Communion, because he was too weak to come to church.

Larry was a deeply thoughtful man, and as he spoke that day, slow and deliberately, I realized I was hearing extraordinary ...

A note from Brian Lowery, managing editor: "News That Illustrates" is a new feature that we're adding to our weekly illustrations. Each week I'm going to offer links to ten, up-to-the-minute news articles that I feel have some real illustrative potential for you as a preacher. Enjoy!

The folks at Slate asked readers to share what they have sacrificed in light of the recession. Some of the responses ...

Affliction is both a medicine if we sin, and a preservative that we sin not.

—Richard Hooker, Anglican priest and theologian (1554-1600)

Jack Handey, known for his odd sense of humor frequently expressed in an old Saturday Night Live segment titled "Deep Thoughts," wrote an equally odd book entitled Fuzzy Memories. In it Handey relates the story of a bully who demanded his lunch money every day when he was a child. Because Handey was smaller than the bully, he simply gave the bully his money.

"Then I decided to fight back," Handey ...

When my son Scott was just learning to walk, he fell on a cement driveway and split the area below his chin so deeply that the floor of his mouth was exposed. Hospitals and doctors were 250 kilometers away over tortuous mountain roads. I had no surgical instruments with me. A quick catalog of our resources turned up a less-than-impressive array of one darning needle, coarse thread, one pair of rather ...

Editor's note: Though you might not be persuaded by the information below, it still has great illustrative potential. D'Souza's article might provide an intriguing way into a sermon that deals with why God allows bad things to happen. It might be something you want to contend with or elevate as a possibility. It might be a way to raise several other questions about why bad things happen. Or, taking ...