Several years ago I ran a marathon. I trained hard to be as prepared as possible, but there's a part of a marathon that's always hard to prepare for. A marathon is just a little over 26 miles, but experts tell you not to run over 20 miles in your training. That means the last six miles of a marathon are "no man's land." You don't know what you're getting yourself into. You may hit a wall. You may ...

In his book In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day, Mark Batterson talks about the joy that comes through unexpected things—a lesson he learned while on vacation with his family in Orlando, Florida:

One morning we were sitting at a stoplight in our rental van. The light turned green, and the car in front of us didn't go, so I decided to give them a little "love tap" on the horn. But when I hit ...

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 ...

John Edwards ran for his party's presidential nomination for the 2004 election and again for 2008. He did not win either nomination, but he was John Kerry's vice presidential running mate for 2004. In 2008, he admitted publicly to having an extramarital affair with a campaign worker. In the book Resilience, his wife, Elizabeth, writes about how her husband's adultery affected her.

When she and John ...

In The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien writes about a kingdom called Gondor which for many years has had no king. While waiting for the rightful heir to come and claim his throne, a series of stewards has been placed in charge of the land. The steward in charge at the time of the events described in the book is named Denethor. He has two sons, Boromir and Faramir, both of whom figure prominently in the ...

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Whenever we speak of the end times, our hearts often quicken—partly out of joy, yet also out of fear. To speak of end times is to speak of somewhat uncertain times. "No one knows about that day or hour," Christ says, "not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son." But the uncertainty of calendars and dates isn't what troubles us most. It's the notion of final judgment. So perhaps these words from ...

In his book Thoughts in Solitude, Thomas Merton wrote fifteen lines that have become known as "the Merton Prayer":

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please ...

Sarah, a woman who attends our church, had never prayed aloud in her life. She grew up moderately connected to the church, but when a relational crisis hit with her fiancé, she realized she needed more. She began attending church for comfort. Little did she expect that Jesus would also make her uncomfortable.

Sarah was on call for her job as an ultrasound technician for a local emergency room. ...

Changing Lanes tells the story of lives Gavin Banek (Ben Affleck), a successful lawyer who has been grandfathered into the firm of his wife's father. Now on the inside, he finds out just how corrupt the firm is.

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As she talks with him over lunch at a stylish restaurant, Cynthia lifts up her mother as a good example of how to deal with moral uncertainty.

Cynthia asks, "Did you know that my father ...