Child Summarizes Sinfulness

I was sitting at my desk in my study after having scolded my 4-year-old daughter for misbehaving. I heard a gentle knock on the door. "Come in," ...

Kofi Annan Faces Evil

United Nations leader Kofi Annan travels the world visiting areas of some of the worst violence and cruelty in human history. Few men have the responsibility ...

How Sin Has Spread

In Oregon's Malheur National Forest, a fungus spreads through tree roots across 2,200 acres, making it the largest living organism ever found. Popularly ...

The Father at the Cross

Last week my son, Bjorn, got sick.

I took his temperature, and it was 102.5. The Children's Advil came out. He slugged down the appropriate dose for ...

Jesus Knows Our Suffering

My wife leads a weekly "Christian circle" at a nursing home. An Alzheimer's patient named Betsy faithfully attends, led there by a staff ...

Christina Ricci's Self-Mutilation

In a Rolling Stone interview, Christina Ricci talks about self-mutilation and pain when a teenager:

She stretches; her sleeves ride up; there are raised ...

Marilyn Manson Doesn't Blame Devil

After being blamed for inciting the Columbine shootings, rock star Marilyn Manson argued in Rolling Stone:

I'm a controversial artist, one who dares ...

Self-Destructive Habits

While staying with my friends Tim and Jill Jones, I watched their hamster, Hammy, in his little cage. Hammy has a warm nest of cedar shavings to curl ...

Political Prayer

Every once in a while, a minister's prayer opening a state legislature somewhere makes the news. Usually it's because it's too "exclusive," ...

Mixed News of Gospel

In the gospel, we discover we are far worse off than we thought, and far more loved than we ever dreamed.