When our grandson was in high school, he got into some trouble and was sent to a group home for teens. We earnestly desired to help him in any way we...

I had registered for a professional examination that would be held outside of my town. I would need to travel, and the transportation fare was due one week before the examination...

One morning after church, my pastor and I were discussing some church business when I noticed that my four-year-old granddaughter was not with me. As I looked around, I noticed her...

In 2009, my grandmother died of tuberculosis. I felt numb and weak with grief, but I couldn’t cry until the burial day. I felt heavy watching the pallbearers lower her casket...

“Ring!” goes the alarm. It is a sound most of us do not like much because it marks the time to leave a soft, warm bed to get up and start...

When my daughters were younger, they shared a bedroom. Most days, they viewed it as some sort of horrible punishment, and one day they’d had all they could take. When I...

One morning I caught a ride before sunrise. As I rode in the back of the pickup truck, I could see hundreds of stars in the black sky, including familiar constellations....

During a retreat, I was assigned to a table that included two residents of a substance-abuse treatment center. I normally would have had no occasion to converse and pray with men...

I enjoy walking at the park early in the morning. As I listen attentively to the singing of the birds, my soul offers praise to God with thanks for a new...

When I was growing up, my mother made sure that her four children were in church every Sunday. I was baptized and confirmed. In college, I met and later married a...