After two years of college, my faith was on the rocks. There was no one thing to blame. Doubt crept in with the new ideas presented in my classes. Away from family and the church I grew up in, some of my traditional beliefs didn't make sense anymore. ...

Cynicism is rampant in secular culture. It also flourishes among Christians. Though there is indeed a great deal of disenchantment with God these days, "Christian" cynicism seems most often directed toward the church. As an untidy conglomeration ...

Every person, at some point in life, must decide whether or not to receive Jesus Christ as his or her personal Lord and Savior. But that is just the starting point of a lifelong journey in discipleship as a follower of Jesus. As the apostle Paul says, ...

Our culture simply doesn't know what to think about death. Through medicine and science we know more about death and how to forestall it than ever before. Yet we know very little about caring for a dying person. We don't know what to expect or ...

A couple months ago I was standing in Jerusalem at the Garden Tomb. It was the last stop after a week of touring the Holy Land. My group spent most of its time seeing the sites of Jesus' ministry in northern Israel, with the Dead Sea, Qumran, and ...

The handwriting in the front of my first Bible, the King James Version bound in black imitation leather, is unmistakably that of a child. The inscription simply says: "Fil accepted Jesus Christ on February 26, 1961." Looking back, I'm still ...

I awoke to the sound of gunfire. I lurched out of bed, grabbed my aching knees, threw on my robe and ran to the window. Would I see a police squad storming my neighbor's house or a psychopath aiming a rifle into the sky? Neither. There, in the driveway, ...

When we hear the expression "spiritual formation," we immediately think of meditating on Scripture, praying, journaling, and other spiritual practices. If, however, the goal of spiritual formation is that one's "whole spirit and soul and body be kept ...

Lent is one of the most ancient practices of the church, one that has avoided any interest from greeting card companies—and many Christians. For unlike the nostalgia and wonder we experience at Christmas, or the victory we celebrate at Easter, ...

On the Friday evening before Easter one year during high school, I filed into my friend's church and sat down near the back.

I'd never attended a Good Friday service before, and I was soaking in the details. The sanctuary was fancier than ours; ...

Memories weave our past with our present, and connect yesterday with today and tomorrow. When we're celebrating any kind of occasion, we remember the people who, over the years, have been there for us, supporting and encouraging us, making this day possible. ...

Being a Facebook user, I love posting prayer requests or sharing photographs with friends and family members. Within seconds news travels through cyberspace, lessening the distance between family and friends. Unfortunately, this also becomes a temptation ...

Sean and his wife, Leigh Anne, have received growing attention because of The Blind Side, first a bestselling book and then an Oscar-nominated movie. The book and the movie are based on their outreach to and subsequent adoption of Michael Oher, now a ...

Tell me this hasn't happened to you: family and friends gather around an enormous table decked out with the season's best fare. Somebody clears their throat and says, "I thought we should take some time to go around and say what we're ...

I was having a midlife crisis, and I wasn't even out of my 20s. While others were moving up the economic and social ladder, I was dissatisfied and feeling empty. I wanted my life to count for something.

I was having a crisis because I had just left ...

I was raised without attending church or having ever cracked open a Bible, except the Gideon New Testament someone gave me as a child. I was quite young and only remember that it had a picture of Jesus in the front. That was the sum total of my biblical ...

My workshop topic for the Renovaré International Conference in Denver was Scripture memorization. Since I was unknown to most of the attendees and would be speaking in Korean, which would be translated into English, I thought few would attend. ...

Henry (not his real name) tried really hard. He wanted to become a regular Bible study writer, so he sent me a rather impressive résumé of his theological training and experience. I happened to need a writer at that moment, so I gave him ...

My mother called me. Then my brother called and said, "It's his independence day." Grandpa Halverson passed away July 4th. He was 94. I'd meant to call him that week.

I was at a fireworks display with friends when I got the news. Grandpa was worth crying ...