Yesterday in our weekly team meeting we prayed again for three people we know who are dying from cancer.

Later that day I received an email requesting prayer for Steven Curtis Chapman and his family as they face the tragic death of their youngest daughter.

Today, on my walk home there was a tiny bird squeaking in the grass - its wing broken. I don't know if it will ...

I married a banker. I like to remind my banker-turned-pastor husband of this when we're having a particularly difficult time in the ministry. Although I wouldn't trade his occupation (some would say "calling"), my husband's career choice bestowed on me a title I never bargained for when we walked down the aisle.

I am a pastor's wife.

While ...

Good parents openly affirm their children: "We appreciate your good behavior." Or, "You're doing a great job in school." They also know when to discipline: "If you jump on your bed again, you will be punished." Thus, children know where they stand and what they need to do.

Staff members need similar feedback. They should not be left wondering. ...

Last weekend was spent doing one of those uber-stressful things: buying a car. We are a one-car family and tend to drive our cars until they die and our trusty Sebring could no longer be trusted so it was time to replace it. For us, a major purchase like this is almost traumatic. We are very careful and have a purchasing style that might drive others insane.

Like the ...

From Hillary to Miley to Condi to Britney, I find most discussion about female role models in popular culture pretty idiotic. There's always some big "controversy" brewing in the media about women in the limelight: Too emotional or too robotic? Way too sexy or too pear-shaped in a pantsuit? Overly assertive or too demure? Too many dates or too many pounds?

There are a lot of myths concerning modesty. One of them is that modesty is Victorian. But, in fact, it dates back way before the Victorian era. It's in the Bible. As long as we've been human we've needed modesty, because as humans we don't just have sex; we also have emotions and vulnerability. Modesty prevented us from being vulnerable with the wrong people. ...

On Sunday, May 11, our nation will celebrate the 100th year anniversary of Mother's Day. The United Kingdom began celebrating mothers much earlier than the United States. In the 17th century, on "Mothering Sunday," children in the UK presented their mothers with flowers and "Mothering Cakes." Early Christians celebrated a sort of mother's day ...

The biggest change Christ made in my life is a desire to serve others rather than myself. Before I became a Christian, it was all about me. Afterward, I was drawn to the weak and hurting and constantly looked for opportunities to minister. I took to heart Jesus' instruction that if I wanted to save my life, I had to lose it. This led me to full-time Christian work and ...

When you forgive someone, you slice away the wrong from the person who did it. You disengage that person from his hurtful act. You recreate him. At one moment you identify him inerradicably as the person who did you wrong. The next moment you change that identity. He is remade in your memory.

You think of him now not as the person who hurt you, but as a person who needs ...