The Mind, the Heart and the Feet
There was a lawyer in Paris who had every reason to think of himself as a good man. He was successful and respected. He had built a reputation representing widows […]
The Mind, the Heart and the Feet Read More »
A
Someone Got a Grape
In 2003, two researchers at Emory University conducted an experiment with capuchin monkeys. Sarah Brosnan and Frans de Waal had taught the monkeys a simple transaction. A monkey would hand
Someone Got a Grape Read More »
One More Time
The F Word. It may be one of the most emotionally charged words in the English language. People say it in anger. They say it when they have been hurt.
Across the Courtroom
A woman stood in an El Paso courtroom and asked permission to cross the floor. Her name was Yolanda Tinajero. She was seventy-one years old. On the other side of
Across the Courtroom Read More »
The Jesus We Want. The Jesus We Need.
Every generation remembers certain moments when the entire world seemed to hold its breath. Millions stopped what they were doing, radios stayed on through the night, television cameras never looked
The Jesus We Want. The Jesus We Need. Read More »
Would You Recognize a Stradivarius?
There are certain questions in life that are so important they cannot be answered for us. A parent may guide us. A teacher may influence us. Friends may offer advice.
Would You Recognize a Stradivarius? Read More »
Be a Window of Hope
There are moments when another person changes the way we see the world. Years ago, a young graduate student spent several months living with a Navajo family while conducting research
Be a Window of Hope Read More »
The Coat
It wasn’t the man they were shooting at. It was the coat. The soldiers had entered Warsaw only days after the Germans began their retreat. The war was ending. After
Who’s Your Devonte?
There are moments when the world simply feels too large. Not geographically large, but morally and emotionally large. We awaken each morning intending to care, and before the day has
Who’s Your Devonte? Read More »
What We Learn to Value
There are some lessons life insists on teaching. It teaches them slowly. Often quietly. Sometimes painfully. We rarely recognize those lessons while they are unfolding. A conversation with a parent.
What We Learn to Value Read More »
Before the Harvest
There are few things more satisfying than certainty. We like believing we know what happened. We like believing we know who is right and who is wrong. We like problems
Before the Harvest Read More »
Difficult to Ignore
We’ve all been there. You call your child to dinner from another room. Silence. “Did you hear what I said?” “Yes.” “Then why didn’t you come?” “I wasn’t listening.” Because
Difficult to Ignore Read More »
Still Learning
John Wooden, the Hall of Fame UCLA basketball coach who led his teams to ten national championships in twelve seasons, began each season with a lesson that surprised many of
Any Questions?
The poet and playwright Archibald MacLeish was once invited to lead Morning Prayer at Harvard’s Memorial Church. At first, he declined, explaining that his religious skepticism made him an unlikely
Love Has the Last Word
A fable tells of a little fish swimming near the surface of the ocean. One day he glanced down into the dark depths below and became frightened. “What if I
Love Has the Last Word Read More »
Arithmetic of the Gospel
A man once complained to his pastor that the church was always asking for something. “Every Sunday,” he said, “it’s give, give, give.” The pastor smiled and replied, “Thank you.
Arithmetic of the Gospel Read More »
The Bread That Gives Life
A pastor once visited an elderly woman who was nearing the end of her life. She told him that when the time came, she wanted to be buried with a
The Bread That Gives Life Read More »
Five Hundred Ways
Certain words are repeated so frequently that they lose their capacity to evoke expectation or meaning. Forgiveness is one of them. Ernest Hemingway’s short story The Capital of the World
The Next Step
There are moments in history—and in every life—when everything familiar gives way at once. What once seemed certain no longer is. What lies ahead is not yet clear. In those
Connecting the Dots
There’s a gap most of us learn to live with We know what we believe. We have known it for years. We can say it clearly. We can explain it
Connecting the Dots Read More »
