Willie and the five-minute favor
We were just finishing up the distribution of 50 ten-kilo care packages to poor people—most of them widowed or disabled—in a hall at the edge of one of the largest slums... »
Iris Richard
When at the bottom of the barrel
The other morning I read a passage from Acts, where Paul, in his farewell speech to the church of Ephesus, talked about living life generously and working hard to make su... »
The power of gratitude
In a video clip I watched on YouTube some time ago, one of the participants in a panel was talking about a trying time in her life that had led to serious depression. A f... »
My tapestry
Have you ever felt like life took you down the wrong road, or that things just weren’t meant to work out for you? There was a time when my life didn’t seem to make any se... »
The snowball effect
Fred was 19 when our paths crossed—a troubled ambitious youth in search of purpose. After leaving home as a teenager, he’d tried many different ways to make a living and... »
The big leap
It was snowing when we packed the last items into the container that was waiting at an appointed lot in an industrial area, almost ready to be shipped. This was the last... »
Finding Jesus in unusual places
I was caught in one of our congested city’s dreaded traffic jams. The endless line of cars, trucks, and buses was crawling forward at barely a walking pace, while pedestr... »
Start with the frog!
I’m someone who tends to go by inspiration, and I’ve long been bothered by my scattered approach to setting goals, so I was searching for an effective way to make it thro... »
Who is my neighbor?
I was reading the familiar story of the Good Samaritan [[See Luke 10:25–37.]] from a well-illustrated cartoon Bible to a group of eight- to nine-year-old Sunday school st... »
The golden thread
Before jumping into the day to tackle a long to-do list, I stopped for a half hour of devotional reading, prayer, and reflection. My Bible fell open to Hebrews 11, which... »
Talking vs listening
The small cafeteria at our workplace was abuzz with chatter. Colleagues sat in groups and the room was humming with conversation. That morning I felt I had little to cont... »
Take one, take two
Take one Hearing the crunch of metal against metal as I backed out of my parking spot almost made my heart stop. I was in a hurry and had quickly scanned the parking lot... »