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The first annual family reunion that took place in June of 2000 in Pikeville, Kentucky, looked like any other. But this reunion was actually quite unusual. It was held for two families—two families famous for their ancestors who were entangled in one of the longest and most lethal family feuds in history: the Hatfields and […]
Professional basketball is a game of giants. It’s a game where seven-foot-tall players are the rule rather than the exception. Professional basketball is also the setting for a most unlikely success story. In 1987, the Washington Bullets drafted an outstanding player named Tyrone “Muggsy” Bogues. He was a first-team, all-conference star at Wake Forest University, […]
Now with silver hair and careful steps, the couple slowly walks the lane that leads from their home. It’s time for their daily stroll. Their steps are unhurried, their eyesight dimmed, but beating in their hearts is a love and commitment that passersby can almost feel. They walk hand in hand, as they’ve done since […]
From time to time, the local newspaper features a letter to the editor that expresses thanks for random acts of kindness. The other day a grandmother whose car had stalled wrote in. She didn’t get the rescuer’s name, and so she sent a letter of thanks hoping it would somehow reach her good Samaritan. Most […]
One of the biggest surprises in parenting is how varied the results can be. No other field of endeavor is as hard to predict. Most parents relish the opportunity to have children to teach and guide, to nurture to adulthood. But despite their best efforts, some parents find their children departing from the values and […]
The dusty paths that crisscross Africa have been accommodating footsteps for thousands of years. Here the shepherd, the teacher, the mother, the child, even the warrior slowly make their way in the heat of one season and the rains of the other. And yet, this path, so familiar to locals, was very unfamiliar to Albert […]
It’s been said that an eagle knows when a storm is coming long before it breaks. The eagle will fly to some high spot and wait for the winds to come. When the storm hits, the great bird sets its wings so that the wind will pick it up and lift it above the storm. […]
Marie, the mother of seven-year-old Sara, had been learning the value of listening without interrupting with solutions of reprimands. The opportunity to user her newfound communications skills came when her little girl ran into the house from school in tears. “What’s the matter, Sara?” she asked. Sara was so upset she could hardly talk. Through […]
Many a cowboy song has been sung about mending fences. Perhaps the beauty of the American West inspired so many dusty poets. Or maybe earning a living under a harsh sun or a winter wind constantly reminded them of how valuable a trusted friend really was. It could get pretty lonely if the only two […]
Giving and receiving are what Christmas is all about. Not just the gaily wrapped presents under a Christmas tree or the carefully made remembrances for loved ones. No, giving in the truest sense of Christmas means receiving a sacred gift first. It began when the Father gave His Son to the world on a still […]
In 1934 Therin and Reta Hyde moved to the wilderness in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Work was hard to find in those days. This great nation of ours was in the midst of enormous change that left many families wanting for food and shelter. But Therin found work in the Nevada mines. So the two […]
The advent of Christmas is one of the most exciting times of the year. Halls are decked; mistletoe is hung; bows are tied; lights are lit; and the countdown begins. Almost in unison, the world waits for Christmas. The elderly watch for it in the eyes of a child. The discouraged listen for it in […]
Today we “sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving”;1 we offer grateful hearts to the Giver of life and breath. Instead of pondering all that we need or all that we want, let us sing the song of gratitude. Like faithful pilgrims who crossed oceans of uncertainty and planted seeds of hope in a strange land, […]
Carl and Linda have been married for longer than they’ll admit. They’ve enjoyed the kind of contentment that comes from hard work and a little bit of good fortune. But as they both retired, settling into the country-club lifestyle or roaming the back roads armed with cameras and paint sets just didn’t seem right. So […]
In a small New England town, on many a Sunday you can walk the narrow streets nearly alone. Sundays are quiet there. There are no shopping malls, no seven-day-a-week supermarkets. At the only main intersection, a church on each corner looks over the town like four sentries encamped among the sugar maples and row houses. […]
Not long ago a mother was reading her three-year-old son a bedtime story about brown bears and red birds. When the story was finished, the boy asked who made bears and birds. The mother explained that God was the Creator; He created all things—even us. The boy, deep in thought for a moment, said, “Hmm, […]
If you’ve ever been to the ocean, you know how powerful riptides can be. If you get caught in one and try to swim back to shore against the current, you’ll soon become exhausted. But if you change your direction and swim parallel to the shore for a short distance, you’ll soon move out of […]
Stuart’s fondest childhood memory is a baseball game. It wasn’t the big leagues—just a backyard game played on the hot grass of summer with makeshift bases. Stuart doesn’t remember winning or losing; he remembers the game because it was the last time he could run. Shortly afterward, Stuart was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy. He was […]
In a typical neighborhood crisscrossed with sidewalks and narrow lanes, seven-year-old Matthew had what he believed to be a brilliant idea. He’d gotten a new pair of roller skates for his birthday, and as he put them on, his dog—a large dog named Lucky—licked at his hands. The boy suddenly realized that he wouldn’t have […]
In every age to every people, God opens His arms to His children. With all the love of a tender parent, He invites us to come unto Him. But He never forces or manipulates. He respects our agency and allows us to choose whether or not to receive His offering and feel His love. In […]
A young bride was disheartened several weeks after her marriage to learn that her Prince Charming was not the fantasy creation of her dreams, but a human after all, and one who sometimes forgot to pick up his socks. As the months rolled by, she noticed fault after fault, making a mental list of the […]
In life and in the quiet recesses of the heart, it only takes one light to chase away the darkness—as a young couple found out years ago. The storm was one of the worst in two decades. The young father and mother, traveling home with two small children, had decided to drive all night while […]
A new season is upon us. A time when we harvest. A time to take stock of our lives and store away the summer memories for the winter. And yet, it is a season like no other. A time to reflect on events of a year ago. A time to remember. We think on those […]
Perhaps Queen Elizabeth the second’s most remarkable gift is her ability to understand the nature of men and women. In a 1954 broadcast the Queen inspired listeners by assuring them that “the upward course of a nation’s history is due in the long run to the soundness of heart of its average men and women.” […]
It’s not always easy to forgive. We may think that not forgiving the people who hurt us is a way of hurting them back somehow. But most of the people who hurt us get by just fine without our forgiveness. When we understand that to forgive means to free or to let go, we may […]
Oftentimes the most profound truths are revealed in the most ordinary settings. Two brothers were playing on the floor when their father cautioned, “Hey there, you monkeys, you’d better settle down.” The four-year-old boy, with surprising seriousness, stopped his father and said, “I not a monkey, Daddy; I a person.”1 Knowing there was more to […]
Within each child is the potential to change the world. The power of one person to affect the lives of millions becomes clear when we think of Mohandas Gandhi bringing freedom to India, Abraham Lincoln uniting a country divided by war, or Mother Teresa showing love and compassion for the forgotten outcasts of Asia. But […]
One way life invites us to grow in wisdom and capacity is through the challenges and hardships we encounter. How we endure our adversities and learn to overcome life’s obstacles determines our happiness. It’s easy to maneuver through daily routines when the sun is shining and life’s waters are calm. The real test of our […]
A woman, blind since birth, told of the beauty she “sees” in nature. She said there are many things she can see in her mind that those with sight cannot experience in quite the same way. She said, “For instance, by cupping a rose in my hands and feeling it with my fingers, I see […]
When we hear the word pioneer, we tend to think of women wearing long skirts and bonnets accompanied by bearded men in wide-brimmed hats and suspenders. We think of covered wagons pulled by thirsty oxen and handcarts pulled by weary travelers. But that is a relatively modern association for the word pioneer. Originally, a pioneer […]