Being a dad is a wonderful thing. I enjoy watching my daughters grow up, and I count it as a blessing. My two-year-old, Ainsley, is at a really fun age. She is discovering the world around her and learning to talk about it. When she wants to watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse she yells “house.” When she wants to watch Leap she yells “icie” for Felicie the major character in the movie. I wish she would use her words when she wants food,... Read more

  It happened on an ordinary morning. We were going about our normal routines. Children were in school. Shops were busy with the morning’s work. Hospitals were busy with the care of patients. It was an ordinary day, and we had the expectation that it would remain an ordinary day. It would not. The first reports were inadequate. A plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. As I listened to the report on the radio in my car, I... Read more

In the light of multiple mass shootings over the weekend, it is natural to ask some important questions about why these events happen. Why do people learn to hate? Why do people devise a plan to end the lives of others? Why are humans the way we are? Why is there evil in the world? In order to understand why there is evil in the world, it helps to know what evil is. It is easy to describe an event... Read more

It is fashionable these days to say things like, “I love Jesus, but I don’t want to be in the Church.” Some pastors have even pointed out their embarrassment with “American Christianity,” whatever that term means. I, however, profoundly disagree. I express my love for Jesus by loving His Church, and I find His church profoundly loveable. I am aware of the sorrows that some believers have inflicted on others. I am aware of the great evils committed in Christ’s... Read more

Do you remember when Facebook was great? Ten years or so ago, I signed up for a Facebook account, and I immediately thought it was the best thing ever. I found old friends. I was able to reconnect with my classmates from Baylor. I was able to find friends from high school. Every day when I got home from work, I would look forward to getting online and seeing what everyone was doing. My friends would share pictures of children... Read more

If you have a voice inside you telling you that you are incapable of success, you are not alone. It affects many, many people. Psychologists call it the “internal critic” or the “critical internal voice.” Sometimes it can force you to quit. Sometimes it reinforces the worst of your self-doubts. It screams, “you are a failure.” In truth, I have made that voice work for me. It is the reason I push so hard for success. If I fail, then the... Read more

It happened on a recent run. I was having a difficult day and had a lot on my mind. I found a space in my schedule and made time for a run. The hot sunshine peered over my shoulder as I tried to stretch out my hamstrings. An early drop of sweat dribbled off my brow because of the oppressive humidity. I turned on my music and started running my familiar track. At the first turn, I looked at my... Read more

17-year-old Noa Pothoven of Arnhem, Netherlands chose death after her life became “unbearable.” Noa had suffered much short life. In her book, Winning or Learning, Noa described being molested as an 11-year-old and being raped by two men just three years later when she was 14. As a consequence, she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and anorexia. To end her pain, Noa reached out to an assisted suicide clinic, but it is unclear if she died with the help of the... Read more

Every religion that I know of has an “end of the world” scenario. For that matter, secularists have end of the world scenarios too. Just this week an article was published claiming that the end of human civilization would come in 2050 as a result of complications from global warming. Christians have long believed that an imminent return of Christ would usher in a new age of peace. Of course, in most versions of the Christian apocalypse, the world descends... Read more

  It seemed to be an ordinary day at school. Kendrick Castillo, an eighteen-year-old high school senior, was watching The Princess Bride in his British literature class when a shooter pulled out a gun and demanded that no one move. Kendrick was about one foot away from the shooter and lunged at him. After Kendrick lunged at the shooter, two other students tackled and subdued the shooter while the rest of the class fled. Kendrick was shot twice. He did not survive.... Read more